The weak link in AEC projects: consultants are largely unable to manage their projects well

I once flew on a ‘no-frills’ airline from Auckland to Melbourne.

A manageable, 3 hour flight – I decided not to purchase any drinks or food.

As the stewardess’s trolley passed my row, the chap sitting next, whispered in my ear:

“Ask for hot water, they can’t charge you for that – I’ve got some tea-bags”.

I obliged, guiltily-yet-smugly enjoying an ‘unpaid-for’ drink, for the rest of the journey.

As much I can, I avoid travelling ‘no-frills’, though necessity often makes me do so.

In those times when I do, I often keep my sanity, by repeating to myself, the fact, that at least the airline had committed to get me from A to B, at the original ‘contract price’.

Building owners in AEC contracts are rarely as lucky.

Whether they travel ‘first class’ or ‘budget’, there is no guarantee that they reach their destination (the building)  without hefty add-ons, often called ‘variations’ or other ‘fancy-claims’.

As ‘travellers’, most aren’t totally blameless either, they change their minds often on where they are to be taken to, they pick in their menus, ask for hard-to-find ingredients, slow down the ‘aircraft’, deliberately.

Still, the service-providers should be able to manage them, keep them on track and constantly aware of what they had purchased, with what strings attached.

Consultants operating in the current AEC are woefully hopeless at doing this.