My experience at a site meeting

I have participated in a number of meetings on various projects; early on in my career as an operator of a water supply and distribution system which was being rehabilitated, and now as part of a project implementation unit engaged in a number of construction projects.

In case you are involved or have been part of a public construction project, periodically (usually every after thirty days) the contractor, client and the consultant (supervising engineer) will formally arrange for a meeting to discuss the progress of construction work.

On most of the projects that I am a part of, the contract parties have agreed that such meetings be held monthly. I generally look forward to site meetings because they are a break from the formal dress code required in office and the usual monotony associated with the routine and sometimes mundane tasks in office.

In this article we share with you some of issues that arose at a site meeting I attended on behalf of the client.

Day one – the informal meeting

1.0 Tour of sites

The journey to the project site took my team and I approximately 6 to 7 hours by road. On arrival we had lunch, were each given personal protective equipment and thereafter commenced the first part of the site meeting – a visit to the construction sites.

The sites visited were;

1. A water treatment plant – being upgraded to increase output.

2. A reservoir site – being constructed to increase the temporary storage of water in the distribution network.

3. Waste water treatment ponds – being constructed to improve sanitation in the project area.

4. Water pipe lines – being laid to upgrade the carrying capacity of the existing water distribution network and increase the extents of service coverage.

5. Sewer lines – being constructed to improve sanitation in the project area.

6. Public toilets – being constructed to improve sanitation in the project area.

7. Borehole locations – being developed to augment the surface water source.

The findings from the site visit

As we moved from one site to the next, I noticed that the sites were quite some distance apart and the consultant was hesitant to answer some of the questions related to the progress of work. From the quality of work seen at some of the sites, it was obvious that rather than spending sufficient time on site to effectively supervise and assist the contractor, the consultant was engaged in a lot of paper work at the main site office. At the same time, the contractor’s workers were stealing construction materials because of poor supervision from their site foremen.

At the water treatment plant, there were staff housing units being constructed by the contractor to be handed over to the client. However, a third party (the government agency in charge of electricity supply within the project area) was required to approve of the electrical wiring work which had been completed at these sites before they could be connected to electricity.

As we were being taken along the pipeline routes for the water and sewer lines, being laid as part of the project, the contractor complained that the client did not have as-built drawings for all his installations. This was causing delays because the excavation works were not proceeding as fast as was required. The lack of as-built drawings was also affecting their progress at the water treatment plant which was being upgraded. I also noticed that long sections of the water pipelines which had already been laid by the contractor had not yet been subjected to a pressure test.

At one of the sites for the waste water treatment ponds, construction work had been halted by the consultant. This was because earlier preparatory excavation works at this site had led the consultant to believe that the water table at this site was higher than initially expected, therefore requiring a redesign of the entire waste water treatment pond system, or a relocation to an alternative area within the same site.

I also noticed that there was some poor workmanship at one of the sites for the public toilets. Fortunately, at the site for the new water reservoir, the construction works were being handled by a sub-contractor and the works were proceeding according to schedule.

At most of borehole locations, also being manned by a sub-contractor, pump testing had been successfully completed. The pump testing activities had registered much more water than was originally anticipated by the client in an earlier design study.

The contractor informed us that there were unresolved compensation issues at some of the construction sites handed over to him. At times his work could not go on because the communities would not let the work proceed for one reason or another and this was affecting the deployment of his machinery, personnel and materials.

Day two – the formal meeting

2.0 Review and approval of previous proceedings.

The meeting commenced at approximately 0900 hrs and was chaired by the resident engineer.

After the quick introductions and apologies, we were each requested to scan through the minutes of the previous meeting and point out any omissions or corrections. Once this task was completed, the minutes of the previous meeting were signed off by the contract parties (contractor, consultant and client) with the power of attorney to administer the contract.

3.0 Reactions on matters arising from the site visit

I requested the consultant to beef up his site personnel by deploying additional supervision staff on site in order to effectively control the quality of workmanship on the construction site, and to support the current supervision team; being held up at the main site office with heaps of paper work.

The consultant was asked to relocate the waste water treatment ponds within the same site and issue fresh drawings to the contractor as soon as possible.

As a result of the positive borehole yields that were being registered, the consultant was asked to consider siting additional boreholes. However, he was informed that this would require a lot of prior community sensitisation because the new sites had to be temporarily acquired from the owners. At the same time, the consultant was told to commence the detailed design of the borehole water supply system.

Regarding the unavailability of as-built drawings, the contractor was informed that while preparing his technical proposal prior to submission of his bid, he was required to factor in the associated costs and delays resulting from these type of hindrances in order to comfortably work in the project area, which has an existing system water supply system, and other underground services belonging to third parties. The meeting requested the contractor to make prior contact and work closely with all service providers with underground services before commencing any excavation works.

The contractor informed the meeting that pressure testing of the water pipelines was behind schedule because he was having challenges with his pressure testing equipment. However, he promised to get better machinery and make up for the lost time by the next site meeting.

At about 1100 hrs, break tea was served.

4.0 Presentation and reactions to the contractor’s work progress report

The contractor provided each member present at the meeting with a hard a copy of their works progress reports and briefly took everyone through it. The report detailed the progress of work at each site – broken down into a number of sub activities. It also mentioned the various challenges being experienced at each construction site and the impact of these challenges on the overall works programme. The report also highlighted issues related to operational health and safety, environmental and other social related issues arising on the site.

We were given permission to interject and seek for clarification as he presented his report. As the contractor approached the end of his presentation, I noticed that no procurement schedule had been attached to his report.

I requested the contractor to include an updated procurement schedule to each of his reports to enable us track the procurement of key items which were required for the construction works.

As the contractor approached the end of his presentation, i noticed that no procurement schedule had been attached to his report. I requested the contractor to include an updated procurement schedule to each of his reports to enable us track the procurement of key items which were required for the construction works.

5.0. Other cross cutting issues.

Potential amendments to the existing design including the potential to amend the scope of works at certain construction sites were discussed. The status of the contractor’s interim payment certificates was also discussed.

The meeting also reviewed and discussed the validity of a number of claims which had been submitted to the consultant so far.

When the meeting was about to come to an end, the resident engineer requested for a report from the environmental and social safeguards officer who had been recently deployed to the construction site to beef up the consultant’s supervision team. When she spoke, the meeting took a new twist.

When the meeting was about to come to an end, the resident engineer requested for a report from the environmental and social safeguards officer who had been recently deployed to the construction site to beef up the consultant’s supervision team. When she spoke, the meeting took a new twist.

She raised the following issues;

• The contractor was not providing trained personnel to guard the workers’ camp and the construction sites. This posed a serious security threat to the site.

• Whereas the contractor had designed and received the consultant’s approval for the construction of the main site office and the worker’s camp site, the camp site was best suited for singles and yet it was now accommodating families.

• The requests for action that were being logged into the contractor’s complaints register were not being handled. In particular, the contractor’s feedback mechanism to the project affected communities was almost non-existent. This was leading to a lot of disgruntlement and hostility at most of the construction sites.

• Periodic firefighting drills were not being carried out and most of the contractor’s workers were not wearing protective equipment. The staff recruited to control traffic flow were on and off and there were no valid contracts for the workers on site.

• The contractor was also very inconsistent in providing hand washing facilities at all the construction sites.

Fortunately, and to no surprise the contractor was conducting periodic HIV AIDS sensitisation and training programmes. This was purely because he was being separately paid for this service through a provisional sum which was embedded in his contract. The rest of the issues flagged up by the environmental and social safeguards officer were to be financed through the contractor’s contract rates.

Fortunately, and to no surprise the contractor was conducting periodic HIV AIDS sensitisation and training programmes. This was purely because he was being separately paid for this service through a provisional sum which was embedded in his contract.

The contractor was instructed to put his house in order and he said he would.

The meeting ended at approximately 1245 hrs. Thereafter, we broke off for lunch at about 1300 hrs and were back on the road the next morning.

Lessons learnt

1. Certain construction sites are just a few meters away from your office whereas others might be miles away. Whatever the case is, you need to spend some time on site as the construction works proceed in order to appreciate the challenges that may arise in the course of the execution of the works.

2. Once a project has gone past its formative stages, it is normal to feel detached from it when you miss two or more meetings. As a project manager, you might be required to reverse an earlier decision taken in your absence or issue a fresh instruction altogether. It is therefore advisable to keep abreast of all the issues that arise in your absence because a key decision could be required of you at any moment.

3. Beware of detractors i.e. your superiors who want to be briefed because they have come in late for the meeting. Their requests have a tendency to drag the meeting. Also, in case you are the project manager or his direct designate, beware of other stake holders who would like to literally take over your right to key project management decisions. The site meeting should be a closed meeting between the contract parties.

4. Do not leave critical issues hanging. You should try to develop a habit of issuing formal instructions immediately. In order to shorten the time lag that tends to crop up because of the client’s delayed response to certain requests which arrive from site. To counteract this, you can consider travelling to your site meetings with official company headed paper ready to issue immediate instructions on site.

5. In certain unique cases, it is acceptable to delay a decision in case you need to make further consultations. However, you should beware that delayed response to key decisions affects the progress of construction works – sometimes with fatal reparations.

6. Ensure that the minutes of the previous meeting are signed off as early as possible for the same reasons indicated in our earlier article i.e. the kick off meeting for an engineering consultancy. The minutes of previous meetings provide some form of traceability. They assist other interested parties to detect the past and present decisions taken.

7. Beware of senior colleagues (your superiors) who might be joining the meeting for the first time. They tend to impose their ideas on such meetings and can at times prescribe unworkable solutions to certain critical issues requiring thorough fingertip knowledge of the project.

8. Emotions and tempers can go out of hand at these meetings. I recall one unique meeting where the gathering had to be suspended for about 20 minutes for tempers to cool down before we could resume the discussion. These moments will inevitably come up and you should be prepared for them.

9. Always ensure that you fix a date for the next meeting – in this case we fixed a date approximately 30 days hence.

Conclusion

Meetings of this sort can either be scheduled, abrupt or impromptu. Whatever the case may be, it is important to take note of the lessons that we have shared with you because they have the potential to lead to decisions which may make or break your project.

© The Builders’ Garage 2016. Permission to use this article or quotations from it is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to thebuildersgarage.com as the source.