Unlocking the superhero within - cost professionals

Art versus Science? Nope. This is a battle of perception versus reality for cost professionals in the AEC industry.

I've written a number of different articles over the years regarding UK v USA roles, value management, due diligence and other key components of the cost consulting profession but in this brief piece I want to tackle the huge gap between self-image against the perception of the rest of the AEC industry.

Across the United States - even globally - there is a daily struggle going on amidst your project team. Beyond the battle of finding time to get meeting minutes issued, there is a deep thread of existential crisis bubbling under the surface, a tension that peaks and subsides at various milestones throughout the design and construction process. This lies not in the technical complexity of building projects but in the psychology, identity and self image of consultants brought together to deliver upon a common goal but in a team formation uniquely formed by the owner on each project.

While much is written about the role of Architect, General Contractor and Design Engineers, I am going to narrowly focus on the profession that launched my career - that of the cost consultant, cost planner, estimator, quantity surveyor and cost engineer.

Self Image

Over the past 15 years, I have had the opportunity to work with a number of different firms with a heavy bias to cost consulting across three continents. In that time, I have observed a number of different common themes that bear relevance to the gap I mentioned above:

• Cost consultants are either eternal optimists or deep cynics (where you land on the scale typically relates to how long you've been in the industry).
• When they are engaged in the pursuit of work, very few would feel that the fees charged are commensurate to the value being provided. In fact, most consider that 'fees are being squeezed' and its a 'race to the bottom' - but its always the other firms driving it that way.
• Many consider their role to be most effective when engaged early as possible and continuing through to completion and operations.
• Somewhat problematically, many have a low opinion of project managers and an even lower opinion of general contractors.
• They believe that if bids come in within 5% of their estimate, they've done a great job.
• If the project completes on-budget, they should receive commendation from the client and the project team.

Industry Perception

Having forayed out of cost-consulting into program management and led multi-disciplinary teams I have seen AEC colleagues perceive cost professionals as follows:

• Cost consultants are all care and no responsibility, and frankly you have to watch your back to ensure you're not the one being thrown under the bus in front of the client.
• They are guarded, reactive and do not engage proactively in helping to refine project design or approach. Normally it's 'that's not in our fee'.
• We don't believe they actually do any market-testing, it appears like most of the pricing comes from their head.
• They can be hostile, passive aggressive or just don't show up to meetings.
• We have to expend all this energy through VE and VM when their numbers aren't right, time which we don't get paid extra for.
• The least they should do is get the numbers right.

*Pause... please take a breath*.

If you have MRICS, AACE, CPE, or AAIQS after your name, I'm sure you are a little upset with me for writing that. But here's the thing, people are saying these things behind the back of cost professionals every day.

So, what to do? It's time to reconcile these positions and be agents of change.

Go-forward

Many folks do a great job supporting successful delivery of projects, however I can say with confidence the net-promoter* score of our industry would not be very high. I believe the superhero cost consultant lies in understanding and mastering the psychology at play in projects. First and foremost, the industry is looking for partnership and engagement. That involves listening, coaching and facilitation. This is in contrast to the habitual focus on detail-orientation, analytical skills and accurate technical production (QTO and reporting).

As we engage with project teams its essential that we focus on opening up the back-office process of generating an estimate and create collective buy-in to the process of developing estimates and budgets. It must be a two-way street and that involves cost professionals dropping their guard and authentically coaching project team members on what can help 'move the dial' on the dollars. This will take effort and iteration, and that will challenge the commercial realities of how cost consultants price their professional fees.

Cost consultants hold the key to smoothing the path for projects by anticipating and preparing project teams for constraints, barriers and being a facilitator of common understanding between client, consultants and contractor. Without a significant shift in focus, purpose and intent, our industry will struggle to break out of the perception of being a point of friction, agitation and frustration.

p.s. getting the numbers right and being accurate is the bare minimum expectation that the industry has for us, so lets focus on everything else we can do to support project success.

p.p.s technology will continue to improve technical accuracy, those who neglect the critical soft-skills obligation of our profession are sure to be left behind. What would your net-promoter score be?

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*Net promoter score (NPS) definition

Source: The Ultimate Guide to Net Promoter Score (NPS) // Qualtrics

NPS stands for Net Promoter Score which is a metric used in?customer experience?programs. NPS measures the loyalty of customers to a company. NPS scores are measured with a single-question survey and reported with a number from the range -100 to +100, a higher score is desirable. NPS scores determine segmenting between poor and positive feedback.

It measures customer perception based on one simple question:

How likely is it that you would recommend [Organization X/Product Y/Service Z] to a friend or colleague?

Respondents give a rating between 0 (not at all likely) and 10 (extremely likely) and, depending on their response, customers fall into one of 3 categories to establish an NPS score:

• Promoters?respond with a score of 9 or 10 and are typically loyal and enthusiastic customers.
• Passives?respond with a score of 7 or 8. They are satisfied with your service but not happy enough to be considered promoters.
• Detractors?respond with a score of 0 to 6. These are unhappy customers who are unlikely to buy from you again, and may even discourage others from buying from you.

#nps #rics #aace #costconsulting #estimating