"gy"  ¼¶¼g©ó¶l¥ó·s»D:...
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> "chickenwing"  
> ???????:1134445803.924359.118690@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
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>> gy wrote:
>>> Big Construction Companies mean Big Problem in our Construction 
>>> Industry.
>>>
>>> A big problem in our construction industry is that our government allows 
>>> the
>>> construction companies to grow to unreasonably large sizes.
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>> I would not want the gov't to put a cap on how large a company can
>> grow, to me this is anti-growth. A poorly run company is not poorly run
>> because of it's size.
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> "sanjian"  ???????:dnk5fm$t3i$1@solaris.cc.vt.edu...
>> gy wrote:
>>> Big Construction Companies mean Big Problem in our Construction
>>> Industry.
>>
>> Ok, I can't touch this from a construction point of view, since I know
>> only a semester's worth of construction, which is probably equivalent to
>> five days real-world experience.  However, I do have a heavy shipbuilding
>> background, and can address it from a corperate point of view.
>>
>>> A big problem in our construction industry is that our government
>>> allows the construction companies to grow to unreasonably large sizes.
>>
>> If they are unreasonably large, then they will fail, in a free-market
>> system.  However, if they are well organized, then they can grow to a
>> fairly large size.
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> The property and construction market of Hong Kong is not a free market. 
> The
> government has been controlling the supply to extort as much money as
> possible from the new homebuyers. The new homebuyers have no choice except
> paying high prices for their new home, some of which may be of very low
> quality. Construction companies build low quality buildings and carry out
> works in unsafe manner. The government allows them to do so. Of course, it
> would do some superficial shows to please the political parties and the
> public. Safety measures are implemented only where and when they can be 
> seen
> by the relevant inspectors. Many engineers are shaking every day, because
> they dare not blow the whistle, as it is very likely that they would lose
> their jobs if they do so. (Some senior personnel of the big construction
> companies say that the engineers should blow the whistle, but they cannot
> tell what can be done to deal with the problem effectively if they do not
> blow the whistle.) Bear in mind that construction works are labour 
> intensive
> and therefore perfect monitoring of the works is not possible. The
> government and the engineers of course understand what safety measures are
> necessary and they have perfect knowledge about the costs for such safety
> measures. With such perfect knowledge, the government turns a blind eye to
> unsafe practice so that their relatives or affiliates, who run 
> construction
> companies can save more money. Those who have carried out demolition works
> would know that there are cases, in which only about 80% or less of the
> steel reinforcements as per drawings of the floor slabs of the buildings 
> to
> be demolished existed within the slabs.
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> gy
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>>> It is quite simple to explain the problem with an example. Suppose a
>>> construction company is currently carrying out construction works for
>>> 50 different construction sites and it has one director (Here we call
>>> him the boss.), a general manager and ten project managers working
>>> under him for overseeing the construction works. As the boss and the
>>> general manager have higher authority than the project managers under
>>> them, they can override any decision of the project managers if they
>>> have disagreement with respect to certain issues. Actually, the boss
>>> has nearly the absolute power, as he can control his staff with his
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>> Any boss who wants to remain solvent will know when to use that power, 
>> and
>> when to delegate it.  If not, his company's bottom line will suffer.
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>>> money. Suppose further that the boss and the general manager work 6
>>> days per week and 9 hours per day. (It is more likely than not that
>>> their actual working hours is longer than that.) Simple arithematic
>>> tells us that the boss and the general manager would only have
>>> approximately one hour (or one and a half hour, if they are willing
>>> to work harder) available for "understanding and monitoring" the
>>> activities of each site per week.  Under such situation, how likely
>>> is it that the boss or the general manager can make good decision?
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>> They don't.
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> But, they can. For public interest, we must try our best to minimize such
> risks. Construction works are related to the safety of every one of us,
> unless you are happy to live under trees. As such, the government must 
> make
> its best endeavors to enact laws to improve such safety.
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> gy
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> They run the company, not the sites.  I would not expect Ron
>> Sugar (who we didn't ever refer to as "Sugar-Daddy," no, not ever) of
>> Northrop Grumman to come out to Hampton Roads to tell Tom Schivlebein, 
>> the
>> head of NG's Newport News Shipbuilding sector how to do his job.
>> Otherwise, there would be no need to have a sector president.  And I 
>> would
>> not expect Tom to tell any of his project managers how to do their jobs.
>> They were put in that position because they were the most knowlegeable 
>> and
>> capable for that position.  He runs the sector, they run the projects.
>> And that's why NGNN is the best shipyard (though Electric Boat gives us a
>> good run for our money, but you didn't hear that from me).
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>>> Unless they are supermen with supernatural power (Actually, some
>>> would pose as such.), they may not even be able to read through the
>>> relevant documents for the works (There are 50 DIFFERENT sets of
>>> project documents includings drawings, amended drawings, contract
>>> documents including main contracts and sub-contracts and
>>> correspondence that can easily fill up any office etc.) for 50
>>> different construction projects and they have to spare time for
>>
>> Why would they?  That's not their job.  Do you think Ron Sugar read every
>> work package I wrote for every pump that got replaced on the Enterprise,
>> let alone all the ones on the Ike and every other project in the yard, as
>> well as everything that went on in other sectors?  He runs the company,
>> other people run the projects.
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>>> tendering for new jobs, even though they sign many of the documents
>>> willy-nilly with a "gentle" smile. What if they make the wrong
>>> decisions and override the correct decisions of their project
>>> managers?
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>> Then they're idiots.
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> Yes, they are idiots. But these idiots can survive, because the government
> turns a blind eye to their low quality works and unsafe practice. Many
> directors of the construction companies in Hong Kong are without degree or
> even diploma qualifications.
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> gy
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> Either that, or they need to get project managers they
>> can rely on.  If they think of their project managers as babysitters for
>> subcontractors or trades, then they're wasting time, money, knowledge, 
>> and
>> skill.  And, if that's the standard in the industry, then it's an
>> institutional problem, but a problem none the less.
>>
>> And if they've got reliable project managers, and they're second-guessing
>> them, then they deserve to have their profits devistated by their own
>> stupidity.
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> The successful and reliable project managers of many construction 
> companies,
> including the big ones, have duties as follows:
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> 1. To carry out construction works in unsafe manner to save costs and
> 2. To assist their account departments to fabricate project documents for
> tax evasion purposes and
> 3. To invent all kind of excuses to withhold or delay the payments to 
> their
> sub-contractors.
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> gy
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>>> Clearly there is collusion between the government and the big
>>> companies.
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>> So... you're saying that big construction and the government are
>> conspiring to reduce the profits of big construction?  And, anyways, this
>> is your first mention of government, how do you make the leap from the
>> inefficiency of micromanagment to evidence of collusion?
>>
>>> Greed of the big construction companies is one of the main reasons
>>> for the problems in our construction industry.
>>
>> I think you've got much bigger problems than greed if people are
>> conspiring with the government to lower their own profits.
>>
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