JANUARY 2024 NEWSLETTER – ASPE Los Angeles Chapter #1
Happy New Year!
I mean that in a sense of good hope,
yet also with a sadly dour outlook because this year will be tough, if not
tumultuous. As a senior member of the American Society of Professional
Estimators I have observed the overall societal decline in skills and the
collective lack of understanding of how things work. It’s a growing problem
that’s becoming much more serious, and it can cost us all a lot of money.
From a different
angle, you can evaluate management on its ability to attract, hire and retain
the best levels of competent people. When you combine a solid management team
with superb technical staff, you’re already much of the way to building a
highly successful company.
Using a sports analogy, always look for companies with the
best players, the team with the best technical bench; so to speak. That alone
bends the odds in your favor. And that’s one of the keys to growing your
company the next year, and well beyond. Look at it this way: we live in a
complex world, a system of systems. And for most people, most of the time, in
most circumstances, these systems are (to be charitable) not well understood.
For example, most people just go to the airport, pass through TSA, board their
flight, go from here to there, land, and head off to the next destination.
Aside from the annoying hustle and bustle of airports, you don’t think much
about it, right? But do you ever ponder how airports are designed and built? Or
the TSA screening system? Or the airplanes and engines? Or the fuel that goes
into them? Or the pilot training system? Or the air traffic control system? You
get the idea. No, not really. Most people just want to travel from point A to
point B and not have the airline lose their bags. But when you take even a
small look inside the big machine of airline travel, there’s an immensely
complex system of systems behind everyday airline operations. And every one of
those systems, at every step along the way, requires all manner of unique
skills by people who are part of the process.
As a professional estimator it is imperative that you
understand each piece of the airport puzzle and know how and where each piece
fits. Do you know the difference between a Runway and a Taxiway? Do you know
the complexities of a baggage handling system and the space and logistic
requirements to install one?
Let’s bring this closer to home, literally. For example,
where does electricity come from? Yeah, sure; it comes from the light switch,
right?
Seriously, though, do most people know how a light switch
works? Pretty much everyone touches a light switch every day. But who can take
one out of the wall, tear it down and rebuild it? Or to get more complicated,
how about the wires from the light switch to the circuit panel in the basement?
Same challenge: can you hook up a new line to your washing machine, let alone
to that new electric vehicle you just bought? (Warning: unless you know what
you’re doing with electricity, do not try this.) Now, take this knowledge (or
lack thereof) about electricity outside to the curb. How many people can
explain how utility wires work? How about those transformers up on the poles?
Trace it all back to the step-down substations, and thence to high-tension
lines that go back to the power plant. And c’mon, who really knows how a power
plant works? I could list innumerable other examples, but you see what I mean,
yes? And when you consider what you know versus what you don’t really know,
it’s all rather humbling. There’s just so much out there, and a big whack of it
makes up key parts of your life. Still, don’t feel bad about not knowing
everything about everything. Nobody is that smart. In this respect, we’re all
in the same boat. The good news is that, we have the construction subject
matter experts in ASPE. And many of our
members are highly skilled in their labors, whether it’s the electrical
engineer designing the power station, or power company workers who maintain the
electric lines, or the electrical estimators who prepare the budgets for the
power company’s facility maintenance or expansion.
The bad news, though, is that there seems to be a general
lowering of collective knowledge and skill levels across society. You can see
it in just the difficulty of finding a good estimator, scheduler, electrician,
plumber, carpenter, bricklayer, or any other trade. When you go out and about,
no doubt you see “Help Wanted” signs pretty much everywhere, from fast food
places and clothing stores, to garages and manufacturing sites, you name it.
The economy has jobs, but where are the workers? If you dig into the trade
press forums, you’ll see worker and skill shortages almost everywhere. It seems
that everyone is looking for people at every level. On my end, I’ve encountered
people/skills shortages across the fields of Construction Labor (all trades),
Construction Cost Estimating, and Project Controls, Scheduling, Engineering,
and more. I’ve spoken with Union representatives, corporate execs and
university professors who lament the skinny pipelines of trained people coming
out of schools and graduate programs into these areas.
All of the above illustrates how just a relative few people
in the world know how to design and build the everyday systems we take for
granted. The point here is that business success is built upon a foundation of
people, people and more people. And the distressing fact is that our economy
lacks sufficient people with specific, necessary skills — at almost every
level. (Hint: it begins with failures within the basic education system,
another discussion entirely.) That’s why I joined ASPE over 35 years ago and
why you should too. In ASPE I found the
subject matter experts that mentored me. And I am now a mentor to the next
generation, as are the many subject matter experts we have in our society. And
that is why you will want to join us at our local chapter meetings and
participate in seminars and other educational venues to grow your skills.
Remember, every bench player will have the opportunity to be a starter as their
skill level improves. Let us help you
improve your construction knowledge!
Our January meeting will be in-person at the
Barkley Restaurant in South Pasadena on January 23 at 7PM. Please contact me or
Bruce Danielson for more information.
N. Joe Miller, CPE
President, ASPE Chapter #1
323-203-6138