Why the Engineer and the Contractor Must Be Separate

A contractor who offers to inspect the building and then repair what they find has an obvious incentive to find more. It may be entirely honest and the structure is still wrong, because the board has no independent check on scope. Separating the two is the single most protective decision available to a board.

The same logic applies to the reserve professional and to any consultant recommending work they would then supply. It is not an accusation of dishonesty. It is a recognition that a board of volunteers has no independent way to evaluate scope, and that separating the person who defines the work from the person who prices it is the only structural protection available to them.

Ask whether they also perform inspections, and if so how the board is protected from scope inflation. Ask to see a unit-rate schedule and how measured quantities will be verified. Ask who will be on site daily and what else that person is running at the same time.

And ask for a reference from an association whose project went badly. Every contractor has one, the ones worth hiring will discuss it, and how a project was handled when it went wrong tells you considerably more than a reference from one that went smoothly.

1. 01We work to the engineer's specification, not our own interpretation.
2. 02We submit measured quantities for their verification.
3. 03We do not offer to inspect and repair the same building.
4. 04We are content for a board to competitively bid our scope.

Ask any contractor bidding this work whether they also perform inspections. If they do both, ask how the board is protected from scope inflation. The answer will tell you a great deal, and the question costs nothing.

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