Top Issues in a Firm: Compliance, Engineering Debt, Talent Management and More

A day in the life of an engineering firm is often faced with challenges. Some are as old as the industry—communication problems, scheduling, documentation, compliance, materials—but most are relatively new.

Below, we deep dive into the most significant issues plaguing the construction industry. From changing rules and regulations, dealing with delinquent clients who incurred substantial engineering debt, and the difficulties of hiring and retaining top engineering talents in a post-pandemic era.

Issue 1: Compliance

When you live in an era with the most advanced technology, chances are that rules and regulations also change to keep up with it.

For the construction industry, these regulation changes can mean a shift in worldwide standards, country-specific, or state laws. It can even mean advancement in techniques or materials, so construction is more innovative, environmentally friendly, and the like.

In a nutshell, regulations are ever-changing. Therefore, your engineering firm must closely monitor even the most minute updates to ensure compliance.

Issue 2: Adopting New Technology

In relation to the first issue, adopting new technology is often a problem engineering firms face. What are some of these new technologies? Below are some of the most common:

• Drone surveillance
• VR/AR
• Wearables
• New and updated software
• Robots

Even if the management finds these newer technologies beneficial, these firms are still businesses. Moreover, these new and advanced solutions aren’t precisely pocket-friendly, which leaves firms to forgo their adoption.

Issue 3: Scheduling and Communication

Manually scheduled projects are more likely to face mistakes, no matter how experienced the professionals are. However, automation systems, project management software for various devices, virtual task boards, and technology may reduce or resolve this concern.

Schedules issues are one the numerous problems technology and its benefits can help to partially or completely resolve. This list wouldn’t be as long if there weren’t another problem that the entire construction industry has been grappling with for some time now.

Slow communication between various teams and departments is another unexpected problem when it comes to construction. This is another vital issue that technology may efficiently address in several ways.

Since billions of people worldwide have access to a personal smartphone, one example is using your employees’ smartphones to speed up communication, whether through emails, regular messages, or even using numerous construction-related apps.

Most of the project’s more minor issues can be readily avoided before they emerge and become more challenging to resolve—yet another illustration of how technology has enormous potential to improve the building industry. 

Issue 4: Finding and Hiring Top Talents

This could be one of the significant issues facing the building sector now. And this problem also gets worse every year, as fewer and fewer young people are interested in working in the construction industry and as more and more elderly workers are getting ready to retire.

The problem is essentially global, and the need keeps steadily rising. Therefore, it is conceivable for genuine building companies to try and lessen the effects of this issue for themselves, even though specific initiatives are made to address it on that level.

The two strategies with the most potential are construction staffing companies and mentoring. Mentorship can benefit both novice students and recent graduates from college and skilled workers, resulting in a more excellent pool of potential employment.

Issue 5: Dealing with Engineering Debt

Maintaining healthy cash flow due to the complexity of most construction projects can be a challenging task.

There won’t be a shortage of payments for personnel, independent contractors, suppliers, and other expenses. What’s worse, only the client’s invoices, which are frequently late and frequently do not arrive until after the task is finished, will be able to counter these expenses. Or, occasionally, you may find it challenging to have your invoices paid at all and wind up going through a time-consuming debt collection process.

Ensure your projects are appropriately budgeted, and your invoices are paid on time to maintain the cash flow. If you’re having difficulty collecting from delinquent clients, reputable engineering debt collection firms are ready to help you.

To Wrap It Up

Understanding the most common problems plaguing the construction industry will help engineering firms strategize their next steps.