Professional Practice, Consultancy and Engineering Management
Consultancy practice
A consultancy agreement should define scope, deliverables, standards, programme, fees, payment terms, variation, liability, insurance, confidentiality, intellectual property, suspension and termination. The engineer owes duties of skill, care, advice and loyalty. Professional indemnity insurance is commercially essential and often contractually required. Fees should reflect scope and risk; below-cost bids can lead to cut corners and breach competence obligations.
Management essentials
- Scope control: baseline scope, change control, written instructions and impact assessment for every change.
- Time and cost: programme, progress monitoring, early warning, earned value or S-curve, cash flow.
- Quality: inspection and test plans, hold points, non-conformance reports and close-out.
- Communication: one register for instructions, RFIs, submittals and decisions.
- Risk: risk register, allocation in contract, contingency and insurance.
Worked example
A client asks you to just add a basement to an approved scheme two weeks before tender. The change affects structure, geotechnics, cost and programme. Reasonable practice is to issue a written variation request, define the revised scope, estimate fee and time, obtain signed acceptance, then proceed. Doing it informally creates a free variation and a dispute about professional responsibility.
Traps
- Starting work before a signed appointment or purchase order.
- Treating a verbal instruction as a contract variation.
- Certifying progress without site inspection or measurement.
- Ignoring conflicts in tender evaluation.
- Assuming PI insurance covers every claim; check exclusions and limits.