‘Do you know a good site Engineer who might be free to do a couple of days setting out for us next week?’

It is a question we are often asked.

The answer is typically no. Why? Because while the Freelance Engineer model works well for employers when there are plenty of good Engineers available, in the current climate, no halfway decent Setting Out Engineer is sitting around waiting for a phone call to fill one or two days. They’re fully booked up for weeks and months ahead.

Don’t get us wrong; we have nothing against freelance Site Engineers. In fact, Setting Out For Construction has trained and supported many of them. If you have someone you can trust, and can get hold of them when you need them, then you’re one of the lucky ones…..our only suggestion is to make sure you pay them well, pay them on time and don’t annoy them!

Being dependent on freelance Site Engineers right now has drawbacks:

• Their daily rate can be high (which is fine if they provide good value, but they often don’t)
• Unless you have a good Site Engineer who you know and trust, there can be a risk that you will get someone who will make costly errors and leave you with an expensive mess to clean up
• Your job might be delayed if you can’t find an Engineer to come to site when you need one
• Even if the work they do is correct, often they do not leave the right information behind or do a good quality handover with the next site Engineer
• They may get a better offer and disappear to another job, leaving you at square one

This problem is not going to go away any time soon. So, how can we help?

We have helped many construction businesses overcome this problem. Instead of being continuously trapped in a short-term recurring cycle of finding, paying over the odds for, and losing Engineers, you should think long-term!

We can train your existing team members to carry out setting out tasks, so you can be self-sufficient. For example, Ground Workers, Joiners, Trainee Engineers, and Site Managers. A good starting point is our CITB Assured 5-day setting out course.

In addition to training courses, we offer a mentoring and support service so that we can support you on-site or remotely following our training. It means you don’t need to drop anyone in at the deep end, and you can be safe in the knowledge that they can get the help they need.

Have a chat with us, and we will give you reliable and honest advice on whether any of your team members have the right experience and capability to carry out Setting Out tasks correctly and safely for you. If not, our training and support mean you can hire someone with potential rather than experience. We train them and support them until they are fully up and running. We also have the knowledge and experience to help you find funding for our training and support.