A Career in Construction - Part 9

Halfway through the Peterborough housing contract, the company won the contract to build a large block of offices called Touthill Close (eventually occupied by the County Council) near to Peterborough Cathedral. The floor area over the five floors was over 135,000 square feet.

What came next was totally unexpected. I was made up to Area Surveyor, looking after both the Peterborough contracts, with a growing team of surveyors reporting to me. Touthill Close also made a big loss. Things went wrong very early when the rock encountered in the excavations was far greater than expected. There were also changes to the foundations so we were soon claiming an extension of time and additional costs. We seemed to  find a sympathetic ear and reached another good settlement.

But by the completion of this contract, we had suffered further delays and losses. I ended up doing the final account and another claim, all of which were settled amicably. The company was happy and I was actually awarded a small bonus, something unheard of with Henry Boot. I used it to buy a good receiver/amplifier for my sound system.

The first housing contract was called Bretton 3B. There was always a chance we might get the opportunity to win Bretton 3A, another 300 plus houses (3B came first as it was the metric brick pilot). But everything had gone quiet about 3A and it was only while we were finishing 3B that we were asked to quickly put in a lump sum price for 3A. Obviously funding had suddenly been made available. I was involved in using the costs from 3B to work out the tender. The next thing we knew was that we were called to a meeting at the offices of the Development Corporation. We had added a considerable sum for negotiation, but instead there was none and we were just asked when could we start. So the contract made a fortune in profit. Our area was high in prestige, reporting every month on the figures was a dream. This contributed to the senior management in Birmingham to be made associate directors and the region was on a roll. All to be undone a couple of years after we left Peterborough.

The last contract we gained in Peterborough was a large factory and offices for Molins. It did OK, no problems, just made the expected small profit.

So at it's peak, my area had half a dozen other surveyors reporting to me. So I went from looking after one contract, to managing a team on four major projects in the space of three years. It had been a wonderful opportunity to gain this experience in such a short space of time, given that I hardly gained any in my nine years as a trainee at George Wimpey. It was a shame when it all came to an end.