- Details
- Hits: 3770
BWB's 'BWBies' regain their top six place. Having lead two rounds ago they slipped out in the last round but rising four places they are now fourth, this is a fighting performance. The other five in the top six remain there. Atkins China's 'Atkins Amigos' slip from the lead to second place, KBR's 'Highwaymen' rise one to lead, 'Not that team' rise one to third. Atkins India's 'regime' remain at fifth Jacobs' 'CH2M is now Jacobs' slip three places to sixth. They will need to steady themselves to stay there. Do they know why they slipped, can they counter this? Atkins India's 'INSIGNIA' drop out of the top six.
The overall average improvement was 7%, but the average improvement of the top six was 12%.
In the chasing pack teams with an improvement of 11% or more rose in the rankings. The biggest gain being Sweco's 'Sweco GHT' who rose twelve places with an improvement of 15%. If they can repeat that we'll see them in the final.
One thing to keep an eye on is the market conditions. If the spend on marketing in the right sectors isn't adequate it will result in fewer jobs to bid for. If the market is tightening this could be significant. This is just one factor. All the others need controlling as well: head office staffing, estimating effort, bids, project manager selection, project staffing, company capital, borrowings, investments, dividends, retained profits. They all matter; no one said a director's job was easy. Enjoy the challenge.
The top six aren't secure yet, it can be done. It's time for the chasers to be courageous. With two rounds to go some of the chaser's successful decisions will get described as heroic and inspirational, other less successful ones will be described as simply foolhardy. Understand the consequences and risks of your decisions and don't make silly mistakes. The top six will be cautious fearing losing their place. The chasing pack have nothing to lose this is their opportunity.
It's time to play your best move.
Click here for the Full results
The rankings in the Sponsors' Award are Atkins India being closely chased by KBR then Sweco, AECOM, Fluor, Kier, Atkins UK, Arup, Taylorwoodrow/Vinci, Mott MacDonald and Wood
- Details
- Hits: 3966
Two new comers to the top six Atkins China's Atkins Amigos leap six places to first place. Atkins China produced last year's winners and it looks like their only team this year are starting to threaten. The other newcomer is Atkins' India's Regime climbing three places to fifth. Dropping out are BWB's BWBies dropping to eighth from first and Atkins' Famous Five dropping from sixth to 10th. The ranking positions of the remaining four in the top six have seen minor changes. Lower down there are significant movements both ways so more newcomers to the tip six can be expected.
The chasing pack needs some hard thinking. In past years at this stage the leading teams get twitchy and cautious. A final place seems to be in their grasp but a mistake, an uniformed decision, or a reckless decision that goes the wrong way can and will change all that. The fear of it slipping away generates caution and this generates defensiveness. This will give opportunities for those in the chasing pack to show their flair and take slightly more courageous decisions to catch them. The top six are nervously looking over their shoulder and so they should. The chasers are breathing down their neck.
For all teams, if your strategy hasn't been reviewed this is probably the last major opportunity to do so. It is time for a serious review of the strategy you've been following to determine what changes in the next three rounds will yield the biggest gains. It's time to take some decisions that earlier you might have considered as too risky. This is when leadership and disciplined decision making should show its value. Teams can greatly improve their ranking in these last three rounds. It takes sense to recognise that your strategy isn't working it takes strength to change your strategy. Is your team sensible and strong enough?
Aspects that some teams might like to consider a little more carefully include matching the project manager's experience to the project, a critical factor in efficiency, the number of measurement staff helps recover all you are due and improves your cash position, the estimating effort required for accurate estimates and the company's capital to turnover ratio indicting how hard your capital is working. Yes, there is a lot of variables and they all interact which is why disciplined decision making is required.
With three rounds to go, who will escape the chasers.
Click here for the Full results
The top ten positions in the Sponsors Award are Atkins India, KBR, Sweco, Fluor, AECOM, Mott Macdonald, Atkins UK, Arup, Kier and Taylor Woodrow/Vinci.
- Details
- Hits: 4078
BWB Consulting's 'BWBie's have moved into first place. If our records are accurate this is the first time the company have sponsored a team in MERIT so this is very commendable performance with no historical experience to draw on. KBR's 'Highwaymen' stay second, 'Not That Team' slip to third from first, Jacobs' 'CH2M is now Jacobs' slip one to fourth, Atkin's India's 'INSIGNIA' rise three to fifth and Atkins UK's 'Famous 5' stay sixth. But only 131 points separate these top six and the next twenty or so are not that far behind. Given that the average improvement in this round was 13% with a standard deviation of 6% there are still great changes in scores taking place.
Head office staffing is important for company capability. Have you enough marketing effort to secure bid invites? Have you enough measurement staff to recover all you're due from each contract? Have you enough quality, health and safety staff to run efficiently? Have you enough estimators to prepare accurate bids? Are your project managers' experiences well suited to the jobs they are managing? Is your own labour or subcontractor staffing optimum?
These are all construction management issues.
But it is not only the construction side of marketing, estimating, running and completing projects that determine a successful company. The financial side is equally important.
The ratio of turnover to company capital is an important indicator and at a level of 9 times the company capital the questions start to be raised as to whether your company have enough assets to support its work load. If your work load is growing you may need more capital to support the bigger company. More capital comes from retained profits or borrowing. High levels of turnover to capital indicates that the company capital is working hard, as it should be. If the ratio is much lower, it indicates that the company capital is not working hard and your Finance Director needs to consider how to respond. Grow the company's turnover, invest the capital outside the company or reduce the capital. Your Finance Director is just as key a contributor to company success as the construction directors. Don't forget the shareholders, they own the company and are looking for their share of profits.
Teams that have won jobs with low bids will see the effects ripple through their accounts and their score will not rise as before and might even fall. The market may tighten and bidding success may become more difficult. Teams will make inappropriate judgements especially as the leaders start to defend their position and the chasers get more aggressive. So we expect changes. MERIT 2018 is far from settled. There are four more rounds left, and it's still all to play for and plenty of time for the top places to shuffle.
Click here for the Full results
The Sponsors Award rankings are Atkins India, KBR, Sweco, Fluor, AECOM, Kier, Mott MacDonald, Arup, Atkins UK, Taylor Woodrow/Vinci, Wood and Capita