Page 95 - Civil Engineering Project Management, Fourth Edition

7
The contractor’s

site organization

7.1 Contractor’s site personnel

The key personnel employed by a civil engineering contractor on a construction
site are usually:
• the agent, who is in charge;
• sub-agents and/or section engineers;
• the plant manager;
• the general foreman;
• a quantity surveyor or measurement engineer;
• the office manager.

On large complex jobs there may be several sub-agents or section engineers,
each responsible to the agent for some part of the construction. The plant
manager or ‘site co-ordinator’ organizes all plant required on the job, includ-
ing its maintenance and any repair that can be done on the job. The general
foreman is usually a widely experienced ‘outside man’ whose main job is to
organize and direct the work of the tradesmen and the skilled workers on site.
He will work closely with the sub-agents and usually have section foremen
working under him.
The quantity surveyor will prepare the contractor’s accounts, using the sub-
agents or section engineers to supply him with the measurements of work
done. The office manager will have an ordering clerk who issues orders for
materials and gets invoices checked; and a pay clerk who checks the time
sheets, makes up the pay sheet, and pays the men. On the smaller civil engi-
neering jobs there will often be only an agent, a site engineer, a general fore-
man and an office manager.
In the head office of the contractor will be a contracts manager (sometimes
a director of the firm) who is responsible for head office services to the job and
who decides overall policy for it. He may advise on technical problems in the