Construction consultancy FMI issued a report on “Managing Risk in the Digital Age,” based on a survey of participants in the Associated General Contractors of America’s 2018 Surety Bonding and Risk Management Forum.
Key findings include:
- 88 percent of respondents had encountered risks related to shortage of craft workers and 67 perrcent had encountered risks related to the shortage of field supervisors.
- 92 percent of respondents had found design documents to be less complete than they were in the past.
- Nearly 40 percent of respondents planned to bring design work in-house, and of those, over 80 percent had either completed the process or planned to do so within the next three years.
Two-thirds of respondents expect to see more change in the construction industry over the next five years than in the last 50; respondents predict that health care, commercial/office space and education will experience the most disruption over the next five years; and the more specific areas of disruption will include or involve concrete, curtain walls (envelope and glazing), electrical work, steel erection and mechanical and structural engineering.
More specifically relating to risk management, the study finds: Respondents consider fee erosion and cost escalation to be the most significant of the “soft costs” of risk; and risk management has to evolve, for many of the significant risks confronting today’s contractors are not insurable.