11/16/2010

Old Harbor Dock Shenannigans

So just what is a CoW?

The Clerk Of The Works job description template includes the following job summary: To provide on-site observation, issue progress reports, oversee budget, act as owner's representative with architects and contractors, and monitor all operations to ensure quality of construction in accordance with specifications and code requirements. Additional information available includes essential job functions, additional responsibilities, and education and experience requirements.

Anybody got any idea just WHERE our CoW is for this job? Well I just found out today that he resides, on a daily basis in the grand old city of Beantown Ma.! What the hell is he doing up there? He must have fantastic eyesight to be able to monitor just what is going on down here almost a hundred miles away!

I thought the operative words in the job description was "on-site observation"? So just what is going on here? Is there some sort of an agreement between the hire-ee and the hire-er? Dollar bills being kicked around? back and forth?

Just how does one go about getting in this largess where you get paid $100K to not show up on the job? Didn't we just go through an election where the people of this country told the friggin' politicians to straighten up and fly right or else? SO what the hell is the reason the local ones and the bueareucrats just blow us all off and go right to outright crookery? I'm pissed and you all should be too!! TIFN

5 comments:

Old NFO said...

I'm thinking I'd be calling the local TV station about that one...

Anonymous said...

Fact: The "clerk of the works" idea was voted in, ad hoc, at a FTMeeting no specifics other than the title and Up to 100K; fact: the architect mentiioned in your comments is only paid when he's working on the project; fact: one of the towns engineers is also overseeing the work; fact; why pay someone to stand around when its not necessary?

Sam said...

Hmm, I looked up the term, and iit turns out that a CoW is an archaic term for the owner's representative used in Europe - not in the US to my knowledge.

I used to the a construction inspector for a County in my previous lifetime, where we'd take a look at all the materials and, working with the engineer, prime contractor, job foreman, and sometimes the architect - we'd accept or reject loads of concrete, steel, aggregate fill, and so forth. Pretty boring job unless a bad load showed up, or the work crews messed up.

Wish I got that job, but in this case it sounds like you're going to get what comes out of the back end of a CoW.

Everett said...

I go down o the job site a few times a day just to be nosy and because I just can't sit at home doing nothing. I have yet to see the town engineer, Geramia, or any of his minions loitering about the place. If he is there on a regular basis, he must hide out somewhere.
"Why pay someone to stand around when it is not necessary?" Oh so true! BUT, we are paying somebody, a hundred grand, and he is surely NOT standing around! That is anyplace except his desk or the water cooler in his office!

Everett said...

Since the last comment by me, we have had contact with the CoW. Well it turns out that he is getting no where near the $100K for the job! He also did not get the $10k for the previous attempt at getting this project under way. It turns out he is making four to five times LESS than his regular fee schedule! Would it have been so onerous for the TM to mention these figures at the meetings where questions have come up? Not the actual numbers, but the facts as stated above? I wonder why they let the misconception stand uncorrected? What was the purpose of that lack of managerial skills? Got Me!

I have known the actual CoW for lot of years and know him to be an honorable man! My comments were NOT directed at him! It was solely and directly aimed at the "powers that be", and it still is! Why the problem with straightening this mess out? There are a lot of people on this little rock who talk about this, but not in/on any forum where many people can join in. That is why I do this people!! Here is your chance to vent and you don't even have to use your real name! Invent one!

And to Mr. Clerk of the Works, I will and do apologize to you if the original post has caused you any personal or professional grief .

When such a big deal was made of the fact that there would be someone on site monitoring the process at the last go-round, I wanted to know, and still do, why it was not necessary this time?

Did this present construction company have that much of a better record than the last that it was deem un-necessary to have an onsite "watcher"? TIFN