Underground Construction - February 2018 - 16

21st Annual Municipal Survey
Municipalities are running into the
same lack-of-qualified-labor issues that
contractors and engineers are having
across the country. "We're having a
real problem with finding capable
replacements for our retiring personnel,"
pointed out this respondent from the
upper Midwest. Echoed another city
official, from the Northwest, "Finding
qualified and experienced people is
almost impossible right now."

3.8 to 4.2. These are the largest
trenchless applications by volume in the market. Also, rating
well were manhole epoxy sprayon coatings at 4.4, followed by
pipe bursting and piercing tools
at 3.5.
Historically, the municipal
survey also asks city personnel to rate their contractor and
consulting engineering partners.
These relationships are critical
to the success of virtually any
project, regardless of whether
it's open-cut or trenchless. With
tight budgets, municipalities
count on their contractors and
engineers to provide up-to-date,
comprehensive solutions and
options for their pressing needs.
The survey tracks year-to-year
ratings so contractors and engineers can gauge their perceived
value to the municipal markets.
The ratings are also based on a
scale of 1 to 5, with five being the
best-possible score.

able rebound from a low rating
of 3.14 in 2014.
Survey respondents were
asked to rate the qualities they
revere the most in consulting
engineers. Quality was cited by
a whopping 91 percent of all respondents. Timely completion of
projects was cited by 68 percent,
affordability was cited by 47 percent and effectiveness with the
public was mentioned by 38 percent of the respondents.
City personnel had several
pieces of advice for consulting
engineers. "Help us solve prob-

Rating engineers
Consulting engineers continue to
gain confidence with their municipal clients. For the third, consecutive year, engineers received
a large jump in confidence to 3.7,
compared to 3.5 in last year's
data. That continues a remark-

Rating contractors
From 2013 through 2015, contractors' performance rating was
essentially flat. In 2016, however, municipal personnel gave
contractors a big boost in their
ratings, from 3.61 to 3.81. In
2017, cities continued to express
confidence in the performance of
their contractor partners and the
rating jumped again to 3.9.
Like engineers, city officials
see quality as a major need in
working with contractors. It was
cited by 85 percent of all respondents. Following closely behind
was the need for overall experience, which was cited by 76 percent of cities. Timely completion
of project was cited by 50 percent
of muni personnel. Low cost was
only mentioned by 41 percent of
the survey respondents.
City employees also had plenty
of advice for contractors. "Provide quality and efficient service
at a reasonable cost," suggested this Southwest respondent.
"Being up to date on all the new
techniques used in today's construction world is critical," said
this Southeast official. "We'd like
to see better field employees and
superintendents," added a Midwest respondent. ■

lems more quickly at a fair cost,"
said this Southwest respondent. "Being up-to-date on new
techniques and technology is
extremely important," said a city
official from the Mid-Atlantic region - a common theme among
many of the survey participants.
"Ask for more input from the
person paying the bill," suggested
one Midwest respondent, while
a Northeast official cautioned,
"Stop over designing, don't reinvent the wheel." "We prefer
quality over quantity," stressed a
West Coast respondent.

How Municipal Personnel View Various Trenchless Techniques

2017

2018

5= very beneficial 4= beneficial 3= somewhat beneficial 2= low benefit 1= no benefit
4.4
3.8

4.2
3.5

3.6

3.5
2.9

2.3

CIPP
(UV Light)

2.5

Directional
Drilling

Folded
Pipe

3.6

3.4

3.0

3.2

3.0
2.7

2.6

2.9

2.7

2.9
2.6

2.3

2.2

CIPP
(Water,
Steam)

3.6

3.4

3.3

3.1

2.2

4.1

3.8

Microtunneling

FEBRUARY 2018 | UConOnline.com

Piercing
Tools

Pipe
Bursting

Sliplining

Grout

Manhole
Cementitious
Coatings

Manhole
Inserts

Chemical
Root
Control

Point
Repair

Lateral
Lining

Grout
In-Place
Liners

Manhole Epoxy
Spray-on
Coatings

http://www.UConOnline.com

Underground Construction - February 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Underground Construction - February 2018