Feast or Famine?

Robbie Williams couldn’t do it. Neither could Oasis. Breaking the US is no easy feat. And the latest quintessentially British export to attempt it is the humble QS. A few British firms are boldly introducing Americans to the concept of QSing. It’s taking a complex mix of rebranding, training initiatives and strategic positioning but the pioneers reckon it’s worth the effort.

Richard Steer, senior partner at Gleeds, is among them. He believes the opportunities for UK QSs in the US are huge: “Two or three US firms do offer a cost management service, they call it programme management and it’s not the detailed cost control that we love so dearly in the UK.”

Rebranding

Davis Langdon has been on American soil since 1998. Alastair Collins, chief executive of the firm’s international branch Davis Langdon & Seah, insists his company is not trying to export QSing wholesale to the US. Instead the consultancy is “reshaping its product to fit the market”.

“There is this assumption that if you have a huge construction industry like they do in the US, then you automatically need QSing,” he says. “In fact what the US market needs more than anything else is risk management, not QSing.”

Say I have 10 excellent managers, but take five to the US. Where does this leave my company? I sometimes feel it’s just another tick on their PR sheet

Michael Thirkettle, chief executive, McBains Cooper

In the US, Davis Langdon interprets its role as “risk management on construction projects focusing on money,” says Collins. “Once you recognise risk exists then you can quantify it, control it and measure the results.”

Chris Soffe, head of Gleeds’ US operation, says that it’s pointless to call yourself a QS in the US. Instead his firm brands itself a ‘cost driven programme management consultancy’. “The problem with the words quantity and surveying is that Americans start looking for simple interpretations for them, whereas our work is so much more complex,” he says.

Soffe has been in America for over 20 years and sees major changes taking place in the way QS firms are viewed. “The whole discipline has changed since I first arrived. Back then no one knew who we were, but now we are more established.”

Julian Anderson, Rider Hunt’s president of US operations, shares a similar view to Soffe. He explains that although cost management companies exist in America, they are mostly thought of as “estimators”. However, the rub is that in the US, estimators are considered bottom of the construction pile. They do not even have professional status. “Therefore in our literature directed at the American market we refer to ourselves as cost advisors,” he says.

Another issue is recruitment. Anderson says it is near impossible to learn cost consultancy skills at American universities and the only way to train staff is to have them work in QS companies. The firm also brings in foreign skills but there is lots of immigration-related red tape to deal with. Now Rider Hunt is strongly considering setting up a full-blown in-house QS training programme.

An amazing amount of work travels to other regions from the US

Alastair Collins, chief executive, Davis Langdon & Seah

Global ambition

So why bother with America if the market just doesn’t get QSing? The general consensus seems to be that the only way to go truly international is to have a base in America.

Collins says: “An amazing amount of work travels to other regions from the US and it is still by far the largest economy in the world.”

Soffe also feels it is vital to have a US base if you want to be a global player. Admittedly, most of Gleeds’ work for American clients is within the US but it is beginning to win a few international spin-offs.

The rise in the QS profession over the pond is being matched by dispute resolution services. The US has seen a new breed of firms emerge in the last decade such as Navigant, Hill International and Greyhawk. These outfits offer construction claims and contract advice. The first two are now aggressively targeting the UK, Middle East and Europe following their respective acquisitions of Precept and Knowles.

What the US market needs more than anything else is risk management, not QSing

Alastair Collins, chief executive, Davis Langdon & Seah

One major UK dispute group is now itself to match the ambition of the US firms by setting up in the US. “There is more understanding over there of the importance of getting it right,” a source at the firm said. “If they can get it right then they can get paid. Often the typical approach in the US is for parties to talk only when things go wrong but that’s starting to change.”

Choosing the location

Once you’ve set course for America and have rewritten your literature to suit the market, where do you set up shop? California and Nevada are obvious choices. They have booming economies and huge construction industries, but Philadelphia, Maryland and Washington DC are also bankable regions (see ‘Hot spots’ below). Las Vegas is also emerging as a construction hub, according to Rider Hunt’s 2006 quarterly cost report.

It is essential to be in the main metropolitan cities. Collins explains: “America is a great divide. Whereas in Europe the tier system exists in a subtle way, in America it’s extreme.”

His firm, Davis Langdon, has offices in six major cities: three in the east coast area – in New York, Boston and Philadelphia, and three in the west coast area – in San Francisco, Santa Monica and Seattle.

What the US market needs more than anything else is risk management, not QSing

Alastair Collins, chief executive, Davis Langdon & Seah

Anderson operates Rider Hunt’s US business from the firm’s head office in Phoenix but the company has plans to go national.

Gleeds has concentrated its efforts in the south east with offices in Denver and Atlanta, although Soffe doesn’t rule out further expansion. “Where we move is market driven,” he says referring to his other offices, which were set up following business wins.

Publicity stunts

Some Brits are less convinced. Michael Thirkettle, chief executive of McBains Cooper, acknowledges there is a growing market for QSs in the US, but thinks some UK companies should concentrate on perfecting their services back here before venturing out. “Say I have 10 excellent managers, but take five to the US. Where does this leave my company? Sometimes I feel it’s just another tick on their PR sheet.”

He says: “We have the obligation to do a good job at home first. I would go to the US but under the right guise and with existing clients and still operating from the UK. Some of these firms are just out there looking for ‘suitors’.”

Anderson believes the main challenge for QS companies in the US is to evolve into home-grown firms, integral to the American construction market. “We need to be advising not just on cost but also on financial matters and structuring finances. For instance we have experience in writing contracts. We can help with issues surrounding the life cycle of the building, whether to retain, upgrade or rebuild old properties. In this way we are more like financial service advisors,” he says.

One thing all these firms agree on is that there is a growing demand for QSs in the US – whatever the label put on the service. “I have a passionate belief that there is drastic need for firms like ours in the US,” says Soffe. “The market here is a long way from saturation.”