星空传媒

If you are a site engineer you have probably found that working as a freelance means you end up with more money and a wider choice of jobs. The number of temporary vacancies is increasing, while the number of available experienced engineers is decreasing, with companies in many areas finding there are too few qualified engineers to fill their positions.

This is good news for temporary site engineers as it means they have been able to choose from an ever wider range of contracts, picking those that appeal because of project, location or rate.

But while younger site engineers may prefer the broader experience they can gain by taking on a succession of temporary roles, most companies still prefer to employ permanent engineers. This has led to a huge demand for the relatively few engineers looking for permanent employment.

To hold onto their site engineers, companies are offering higher salaries, better packages, training and career opportunities. The Hays Montrose/星空传媒 salary guide at the end of last year showed an average annual increase of 12.3% for site engineers compared with just 5.4% for site managers.

With site engineers being so well looked after, companies can find it difficult to attract a permanent candidate. In many cases they have no alternative but to offer the position on a temporary basis. And with temporary engineers realising they are in high demand, the freelance rate for intermediate site engineers has increased by 15-20% over the last year.

Often, site engineers see the position as a launch pad for other roles in construction. In their mid to late 20s, many site engineers make a move towards site management, worsening still further the engineering skills shortage.

Partly because of the skills shortage but also because companies are starting to realise the advantages of a combined site engineer and management role, it is becoming more common on smaller projects for the site manager also to be responsible for engineering on site.

Steven Hamilton is a trained site engineer. Four years ago he began taking on site management duties as well after seeing a niche in the market.

鈥淔or contracts of up to 拢5m it often isn鈥檛 feasible for a company to employ both a site engineer and a site manager,鈥� he says. 鈥淥n projects of that size I was finding engineering didn鈥檛 take up a full day. I can鈥檛 emphasise enough how important both roles are, but to combine engineering and management was personally satisfying and was for me a natural progression as they both seem to gel on a smaller project.鈥�

Being able to keep control of the site is a clear advantage for an engineer. And for the client and contractor, having one representative rather than two or more for liaison is equally attractive. However, as Hamilton points out, combining the two roles means the engineer is busy 100% of the time. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a case of juggling both balls without dropping one - not everyone wants to or can do this.鈥�

So is it the end of the permanent site engineer? Unless a dramatic number of site engineers become interested in permanent placements again - yes.