Engineer Memoirs
training, and codes and regulations. Under these general topics there were multiple
problem areas.
Having developed this general scope for a detailed study, they went to the policy
committee of the roundtable in November 1979 and asked for approval for a long-range
study to find answers. They also asked for the roundtable's commitment for both
funding and for action to back the project. They envisioned a four-phase study, the first
of which was really the development of the outlined scope. The second phase was
detailed research and investigation of each of the problems, together with proposed
solutions. The third phase was the development of a coordinated plan for
implementation of the recommendations that grew out of the second-phase study. And
the fourth phase was to be an extended period of implementation of the
recommendations.
They envisioned three to five years to complete the project, starting in 1978 and going
on for a period of time. The second phase, the research phase, would be the major
activity and would require about two years. Since the committee and the members of
the task force appointed to carry out what they called the Construction Industry Cost
Effectiveness Project were all people who held positions in their individual companies,
they found it necessary and desirable to have a project director. They wanted someone
who was experienced in and known to the industry, and who would provide essentially
full-time direction and guidance to the project, coordinate the development of a series
of reports, and begin a plan for implementation.
This was the background, of which I knew little until mid-January 1980. I received a
call from a contractor friend of mine who was serving as an intermediary for some of
the members of the construction committee task force. He approached me as to my
interest in the job of project director. When I discussed it with him, which as I said was
my first exposure to the subject, I told him that I was actively engaged. I intended to
stay with Con Edison until my normal retirement date at age 65, in August 198 and
then planned to retire to Pinehurst, North Carolina, and continue to enjoy life. For that
reason, I was not available and was not particularly interested in considering the job.
However, he urged me to look into it more carefully and also urged that I talk to some
of the people directly involved.
Somewhat reluctantly I did so. Later I had a meeting with three of the people involved.
They were serving as a search committee looking for a project director. We talked at
some length, and I learned more about the project and the challenge. I was particularly
impressed by the fact that this prestigious organization had committed itself not only
to making the study, but to making a detailed plan and continuing to support it until
something happened. In other words, it was not going to be just a study to be put on
the shelf. It was to be an active and continuous effort to implement the results of the
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