Originally Posted by
bogydave
Have heard that at least 3/4 of the cost for government projects goes to Fed/State/Local gov..
at least 3 of each: permits, fees, engineering-firms, inspectors, legal depts, research departments, safety dept, union reps, EPA........
...
Normal to see 6-8 pickups with 2 people each watching 4 or 5 workers . (Materials, equipment & Workers wages at $70/hour or more are the cheapest costs)
Pick one...higher cost with accountability/oversight, or lower cost with no-accountability/no-oversight.
There's a reason all the procedural/legal/oversight red tape and personnel is there. Because in the near or distant past there was wrong-doing, either wilful/cheapskate or sheer stupidity, and people/property got damaged/hurt/killed as a result....
someone sued
someone for screwing up, and the buck got passed to
someone necessitating oversight/red-tape. When bottom lines are concerned, you can always predict the cheapest-allowed-under-the-law, even if it is a dumb idea, path will be chosen. Even if it means the workers doing it know it is wrong and will likely lead to problems.
One of our paths around here has an MUT bridge over a creek...that bridge has a 10 Ton rating. Which looks massively overkill, until you realize that Parks&Rec uses that path as a defacto road access for construction equipment for path maintenance--and that is the only way to get that equipment through that area.