When looking for an engineering service, hidden talent can often be found in small to medium sized consultancies.
When Michael Price, Director and Queensland Business Leader at engineering consultancy Red Fox Advisory, hears about Australia’s shortage of engineers, he wonders whether the nation’s talent-starved infrastructure developers and construction companies are looking in the right place.
“I find the rhetoric saying there’s not enough engineers in the industry to service the projects that are coming through in the pipeline to be strange,” he said.
“Clients should look beyond the global companies across Australia and have the confidence to explore local and smaller engineering consultants, designers and contractors located in cities and regional towns.”
Looking at Red Fox’s home state of Queensland reveals a great reservoir of underused engineering talent, Price said.
“If we focus on the engineers that could support linear infrastructure projects, there are about 14,000 RPEQs across civil, geotechnical and structures. Almost 80 per cent of those registered engineers exist outside of state or local government bodies and tier-one companies; they are found inside small medium enterprises,” he said.
“At Red Fox, we have a lot of tier-one expertise. We’ve worked on major projects within Australia and overseas and we have experience delivering those projects.
“That may not be the case with every smaller consultancy out there. We operate with porous boundaries with strong connections to other small and medium enterprises that have previously worked in major consultancies. This can offer better value with lower overheads, and with the team promised at tender turning up to deliver.”
Depth over size
Price joined Red Fox in 2020 after spending 20 years working for a major consultant. At the time, Red Fox had a staff of five, but it has since grown to employ 50 people across two states, specialising in geotechnical, civil and structural design.
In his experience, the Australian owned small and medium sized consultancies have advantages that the big companies don’t.
“Profits remain within Australia and are reinvested locally. They have hands-on leadership, because the business owners are part of the operation and whatever happens to their business is something they’re personally and directly responsible for,” he said.
And smaller consultants are able to draw on a diverse network of specialists, locally based with local understanding of present challenges and the project environment.
“For instance, where a project requires transport modelling, flood modelling or environmental approvals, we will tap into our network of smaller consultancies and bring them in as a delivery partner,” Price said.
“The smaller companies know that they can deliver a more personalised service,” said Nicola Duhig, Red Fox’s Marketing and Business Development Manager.
“So many of the specialists or the independent businesses that we engage for projects have experience in international projects, just like the larger companies.”
The small and medium enterprise ecosystem model doesn’t just benefit clients, it also supports workforce development.
Training and mentoring the next generation of engineers is key to creating a sustainable workforce and providing a diverse range of opportunities to create well rounded engineers.
“There is a huge volume of undergraduates and graduates in Australia, both Australian students and international students, who need support to gain experience,” Duhig said.
“Engaging a small to medium enterprise engineering consultancy is beneficial because, rather than offshoring design, you can develop and mentor young Australian-trained engineers, technicians and designers for Australian-based projects.”
Expanding opportunity
Price and Duhig hope that, as more clients recognise the value of small and medium enterprises, companies like Red Fox will see more opportunity to demonstrate their expertise.
“We’ve seen a lot of progress with Queensland’s Procurement Policy, which includes a 30 per cent spend target for small-medium enterprises,” Price said.
“With this policy now in effect, we are beginning to see a shift in tender opportunities, where we can now demonstrate how SMEs can provide a real alternative.”
And while many smaller engineering consultants and designers are prequalified in the relevant discipline, the prequalification process itself can be labour-intensive, especially if it involves working across state borders.
“It’s a time-consuming cost on business, one that every size business must adhere to,” Duhig said.
“If you’re a large consultant, you have got a range of staff to draw upon to dedicate their time to prequalification applications. If you’re a small or medium enterprise business, you’ve got between 20 and 50 staff, you still have to put in the same level of effort.”
National prequalification schemes could simplify this process by reducing the number of applications a business would need to make, especially on multistate projects.
“You need to find the sweet spot of having the right number pre-qualification categories to tailor procurement to suit the project,” Price said.
Red Fox Advisory are engineers in civil, structural, geotechnical and contract administration. Find out more.
