weasel decentral

Yes certainly get in touch. I am penalty handcuffed to Mumbai for the next two years so barring Armageddon I'll be loitering around in the shadows here for a while yet.

DXBtoDOH

What are the construction projects bringing Westerners to India?

Couldn't find enough talented people within their 1+billion population?

Or is it a case of Indians being, you know Indians

weasel decentral

From a construction point of view typically high rise or more specialist structures bring the productive construction westerners, not sure of the attraction for foreign PM companies (though there are not many thankfully). The Indians are very much old school in construction methods so don't have good experience of PT, slip-forms, jump forms, internal climbing and luffing cranes etc. and also almost zero structural steel or high tech facade experience.

From a client point of view, the less naive client is sick of dealing with local contractors and the stop/start nature of it all. So they are giving international guys a whirl right now.

This current attempt to eradicate cash payments is helping international companies also because they are not part of that, so now the local builders' rates will come up and close the tender gap between us.

Edit to say; the contract types are also moving to a more cost plus type model which is removing a lot of the risk from the contractor, and giving the client the penny pinching interference ability that they enjoy here. So it's win-win or maybe lose-lose depending on your frustration tolerance level.

scrubbedexpat141

The stuff we do is big, has to be to pay for our fees or we simply aren't worthwhile...But the resi stuff we do is 'super premium high end 7*' apparently and the places sell for $1m++++++

Other shit is major mixed use / retail type schemes. Has to be big though.

I've noticed that a couple of our expats there are really pleased to be near the top of the food chain, pretend it's the Raj still and just have a swarm of Indians to do their bidding non stop. It's a bit uncomfortable at times.

DXBtoDOH

I had a mate who moved out to India for work. He was a London liberal but after a year when I went to see him he'd gone all expat-Raj style. His justification was that the only way to get anything done in India was to be arrogant as ***** because that's what the Indian workers expect and if you're nice and polite they think you're not serious or what you're requesting is not important, so they wobble their heads, say yes, and don't do it. But bark at them, take a demanding tone like an old school master, that's how you get stuff done.

scrubbedexpat141

May well be right, but I just thought this bloke came across as a complete ****, talking about riding horseback to old Raj Palaces and being treated like a King etc.

On site is one thing to get a job done, safely. Outside of that - don't be a **** if you don't need to be.

Maybe I should be our International Employee Relations / PR / Communications / Social Media Exec...

jam25mack

We have several offices in India and a big design centre. Seems to work OK as a lot of our guys from here were given the bye bye or relocate option when times were tough so we have a lot of decently trained guys on the ground already. Saying that we have had offices over there for years so we are pretty well set up.

As for scale, as expected we only do the big stuff really. Mumbai Airport, Kishinganga Tunnel (first TBM tunnel through the Himalayas - a true engineering first in those conditions) etc etc.

weasel decentral

In my experience anyone operating like that is usually out of their depth, and is running the project on a reactionary basis, with zero planning. Pretty similar to the ME in that regard really, a lot of last minute shouting and bullying, when the so called 'manager' realises he has missed something important.

weasel decentral

That's where the contradiction is though; the sales price has zero to do with the PMC or contractor. To put it in context, a tender for 700 apartments that might sell for around the $1m each but the construction cost might barely creep over $80m total.
Using these figures for a foreign PMC on a percentage of the construction costs, it is hard for me to see how it stacks up. Unless of course there is one expat flying the flag and all the rest are local hires at local rates.
I see Aecom doing that here but then the quality is as good or bad (depending on your view) as a local PMC.

scrubbedexpat141

Yes and no. Tailored fit-outs etc can drive the final costs, which has a big bearing on the structure of our team and services during fit out and whether our team can add value to so much work.
Shell and core might be reasonable, but a truly decent set of towers won't finish low budget.

That being said, our teams are a mixture.
Expat lead, with a couple of others in leadership.
Other senior roles filled by Indian expats.
Lower roles / supernintendo's etc filled by local staff.

Like with any PMC, they're buying the person and the processes. Wrong person and processes are toss, right person and good application of the systems - you're flying.

We have some very good guys there, but similarly we've had some shockers.

weasel decentral

I must get ask our guys what they are tendering with any foreign PMCs at the moment, I'd be interested to see if we have pricing differences versus local clients.

The $80m figure wasn't low budget at all, the actual sqm construction costs here are incredibly cheap even for high end works.

I have to say though, it's a really enjoyable place to work and live.

DXBtoDOH

How?

Just curious. I'd imagine it'd be a mad place but fascinating. For the right person it'd be a great adventure.

weasel decentral

It is a good adventure and I quite like the chaos of it all. The people are generally very personable and friendly, there is none of the souk type hassle or aggressive beggars around.
Professionally if you know your onions, then after a while your local guys/client will let you get on with it and be happy to be out of taking responsibility.

There are frustrations but you need to these things go or go crazy.

Boomhauer

Is it especially time-consuming / impossible is it to find quality competent workers and contractors for construction work (interior and exterior work)? Compared to UK and Gulf region.

weasel decentral

Easier than the gulf as the workers are local not shipped in. More difficult than the UK but our model is to use direct labour almost everywhere so we train and apprentice the staff we take in to get around this.