THE CLIENT RELATIONSHIP AND BUSINESS

DEVELOPMENT
THE CIVIL ENGINEERING
PRACTICE
QUALITY

• Is one satisfactorily meeting both the expectations

of the client and/or employer and the requirements
of the project.
• It cannot be achieved only by effort at the
beginning or at the end of the project.
• Conscious
• Continuous
• Consistent
Professional Responsibility
• Studying
• Conceiving
• Designing
• Observing Construction
• Assisting in operation and
• Maintenance
• Fundamental Canon 1
• Civil Engineers shall conduct themselves in
highly Professional Manner and Serve as
faithful Trustee or agents of their client or
employers
• Civil Engineers are therefor bound by the
Fundamental Canons of Ethics
• Care and protection of the environment as
paramount in the Civil Engineer’s work
engagement
• Civil Engineers must always strive to
maintain the highest standard of Ethical
Professional Practice in their dealing with
Client employers, employees, competitors
and the community
Client Civil Engineer Relationship
•Obligations of the Civil Engineer
• Classification of Civil Engineer Services
• Staged services
• Conflict of interest
Client Civil Engineer Relationship
• Obligations of the Client
• Payment
• Staged services
• Reasonable Time
• Cooperation
• When aware of any matter which will change
or has changed the scope of the Civil
Engineer’s Services, the Client shall notify in
writing within 7days the Civil Engineer
containing as far as is practicable, the
particulars of the change.
Client Civil Engineer Relationship

• Liability of the Civil Engineer and the Client

• Breach of contract:Damages:Payment
• Both for Client and Civil Engineer
• Undertaken by a third party or arbitrator
THE CLIENT RELATIONSHIP AND BUSINESS
DEVELOPMENT
• Almost all engineering projects begin with a client
who has a need to be filled with a budget and
schedule in mind. Building the relationship with the
client is the foundation of business development.

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THE CLIENT RELATIONSHIP AND BUSINESS
DEVELOPMENT
• A customer is the most important visitor on our premises, he
is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not
an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not
an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing
him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving
us an opportunity to do so.
—Mahatma Gandhi

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THE CLIENT RELATIONSHIP AND BUSINESS
DEVELOPMENT
The key components to a successful client relationship are:
• Trust
• Respect
• Managing Expectations—It’s all about relationships
• Follow-through
• Effective Communication

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THE CLIENT RELATIONSHIP AND BUSINESS
DEVELOPMENT
• Quality
• Going above and beyond the competitors
• Personalize your delivery

Client service will distinguish a good engineer from an

excellent engineer. And, the client relationship is at the
heart of client service.

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THE FOUNDATION OF A LASTING
RELATIONSHIP

Diagram for Building

Relationships

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 THE FOUNDATION OF A LASTING
RELATIONSHIP
Trust:
• In the course of the relationship the engineer will learn a lot about the client’s
business. This information about the client’s business model may include:

1. Key partners or subcontractors

2. Raw materials used in their process
3. The client’s clients and/or competitors
4. Market segment pricing and/or profit margins
5. Regulations governing their business activities including commerce and
operations
6. Other business elements for a successful profitable business

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THE FOUNDATION OF A LASTING
RELATIONSHIP
Respect: It is the foundation of strong relationships.
• Respect is demonstrated by recognizing a person’s abilities
or qualities especially as a component of an organization or
company.
• Respect toward another individual demonstrates your
recognition of them as having a sense of worth and a
valuable place in their organization and society.

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THE FOUNDATION OF A LASTING
RELATIONSHIP
Commitment:
• Commitment is a promise or a pledge that you provide to someone.
• People, in general, and clients in particular enjoy hearing commitments
but are often cautious about believing or trusting someone who gives a
verbal commitment.
• The caution comes about because almost everyone has learned the
adage that ‘‘words are cheap and actions are valuable.’’

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THE FOUNDATION OF A LASTING
RELATIONSHIP
Follow-through:
• Follow-through is the process by which the commitment is
driven home to the client (or to the public) and the initial
promise is demonstrated in real-time delivery.

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THE FOUNDATION OF A LASTING
RELATIONSHIP
Communication:
• To achieve effective communication it is essential to send
and receive ‘‘the complete message.’’

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 BUILDING UPON THE RELATIONSHIP—THE
SUPERSTRUCTURE
Once a solid relationship is present, the engineer can look forward to building
upon this foundation to create a lasting relationship.
• Maintaining the scope/schedule/budget relationship
• Understanding the client’s business model and stakeholders:

This understanding goes beyond the simple grasp of knowledge the client completes
his/her task and receives compensation or recognition for it. This understanding
includes knowing the competitors, key business terms and concepts, the client’s
management structure, products, issues, and other related components of the
client’s business.

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 BUILDING UPON THE RELATIONSHIP—THE
SUPERSTRUCTURE
• Anticipating the client’s needs: Anticipating the client’s needs
before they make a request can help crystallize their thought
processes. If the timing is right, this effort can help shape the
client’s project while the flexibility to define the scope of work
still exists.

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 BUILDING UPON THE RELATIONSHIP—THE
SUPERSTRUCTURE
• Delivering quality: The quality of the deliverable will be related closely to
the schedule, the level of effort, and corresponding fee to produce the
deliverable.
• Remembering the important stuff: The ‘‘important stuff’’ could be anything
that is important to the client. Important things might include quality,
schedule, the client’s birthday or favorite holiday; the form or package of
the deliverable; big issues like security, or little ones like whether the client
likes their middle initial on the transmittal letter. In order to enhance the
client relationship, the engineer should observe, listen, remember, and
employ the important stuff in the relationship.

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 MAINTAINING THE RELATIONSHIP
Maintaining a superior client relationship means going above and beyond the
competitors.
Personalize Your Delivery
• Personalized delivery for client deliverables can be an actual delivery made
in person by the engineer or submitting the deliverable before the due date.
• Choosing clients carefully
• Clients select engineers, but engineers choose to be selected. The chances of
maintaining a successful relationship with a client are enhanced if client and
engineer are well matched.

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 MAINTAINING THE RELATIONSHIP
Choosing clients carefully
• Obtaining some basic information or doing some research on a prospective
client will enhance the engineer’s odds of being selected later. Some
questions the engineer might ask are:
1. What are the current issues related to this market sector and to this client
in particular?
2. Are these issues clearly understood by the engineer and are they in his/her
practice area?
3. Has the engineer worked with more than one other client in this market
sector on a similar matter?
4. Does the engineer have relevant experience in this area?

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 MAINTAINING THE RELATIONSHIP
Setting client expectations:
• Engineers often dive into projects as soon as the client has agreed to work
with them.
• The most crucial client expectation to manage is communication.
• Client and engineer should establish the frequency, type, and standards of
communication desired.
Other details on communications may include:
1. Good times to contact the client
2. When the engineer is available
3. The preferred method of contact, e.g, phone, text messages, or e-mail
4. How to handle urgent messages

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 MAINTAINING THE RELATIONSHIP
Maintaining ethical and moral standards:
• Ethical treatment of clients is essential for maintaining a positive client
relationship.
Earning a profit:
• In private enterprise maintaining a profit isn’t just a principle, it is a
requirement.
• In general, a profit is required for businesses to stay in business. Thus, both
clients and engineers need to understand that the engineer’s ability to make
a profit on a project is a key to maintaining a strong client relationship.

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 CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
• In the professional world, providing thorough and direct communication is
an effort to avoid conflict. However, reality sometimes sets in with difficult
issues like tight schedules, budget constraints, contract issues, competition
for resources, subcontracting issues, and more. Even the most experienced
project manager and experienced team can encounter unexpected issues
that result in a conflict between the engineer and client or owner.

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 CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
The 4 Cs of Conflict Management
• Collaboration—A collaborative strategy in conflict management is when
two parties come up with a completely new idea that pleases them both.
Win/Win
• Compromise—A compromise in conflict management is when two or more
sides agree to accept less than they originally wanted. Draw/Draw
• Co-existence—Both parties agree to disagree. Lose/Lose
• Capitulation—One party completely gives up resisting the other.
Lose/Win (Maybe)

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DAMAGES

• I found that the Civil Engineer undertaking Services is liable to the

Client, damages shall be payable on the following terms;
1. Damages payable shall be limited to the amount of reasonably
foreseeable loss and damages suffered as a direct result of such
breach.
2. The maximum amount of damage payable in respect of
liability, whether under law or contract, or otherwise, is limited to the
amount specified in the Specific Provisions or lesser of 300,000 or 10%
of the total amount of damages of the portion pf the work attributable
to the Civil Engineer’s breach of duty or 25% total of fees payable
under their Agreement.

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 3. If found to be liable, in circumstances where the acts or
omissions of a third party have contributed to the loss or damage, the
proportion of damages payable by the party found liable shall be
limited to that proportion which is attributable to that party’s breach
of duty, whether the claims are made under contract or otherwise.

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SUSPENSION OR TERMINATION OF SERVICES

• Extended Work due to delays

• The Client may suspend and have it in writing by not less than 30days
for the Civil Engineer
• The Civil Engineer may suspend and have it in writing by not less than
30days
• A. Did not receive any payment or the payment
• B. Suspended more than 6months
• When the services is suspended or terminated, the Civil Engineer is
entitled to the payment for the services carried out

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CIVIL ENGINEERING SERVICES

• Design, Consultations and advice

• Feasibility Studies
• Field Investigations and Engineering data collection
• Environmental assessments, impact statements or engineering
reports
• Opinions of probable construction cost
• Preliminary and final designs, drawings, specifications and
construction bidding documents
• Assistance in securing construction bids and in awarding of contracts
• Construction administration and observation
• Arrangements for a performance of testing of materials and
equipment
• Etc.
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DESIGN COMPETITION

• The Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System

(PhilGEPS)
• BAC

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CONTINGENCY BASIS OF EMPLOYMENT

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PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE FOR FOREIGN CIVIL
ENGINEERS
Foreign Civil Engineers are allowed by law to practice civil engineering
in the Philippines under the following instances.

1. The laws of the foreigner’s state or country allow the citizens of

the Philippines to practice civil engineering on the same basis and
grant the same privileges as those enjoyed by the subjects or
citizens of such foreign state of country.
2. Allowed under international agreement.
3. Consultants to be engaged in foreign-funded, joint venture or
foreign-assisted projects of the government.

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1. Employees of Philippine or foreign private institutions pursuant to
law.
2. Civil Engineers who were former citizens of the Philippines, who
had been registered and issued a certificate of registration and a
professional identification card prior to their naturalization as
foreign citizens, and who , while in the country on a visit, sojourn
or permanent residence, desire to practice their profession.

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• This law is not automatic.
• Foreign Civil Engineers must still secure a certificate of
registration/license or special permit from the Professional
Regulation Commission, Agencies, organizations or individuals,
whether public or private.

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