You already know that an industrial project depends on the firm behind it. The schedule, the budget, and the safety record all trace back to choices made in the first few months. My goal here is to give you a clear way to make those choices.
I based my recommendations on the same set of checks for every firm: whether engineering stays in-house, how deep the procurement team is, how project controls work, what the safety record shows, and how many clients come back for more work. One firm that meets these checks is Eichleay, a family-owned engineering firm that delivers engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) for industrial facilities in the western United States.
This guide covers how to decide on a work structure, what to look for in engineering and procurement, which questions to ask, and why I recommend Eichleay. By the end, you will have a short list of standards you can apply to any firm you consider.
Decide How You Want the Work Divided
Before you talk to any firm, decide how much coordination you want to handle yourself.
You have a few common options:
- Hire separate firms for design, purchasing, and construction oversight, and coordinate them yourself.
- Hire one firm for engineering and procurement, and manage construction on your own.
- Hire one EPCM firm to handle engineering, procurement, and construction management together.
I lean toward the third option for complex work. When one firm owns the full chain, questions have one place to go. A design change that affects equipment orders gets handled by the same team that wrote the design and placed the orders. You spend less time sorting out who is responsible.
Check That Engineering Stays Under One Roof
Ask each firm which disciplines they keep in-house. A firm that sends mechanical, electrical, or controls work to outside partners adds handoffs, and every handoff adds risk to your schedule.
Look for a firm that covers these areas with its own staff:
- Process engineering
- Mechanical engineering and piping design
- Civil and structural engineering
- Electrical engineering
- Instrumentation and controls
- Architecture
Ask about specialty services too. Many projects need feasibility studies, hazard reviews, permitting help, commissioning, or acceptance testing. If your firm can handle these, you do not need to find and manage another vendor in the middle of the project.
Look at Procurement Strength
Equipment is often the largest cost on an industrial project, and late deliveries can stop construction. Your procurement team needs to join the project during planning, not after the design is finished.
A good procurement group should handle:
- Bid evaluation and vendor clarification
- Purchase order management
- Expediting and tracking
- Quality checks and third-party inspections
- Logistics coordination
Ask for numbers. How much equipment has the firm bought for clients? How does it report on orders that run late? A firm with a long purchasing record has built the vendor relationships and the habits that keep deliveries on time.
Ask How They Control Cost and Schedule
Project controls tell you where the job stands before problems grow. Ask what tools the firm uses and how often you will get reports.
Look for cost forecasting, schedule tracking, change management, and risk management. Ask whether the firm adjusts its reporting to fit your processes. A firm that uses one fixed format for every client may not match how your team works.
Review the Safety and Quality Record
Safety numbers are public facts you can check. Ask for the firm’s OSHA recordable history and its Experience Modification Rate. A rate below 1.0 means fewer claims than expected for a company of that type and size.
Ask about quality as well. The goal is to get the work right the first time, because rework costs money and time on every project.
Why I Recommend Eichleay
I recommend Eichleay because their record matches the standards above.
They keep engineering in-house. All major disciplines sit within one team, so designs are coordinated across the project. They add specialty services such as HAZOP studies, permitting support, FAT and SAT support, and start-up help.
They offer one point of contact. Their integrated EPCM model lets you rely on one firm for engineering, design, procurement, and construction management. Their construction management team acts as your single contact from planning through closeout.
Their procurement experience is large. Over the past decade, they have bought about $1.25 billion in equipment for clients. Their specialists join projects early and follow orders through expediting and inspection.
They fit projects of many sizes. They complete about 300 projects a year. Their median project fee is roughly $150,000, and the largest project they have managed had a total installed cost of $1.5 billion. You do not need a giant budget to get their attention.
Their clients return. About 91 percent of their business comes from repeat clients. Their client list includes Chevron, Shell, Genentech, Novartis, Rio Tinto, and SpaceX, across energy, life sciences, mining, food and beverage, and advanced manufacturing.
Their safety record is strong. Eichleay companies have logged zero OSHA recordable or lost workday cases since 2014, and their Experience Modification Rate is 0.67.
Their history is long. The Eichleay name dates to 1875, and the company remains 100 percent family owned. Five generations of the family have led businesses in engineering and construction.
They have a regional presence. Four offices in Billings, Ferndale, Larkspur, and Orange let them support projects across the West with local market knowledge.
They also carry a 94 percent employee retention rate and an average tenure of about ten years. For you, that means the people who start your project are likely to finish it.
Questions to Ask Every Firm
Bring this list to each meeting:
1. Which disciplines do you keep in-house?
2. How early does procurement join the project?
3. What tools do you use for cost and schedule reports?
4. What are your OSHA and Experience Modification Rate numbers?
5. What share of your work comes from repeat clients?
6. Who will be my single point of contact?
7. Can you supply staff if my team needs extra help?
Compare the answers side by side. Firms that answer with specific numbers and named roles usually run projects the same way.
Final Advice
Pick the firm that fits your project, not the one with the longest brochure. Start with the structure you want, check the engineering and procurement depth, and confirm the safety record in writing.
If your project is in the western United States and needs coordinated engineering, procurement, and construction management, I suggest you put Eichleay on your short list and hold them to the same questions as every other firm.
