19th April 2010, 11:23 AM
I think the worst case I saw was when a client very indiscretely emailed everyone on the conty list for a price (it must have been in excess of 40 organisations/individuals), so thanks to the curator for enabling that! The problem for the profession is that this of course allows them to find the very cheapest price - in fact, why not go the whole hog and set up a 'Compare' type website for archaeologists?! (I'm beginning to think some contractors are winning work on a sort of 'we guarentee to beat the nearest quote or we'll refund the difference' basis as it is, but that's another matter). Of course, in that case probably over half wouldn't have even replied for the reasons I mentioned before, they hardly ever do work in the area and probably knew it was a waste of time putting in a quote for such a small job.
I can't imagine such lists existing in other trades, perhaps they do. I would like to think that this could be an area that the IfA would be able to step in, providing a suitable list with curators pointing people in its direction since many curators already already flag up RAOs and/or insist on some sort of IfA or equivalent qualification. The IfA would need to sort out its directories first though as their online 'search for an RAO' facility is basically rubbish, especially when compared to BAJRs equivalent.
I can't imagine such lists existing in other trades, perhaps they do. I would like to think that this could be an area that the IfA would be able to step in, providing a suitable list with curators pointing people in its direction since many curators already already flag up RAOs and/or insist on some sort of IfA or equivalent qualification. The IfA would need to sort out its directories first though as their online 'search for an RAO' facility is basically rubbish, especially when compared to BAJRs equivalent.