8th October 2014, 12:46 PM
On a recent job whenever we put in a predicted cost for the next bit of work the client asked us to cut costs as all the other sub-contractors (building/demolishing etc) costs were higher than expected.
With the threat of the work being put out for re-tendering and the knowledge that there are plenty of cowboy operations out there that would put in a lower cost and not do the archaeology properly and get away with it, what can you do?
Especially as a mix up at county level made doing any archaeology difficult to justify. Luckily the client was keen to do the right thing even though they didn't have to.
It sometimes seems that we have no allies, no one backs us up when we tell a client it will cost you £X to dig and record this really important stuff here. With planners and consultants saying 'yeah, its ok to machine that stuff out,' and dubious 'archaeological contractors' claiming they can do a job for half the price (that wouldn't even cover the excavation let alone the post-ex).
If people (us, the powers that be, the general public) are really bothered about preserving even a bit of our cultural heritage before it is destroyed by plough, spade and machine bucket archaeology NEEDS TO BE REGULATED!
With the threat of the work being put out for re-tendering and the knowledge that there are plenty of cowboy operations out there that would put in a lower cost and not do the archaeology properly and get away with it, what can you do?
Especially as a mix up at county level made doing any archaeology difficult to justify. Luckily the client was keen to do the right thing even though they didn't have to.
It sometimes seems that we have no allies, no one backs us up when we tell a client it will cost you £X to dig and record this really important stuff here. With planners and consultants saying 'yeah, its ok to machine that stuff out,' and dubious 'archaeological contractors' claiming they can do a job for half the price (that wouldn't even cover the excavation let alone the post-ex).
If people (us, the powers that be, the general public) are really bothered about preserving even a bit of our cultural heritage before it is destroyed by plough, spade and machine bucket archaeology NEEDS TO BE REGULATED!