Why and when do you need a sports pitch consultant?

My next statement will throw the cat amongst the pigeons, but I’ve never been one to shy away from conflict when the greater good needs to shine through. You will trust your contractor to tell you the truth and give the best advice possible….big mistake. From my experience very few contractors understand the playing surface, rather they rely on their sales manager who I can assure you in most cases are just trying to meet a target rather than give you the best solution for your particular job at hand.

The contractor might see the risks, but not identify them as their ‘tactic’ might be get their foot in the door then ‘charge like a wounded bull’ on any extras they can identify. This tactic is all too common; win on a very low margin with visible risks and extras in front of them and then make the money on the job. I know all about this as I’ve been on the other side of the fence as a contracts manager, I am now wearing the ‘poacher come gamekeeper’ badge however.

Another situation you could be throwing yourself into, perhaps even more scary, is a contractor, or at least the guy looking at your project, not having enough experience/savvy/ability, to see the risks involved. the project gets under-priced, problems creep in, and you haven’t got the budget to get it across the line in a satisfactory fashion

So here’s the ‘why’ in this equation, we will identify the risks, whilst levelling the playing field with the right solution and a unilateral ‘quality concept’, or bar, which nobody pricing you work can limbo under. We also protect you contractually, ensuring best value and quality is driven across the line with no fuss and drama leading up to and whilst executing the project. We will then tend to tie in your contractor to the post construction phase, ensuring any defects are picked up on before the run across the hill never to be seen again.

‘When’ is the easy one to answer; as soon as you conceive the project please. EcoSport Innovations have the habit of offering too much free advice in the early stages of any project, it costs us very little to give you a quick steer and should we be appointed this intervention is greatly appreciated in order that we’re not unravelling a quagmire of ill conceived decisions made by stakeholders relying on AI and website searches as well as advice from who knows, ‘friend of a friend knows a bit about synthetic turf’, and so on.

One final point on the matter…we don’t work for nothing of course, but I can assure you that appointing us at the right stage on proceedings and allowing nus to do our job, we will save you money in the long run. Competitive tendering will inevitably sharpen your contractor’s pencil, the right choice of surface will extend the lifecycle cost of the facility, identifying risks and addressing them at the competitive tender stage will stop them being used to make additional profit on the job, effective contract administration…need I go on?

I have seen far too many Parish Councils, sports clubs, schools, and so on, get ripped off by unscrupulous contractors or delivered a system which is so far off the mark and provides a second class facility for the users, and a regret for the buyer. Please pick up the phone before heading down rabbit holes, thank you.