While Perfikot was burning the midnight oil for the development of the new steam engine, the construction company arriving at Sweetberry Island had received the construction blueprints, and started unloading various engineering equipment to begin work.
They recruited some local natives, while also bringing some of their company’s workers.
After all, apart from the physical labor, there were some technical tasks involved in construction. Besides labor workers, they needed engineers and skilled workers who understood technology.
Yet when the engineers of this construction company got the blueprints and were surveying the site while discussing the construction plan, the manager responsible for this project looked at the drawings and complained: "Who designed this? It’s just a warehouse on an island, why dig such a deep foundation?
The costs have tripled, and the entire warehouse is half-buried underground, making loading and unloading difficult. Even the construction difficulty and duration are much higher than for a normal warehouse!
This is simply the design of an amateur! I must talk to the owner; we should use a simpler construction plan! Tom, find the harbor warehouse blueprints from last time! I remember asking you to bring them."
The behavior of this project manager seemed somewhat irrational, but from another angle, there wasn’t really anything wrong.
After all, his starting point was to save inputs for the client, with the ultimate goal of making the company more efficient in completing the projects at hand, thereby taking on more work and earning more money.
Changing Perfikot’s semi-submerged warehouse design to an ordinary normal warehouse could shorten the construction period by two-thirds, significantly reducing the construction difficulty and cost.
At first glance, it might seem as though the construction company earns less, but that’s not how the accounts are calculated.
First of all, the money earned by the company doesn’t decrease due to shortened construction periods and reduced construction costs.
The construction company settles the project funds based on the project progress, not by the construction cycle. The sooner it’s completed, the more they earn.
This intention was meant to prevent construction companies from maliciously delaying the construction cycle to tier more project funds, but in some ways, it also caused project managers to have the bad habit of rushing the project cycle.
After all, rushing the construction cycle sometimes leads to certain detailed aspects being inadequately handled, which could potentially cause issues.
But in this era, this isn’t particularly a big deal, as long as it passes the client’s inspection, the rest isn’t the construction company’s matter.
The project manager earns commissions based on the projects, so the more projects he completes, the more he earns.
Thus, project managers often like to adopt construction plans that can shorten the construction cycle, enabling them to take on more projects in the same amount of time, thereby earning more money. S~eaʀᴄh the NôvelFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
This is also the main reason this construction company has become the largest in the New Continent because their ability to earn is truly strong.
Hence, when confronted with such complex and time-consuming projects, the project manager from this company would proactively help clients "optimize" the construction plan, meeting requirements while attempting to lower costs and compress the construction cycle as much as possible.
For clients, reaching their goals with less money and less time isn’t a bad thing.
Therefore, most times, these project managers can persuade clients to accept their plans through their own "professionalism."
Though the company’s engineers didn’t quite approve of this approach, they also chose silence and cooperation in the face of the real bonuses received.
However, this time, when the project manager brought the engineers to find the old steward Foster, requesting to see Perfikot, they hit a snag.
"The construction plan given by the lady requires neither your suggestions nor queries. The only thing you need to do is complete the construction according to her requirements." The old steward rejected the project manager’s request with a near-unfriendly and cold face.
In Foster’s view, what these hired construction workers need to do is simply follow the lady’s requirements to perform the construction, completing what she needs to be built, rather than questioning her design.
How could the genius of the lady compare to or be critiqued by these obviously mundane colonists at a glance?
And because of this, Foster does not show them any favorable expression.
Yet the project manager was clearly not giving up. He kept persuading Foster: "Listen to me, sir, I don’t know who designed this blueprint, but it does have issues!
This type of sunken warehouse complicates loading and unloading goods, and costs for construction and maintenance are higher, requiring a long construction period to complete.
If you are willing to take me to see your lady, I can persuade her to adopt a simpler, more efficient plan. With this plan, we can reduce the construction period to a third of the original, and decrease costs by at least four-ninths!"
Foster didn’t care about the cost issues. Although the Brandlis Clan isn’t very wealthy, Perfikot had sold a large portion of her properties in Langton for a significant sum earlier, hence she doesn’t mind this expense.
Moreover, this project is bankrolled by the Empire, utilizing the funds previously raised by Perfikot under the Royal Family’s name for the Arctic expedition, making them even less worried about spending money.
But if the construction period can be shortened to save time, then Foster does care about it.
Given that he has often heard Perfikot mention the impending apocalypse, with limited time left, he naturally cared about time issues.
Thus, after careful consideration, Foster decided to take them to see Perfikot.
"You have five minutes." The old steward, wearing a cold face, led them aboard the White Gem.
According to Perfikot’s schedule, she would have fifteen minutes of rest time next, which was just enough time to listen to whatever they wished to say.
The project manager and engineers felt a wave of delight, perceiving this as a positive sign. As long as they could persuade this so-called lady, they would earn extra from this negotiation.
However, when they boarded the White Gem, they started feeling uneasy again. Almost every corridor and corner of the ship had soldiers on guard, the vigilance even surpassing that of the Governor’s mansion.
Especially upon reaching the laboratory door where Perfikot was, they found two fully armored Knights guarding the entrance.
This setup made them hesitant, feeling it might be alright to occasionally forgo a minor earning.
But ultimately, greed triumphed over reason, and they entered the library, meeting Perfikot who was resting beside a tea table, explaining their intent to her.