Tell me about a time when you were in disagreement with the construction crew. What was the problem and how was it resolved?
As engineers move up the ladder, their responsibilities evolve to include more direct conversations with clients and construction crews. This is where conflicts can begin to develop. Construction crews have their own agendas, which might differ from how you saw it as an engineer when you drew it up. Construction companies have their own internal procedures, driven by their ultimate goal of completing the job safely for the lowest cost possible.
"On a large bridge project, the construction team kept pushing us to design a temporary shoring system to their specifications, but there was no way their proposed section could be safely installed. They went to another firm in the hopes that someone else could give them what they wanted. Ultimately, they came back to us to complete the design of their shoring system as we had originally intended."