Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting Ceremony of the El Segundo Life Guard Station was held on Wednesday August 21, 2013. It was no simple feat constructing the new county lifeguard building and restrooms on the beach in El Segundo.

After the first contractor went bankrupt, the insurance company brought in SBS Corporation to take over the project. Construction on the beach included many complications with power lines and sewer connections. The project was completed to everyone’s satisfaction and the new station provides the life guards with a state of the art facility with storage space and a second story look out tower. The new facility also provides long awaited restrooms for the public.

Historically, it was fairly easy to determine whether a construction project was public or private. Government entities built public projects, and private owners and/or developers built private projects. As our country tries to pull itself out of the worse recession it has faced in many years, however, taxpayer funds are being used for everything from bailing out banks, saving U.S. auto companies, to funding a massive stimulus package. Many of these funds will ultimately be used by private companies which is causing a significant blurring of the line between public and private construction projects.

Breaking Ground May/June 2009 by D. Matthew Jameson 

In Public Works every element of the design is supervised. Nothing will be left to error as there are no misunderstandings at all since every detail is spelled out on the plans. The sophistication levels of the management dictate that the General Contractor selected for the Public Works project must not sacrifice on quality, quite contrary they must adhere to every specification on the contact documents. State funded projects have more guidelines; management skills must be honed. Public Works contractors must be about pure management by virtue of the plans and specifications, they need to be more knowledgeable than their own subcontractors as the scrutiny of their subs will have to pass multiple levels of inspection. Private works general contractor have a tough time transitioning into Public Works, but not the other way around. Private companies hiring Public Works contractors get the best in management skills, value and quality; they must be razor sharp on the bid.

If they are doing major municipalities, schools, universities, works to stand the test of the time , are they not worth a second look in doing a private job? This is the distinction of the highest level of management. Take that General Contractor and his impressive background of Public Works, mix in with an equally impressive portfolio of Private Works and there’s your contractor, no blurred lines here.