What the hell is an EPC company anyway?

EPC stands for Engineering, Procurement and Construction.

Engineering, Procurement and Construction basically are phases of a large-scale project.

Engineering: Engineering is the first stage of a large scale project, where the project is designed and planned. Feasibility studies are done, cost analysis is made, technical drawings and documents are composed. This basically involves drawing the outlines of the project.

Procurement: This is the stage where the construction materials are sourced. These materials are to be used in the eventual construction of the project. Activities primarily include vendor shortlisting, negotiation, purchasing and eventually, quality check.

Construction: This is the final stage of the project. The installation begins and mechanical and electrical installations are made and the civil work is done. Testing is done after construction and finally, the project is commissioned.

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While these stages are different from one another, they are not totally disjoint and there is a great deal of overlap between these stages. While the project is being engineered and designed, procurement might begin simultaneously to deliver on the project timelines.

Some companies bundle all these three stages together and overlook and execute everything – right from engineering phase to procurement phase to construction phase. This model in which they work on is known as the EPC model. These companies provide end-to-end delivery for the clients. This makes things easy for the client as well as he does not have to talk to individual vendors and can instead, just talk to the one single vendor that is providing all of these services together.

EPC model also ensures greater coordination amongst all three stages because there is just one vendor handling all of this and it has greater accountability because it has to own up to project delays and failed quality checks. Thus, EPC model is being preferred these days as it is perceived to be a hassle-free solution for the clients.