A friend of mine said to me once, in any big firm there is plenty of room for empty heads

Smaller firms carry less dead wood, they wouldn't survive otherwise.

Andy, I can only agree with what you said, but my point is if you work in a branch with 15 engineers and two are as thick as sh!t, they not only damage the company name but the 13 other engineers rep too! Tarred with the same brush
Some of us don't like it!
As to making an arse of things, am sure you being a Star man have priced jobs only to be undercut on price by smaller firms and then went back to the site a year later to sort it out.
Or dare i say it but are you recommending that customers should avoid the bigger industrial contractors for smaller ones?

Regards

Chopper