Many clients will do what they can to avoid putting a diver in the water simply because of the safety/ safety record issue (read into that what you will). In such cases if you come up with a diver only solution, verses other companies offering an ROV only solution, you may lose out on the work.
I agree Ray.. if it’s general visual Inspection stuff then an ROV is most likely the preferred method of choice. If there is a lot of member/weld cleaning and a CVI or fiddly construction then using divers would most likely be more costs effective method.
If it’s shallow water construction air divers will win every time.
For work in near zero vis water an ROV will be next to useless when it comes to actually doing the job. A diver may take longer to get to the job site but once there, they can feel their way around to get the job done.
In the 0-50m range a mix of the two, Inspection ROV combined with an air Dive spread, can cover many angles on an inspection or construction job. This gives you and the client various options at any given time in say bad vis, bad weather, etc. The ROV can be handy for site location/surveys, watching gear down, pre dive planning (for the divers) and saving on diver in water time. The last point will not be missed by the client.
On the diving front, steer well away from Mix Gas surface diving. It’s one of the surest ways to run the risk of bending someone and is banned in a number of parts of the world, North Sea included. Many clients will not allow it it on their work site either.
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