Reduced punchlist = Increased profit
We belong to an era that has automated nearly every process available to some extent. Hanging door blanks in a jamb is a lost art in the field and will solicit confused looks from many of our carpenters. Much of what we do gets pushed off to specialists that do one thing very well. The jack of all trades is often seen as antiquated or too expensive. This axiom is often also true for our field leadership. Those that fully understand the technical aspects of the trades are often not taught the intricacies of management and vice versa. In a tough market we normally can’t pad our estimates to include missed items. We have to get more efficient, and reducing or eliminating end of project completion items is a great place to start.
I think part of our training program should include fundamental skill tasks as well as management tasks. I don’t think it is necessary to teach a superintendent exactly how to cope/miter crown moulding, but it is important that he/she understands what it should look like at the end of the project. If we can eliminate or, at the very least, take a big chunk out of the punchlist at the end of the project through improved quality control, we have earned much more than the cost of training in time and production costs.
I have often suggested that a list of Quality control items that often find their ways onto punchlists get put together. At a monthly meeting, take one or two of the items and explain how this issue made it to the end of the project before being corrected and when/how could it have spotted earlier. Some punchlist items are difficult to spot until final trades are completed. Others can and should be caught at the time the subcontractor is on site performing their portion of the project when it can be most efficiently corrected.
We are all getting pushed for tighter margins and tighter times to completion. Right now, the client holds the upper hand. Eliminating time and expense from completion items is a great way to increase profit without increasing bids and/or proposed profit margins. If we think of each item on the punchlist as costing a minimum of $500-$1000 to correct, it easily adds up to a significant dent in our budgets.
Tags: Management, profit, Punchlist
January 28th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
If you have a punch list other than things that are not done you are not doing your QA job correctly. I read in a spec book a few years ago the exact description of the GC’s role. It said “Contractor shall closely inspect all materials as delivered and all work as performed and shall promptly reject and return all substandard materials and redo all substandard work without awaiting Architect’s inspection and rejection thereof. It is the job of the GC not the architect to do a punch list and repair the defects. The punch list is a direct reflection of the GC’s QA team and therefore says a lot about the quality you will accept. A BMW doesn’t accept the same quality as a Volkswagen. BMW is able to charge more for their work because of the level of quality that is built into their cars, we need to treat our jobs with the same attention to quality. It is the only thing that will allow you charge more than your competitors and set your reputation apart from the guys that win jobs only on price. If someone is so concerned about price you probably do not want to work for them. Some times the guys that sell only on price are your best salesmen. We need to let them successed (sell a few jobs below cost) in order for them to fail (go out of business).
February 4th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
I kept a list of items over several years and several projects that often showed up on punchlists and compiled them into a checklist for each trade contractor that I hand out at the beginning of each new project. I believe the trade contractor is primarily responsible for providing a finished product to the general contractor. That product must be clean, correct and compliant. They’re the experts who are hired for their expertise in their area. I expect my superintendents to be managers, not necessarily experts at doing the trades’ jobs. I require my subcontractors to get inspections from the city/county/state/federal inspectors and to deliver their product to me and the trade that follows them. I wouldn’t buy a BMW and then take it to the safety board and EPA and such to get final inspections to make sure the car meets standards. The same, why would I take a product from a subcontractor and then expect my “non-expert” superintendent to walk an inspection with the inspector to make sure it’s compliant? Obviously, the superintendent needs to know something about each trade, and he’s going to be held responsible for ensuring it’s correct, and the general contractor is ultimately responsible for the project, but the trades are the experts and that’s what they get paid for. By providing a checklist with the bid package and letting everyone know what’s expected before they even start bidding, the punchlists have gotten shorter, saved everyone time and money and produced a much better product.
February 5th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
That’s a great concept, Brian. History is the best teacher, but only if we pay attention and make the effort to learn from it. What you have done with your checklist is to turn your past omissions/errors/sticking points into not only a learning point for your staff and trades but into tangible time and dollar savings as well. Your trade partners are learning from this list and honing their craft from your efforts, as well. That to me sounds like a win/win.
I am curious if you set aside training time to discuss these items with your staff or do you make it an on the job training discussion?
February 6th, 2009 at 10:40 am
Thanks for your comments, Scott. I will completely agree that our job as GC’s is to maintain quality control and not pass that off to the architect. I would also submit that an organization’s “Culture of Quality” can dictate their clients’ perceptions on them and have an impact on what you can charge the clients. Ultimately, I was attempting to convey that it can be costly in both time and budget to assume that our supervisors can know every nuance of every trade, and making some direct training available that helps them to have a better understanding of each trade helps to improve our entire supply chain. Your points are spot on.
March 6th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
mmoore
In response to your February 5th comments, I set aside training on Wednesday’s at 3:00 for staff training, Tuesday mornings during the weekly trade contractor meeting for only a few minutes. I spent a lot of time doing site inspections and then I did special “remedial” training as necessary. I worked with many of the trades for several years. At first, they thought my requirements were over the top. After a while, they saw the jobs ran smoother, quicker, and better and they were doing less pickup work and making more money with less effort.
March 14th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
I am a Superintendent, I always have very small or 0 punch lists. This is because I am capable at the various disciplines and an eye for quality. I treat my projects as my own. What would I accept at home? I am tough with subcontractors on their finished products, and have the respect of everyone. Too often General Contractors hire Superintendents according to salary, when he is the most important employee. He affects, profit, quality, safety, and the bottom line. I guess yhou get what you pay for, sometimes.
March 16th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Excellent thoughts, Ray. It sounds like you have an excellent grasp on not only the function of a job superintendent, but also a great grasp on numerous trades. This makes you invaluable to your employer! I would like to focus on what got you to where you are, in terms of understanding of the trades? Even those of us that do not hire on “salary” alone have to spend time developing young staff for the future. What would you suggest as a method of learning for a young superintendent to get to the point where you are at? There are honestly not many jack of all trades superintendents left. I still believe that we have to set aside training time to move our superintendents along the route to get to the point where they have enough of a comfort level to “call out” an issue before it becomes a costly punch list item. Aside from hiring the highest dollar and most experienced superintendents in the business, what ideas do you think would work to help groom and establish a developing superintendent?
This has been a great topic! Thanks for your feedback and comments.