My cousin is in the Army, and when he talks about his job, he can’t help using acronyms like BOG, DOD, FARP and such. Did you know that there’s even an official list of approved Army acronyms? ALICE is one of my favorites of the 205 Official Army Acronyms. The construction industry is no different. Acronyms are everywhere – RFI, CCD, EP, UNO, WDW, HSS and on and on. Sometimes, as you know, project documents can devote an entire plan sheet or spec section to a list of abbreviations and acronyms.

One of the newest construction industry acronyms is IPD, or “Integrated Project Delivery.” What exactly is IDP? Wikipedia says, “IPD is a collaborative alliance of people, systems, business structures and practices into a process that harnesses the talents and insights of all participants to optimize project results, increase value to the owner, reduce waste, and maximize efficiency through all phases of design, fabrication, and construction.” Whew…that’s a lot of words! I don’t know about you, but I think simple is usually better, so I’ll boil this down. IPD is all about teamwork – bringing the design team and the construction team together early in the project delivery process to resolve issues and streamline processes.

One of the keys to successful IPD is effective, efficient communication. Design and construction teams consist of a lot of people with a lot of specialized and valuable skills that are located over a wide area. Each of these team members has a vested interest in receiving information about the project and, in return, contributing their expertise to the project. A lot of this communication revolves around the project documentation. But, with a variety of systems, drawing types, documents, forms, and data in a variety of electronic formats, efficiently communicating project information is difficult. Technology makes efficiently sharing and using this information possible. Construction software that can view, edit or create information using a variety of file types helps incorporate this information into the project whenever it’s required.

So, whatever your definition of IPD, teamwork and communication are key. You’ve read what I think about IPD, how about you? What’s your definition of IPD?

BTW (that’s “By The Way” for us old guys) – ALICE stands for All-purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment (sounds like a fancy name for a “backpack” to me).

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I’m pleased to announce that this week’s blog is written by David DeVita, President of Carolina Safety Consultants.

I was talking with the owner of a company the other day. He said they had just received a penalty from an OSHA inspection. The violation was regarding Hazard Communication Program, or I should say, the lack there of. The owner looked at me and said, “We train our employees about the hazards of the job and how to control them.” He also goes as far to say that they have a good comprehensive safety program and a great safety record. He is only partly right. They have had luck in their favor that nothing bad has happened in a long time. His heart seems to be in the right place, however, he has failed to take the next step of having a designated safety person in the company to make sure that they are up to speed on the OSHA standards. If this sounds like you, please take action and take the next step.

Complying with a bunch of laws should not be the driving force behind your safety efforts. If it is, you are on the wrong track. Complying with the laws is just a piece of the safety puzzle. It is a part of the foundation, however, not the cornerstone. Your safety culture and desire to do what is right and keep your employees safe should be that cornerstone.

This story is just one example of the many discussions I have with owners and upper management regarding safety. There are many approaches to safety and to developing a program that works for you. Don’t buy one of those canned written programs and just put your name on it. You know your demographics better than anyone and what would or would not work for your company. At the same time, however, keep an open mind and be willing to go outside the box with your thinking. You are only limited by your imagination with the development of an effective safety program.

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As a general contractor a few years ago, I was working on a tenant improvement project. One day I remember starting the demo on a wall. We took off the drywall and found out that there were all kinds of wires and pipes running through it. These did not show up on the drawings. So, I took some photos, wrote an RFI attached the photos to the document and sent it to the architect noting its urgent status. Then I waited, not knowing if he had even received the RFI. So, I called and left a voice message – and waited some more. Eventually I received a response to the RFI, but not without losing time sending and following up on the RFI.

While we don’t always encounter projects that require significant mid-stream alterations, there are nearly always questions, that must be submitted tracked, resolved and ultimately, if everyone agrees, incorporated into the project. And because of the environment we work in, there are procedures to be followed, communication channels to be adhered to and process that has to happen to keep things legal and everyone properly informed. In addition to the initial question, there is usually additional correspondence, drawings, sketches, submittals, email discussions, sub and vendor input, design team input, owner input, pricing and other information, which, can be quite a pile of “stuff” to keep track of. All of these items, whether in an RFI, ASI, or other communication create an issue.

Some issues are easier to resolve than others, but for the ones that are more complex, or involve multiple disciplines or take a while to resolve, it’s important to have an easy way to check on status. A lot of contractors track these issues in an Excel spreadsheet, which is great, but takes time and energy to keep current. Do you have a quick way of finding all of your outstanding issues? Do you have a process for organizing, storing and attaching all supporting documentation for an issue?

Some, if not most issues revolve around document management and project team communication. Without good document management, you may lose emails, plans, sketches, and correspondence related to the issue. Obviously, this can result in costly errors. In an ideal world, you should be able to search for an issue and see all of the supporting documents for that issue, without having to do multiple searches through files, folders and emails. What happens if one sketch or specification change affects multiple issues? How do you track that and how do you make sure that all issues have current information? Lots of questions about a difficult area.

Do you have any tips or tricks for tracking issues? Let me know what your method is by commenting below.

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I mentioned last week that I was busy preparing for the World of Concrete trade show in Las Vegas. Well, I’m now in Vegas, and as some of you may already know, Dexter + Chaney has a new product line! I don’t usually discuss Dexter + Chaney’s products, but I am too excited after the many months of hard work and interviewing industry experts not to introduce Venture Project Collaboration Software. So bear with me while I crow a bit about our new addition!

Venture Basics

Venture is web-based project collaboration software built around the needs of construction project teams, not individuals. Most of the construction operations software available today is designed for individual use and focused one specific function. Venture is designed for the entire project team and provides tools that help folks work together throughout the entire lifecycle of a project. Venture tools are built to give contractors visibility and control over three key areas of construction operations:

• Documentation
• People
• Communication

Document Management

It’s no secret that documents play a vital role in the construction process from beginning to end. But all of those documents and versions of documents are difficult to keep track of, not to mention expensive to print and distribute. Venture allows users to control document distribution, usage, and versioning from within one application.

Build the Best Team

When I played basketball, my coaches routinely told us “There’s no ‘i’ in team.” Similarly, construction projects aren’t completed by individuals. From start to finish, it takes a team working together to complete a job. Venture helps you manage your contacts using construction specific criteria, invite potential partners to bid on work, and even prequalify subcontractors, so you create the best team for the job.

Project Communication

I remember the amount of time I used to spend as a general contractor following up on project notifications and issues. Venture connects project participants inside and outside your company with the latest project information. When you send a notification, you can see who has opened and responded to it. With the ability to access information from anywhere, at any time, and track responses to notifications, your project teams will be able to communicate more efficiently on projects, saving time and money.

So now that I’ve done a little bragging, I’d like to know what you think. Please let me know your thoughts on Venture by commenting below.

You know the old adage that you have to spend money to make money. Nowhere is that more true than the construction industry. Without spending money bidding projects, you can’t get jobs to make money building them. A few years ago, the ramp-up to a new construction season was an exciting time of year. Not so these days. With more people bidding on fewer jobs, the market is much more competitive. Perhaps the toughest part, though, is that even if you bid a job and don’t win, you still incur costs to compete. While many of these costs are easy to identify, some are not, so just what are some things that keep bidding costs up?

Document Management

With the current levels of detail required by industry standards, code compliance and also by the different disciplines, the number of documents required for a project is huge. Obviously to bid a job, you have to access the documents, which can be costly to say the least when you consider the costs of plan room memberships and purchasing and printing documents. Keeping track of what’s current in that huge set of documents and making sure others on your team are using current documents are critical. It can also be very time consuming and expensive.

Team Prequalification

I was in a conference room full of general contractors a couple of years ago, and the presenter asked, “How many of you prequalify your subcontractors?” I was surprised at how few hands were raised. In today’s market, knowing the companies you work with is essential. Do they have the financial resources to complete a job; is their insurance up-to-date; how does their safety record look; what do their references say about their recent work; what experience do others in my company have with them?

Now more than ever prequalification should play an important role in deciding who gets to play on your team. With so many businesses struggling just to keep the doors open, you never know if a team member is going to make it through a project, or if they need a project just to keep the doors open. While it’s simpler (and cheaper) to bypass prequalifying your team members, not doing so could result in your team falling apart in the middle of a job when the pressure to perform is high.

Administrative & Communication Costs

While documentation management and team member prequalification may seem fairly obvious sources of added costs and risks, administrative costs may not seem so obvious. When I was a general contractor, I sent out invitations to bid, but the communication didn’t end there. Every time the plans or specifications changed, I needed to make sure the subs I invited knew about the changes and were using the current documents to prepare their bid. Back in those days, communicating this information required a phone call or a fax followed-up with another phone call. At other times, I wasn’t sure if I had enough subs bidding in order to get competitive numbers for my own bid. So, as bid day approached, I got on the phone and fax machine again to make sure that I didn’t need to invite more subcontractors to bid. No matter who did the calling or faxing, the time spent used up valuable resources, and was very expensive.

Reduce Bidding Costs

Although there is no silver bullet to reduce bidding costs, or even finding more jobs to bid, you can do a few things to limit your bid preparation costs. First, bid on jobs you have the best chance of winning. While a large job is ideal, if you know you can’t compete, bidding is like throwing money out the window. When do you bid, streamline communications so that it’s easy to notify and check on bidding subcontractors and vendors. Use a system to manage the documents you and your subs use to prepare bids. What are your biggest sources of bidding costs?

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Now that the holidays are over and all of the massive amounts of breads, cookies, candies, and pies have suddenly disappeared (at least they have from my office) it’s time to make those New Year’s resolutions. While the majority of personal resolutions aren’t kept, I came up with three attainable resolutions construction operations professionals should make this year.

1. Evaluate Bidding Strategy

It’s tough out there. There are fewer projects to bid and what projects are available are being bid by more people. Consequently, the bidding climate is very competitive with some work going to people bidding below cost. One way to bid more work, without giving your estimator a quick trip to the funny farm, is to identify additional sources of project bid lists. Check out McGraw Hill’s Dodge Plan Center and their Network Express site. There are also local, regional and even national plan centers that have bidding project information that might help.

2. Project Team Communication & Effectiveness

A big part of the bid process is assembling the team you want, and getting them the information they need to prepare competitive bids. Keeping track of the team (especially one in the bid process) can be a lot like herding cats (very independent cats at that). Develop strategies to keep track of the information your team members need and make sure they’re getting it in a timely fashion.

3. Stay Connected

When you do get a job, running the job efficiently is more important than ever. In many ways, communication with your team members is one of the keys to a successful, efficiently-run project. Communication has gotten better with the introduction of cell phones and the internet, but this increased communication has also created new issues. Everyone’s day is full of information that needs to be processed and tracked – email and voice mail alone have caused serious information overload. Keeping track of it all is difficult, if not impossible. But if you don’t track it, you can lose money or, worse yet, get sued.

I hope these ideas help as the year starts and we get closer to the construction season. In the meantime, keep in mind that spending a little time planning now can pay off in increased efficiency and better job performance later.

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I’m pleased to once again introduce David DeVita as this week’s author. David is a construction safety expert for Carolina Safety Consultants with over 20 years of experience.

Some project managers tend to think of safety in the workplace as one of those things that we do “when we get a chance.” Production and quality are generally put first with safety generally being an after thought.

In fact, project managers should worry about implementing more safe practices because it can affect the way they bid on jobs. A safe work environment is one of the most straight forward ways to decrease workers compensation expenses. Fewer accidents also mean lower insurance premiums, which mean lower labor costs. You have to figure labor costs into the price of a job, so when your costs are high, it can mean the difference between winning and losing a job.

Another reason to look at cost savings through safety improvement is to keep overall job costs down. The more accidents and safety violations you have on a job, the more the job is going to cost; and the last time I checked you can’t submit a change order just because your team got hurt on the job!

The first place to look at how you can save money by implementing safer practices is by first looking at your Experience Modification Rate or EMR. EMR’s are calculated by comparing a company’s actual losses to industry average losses. Companies who perform average in their EMR industry generally rate around 1.0. Companies who have more claims than average will have a higher than average rate, for example, 1.6.

If your companies EMR rating is 1.0 or higher, then it might be time to consider implementing a comprehensive safety plan to try and reduce your workers compensation insurance costs. Take a look at your work safety manual and see how you can improve current work processes. Implement mandatory employee training for all OSHA requirements and require drug testing and pre-employment physicals to create a safer work environment. These are just a few of the things that should be taken into consideration when considering safety improvements.

In addition to lower insurance premiums, you will also take advantage of a safer workplace which will decrease safety violations, increases quality of work, and ultimately keeps employees safe (which means less time spent off the job for recovery), which in turn strengthens your bottom line. Lower insurance costs mean project managers can submit more competitive bids on a job because they are no longer worried about higher employee costs-a win-win all around!

To learn more about how to calculate your companies EMR, please visit your State Department of Labor and Industry site. For Washington, please visit the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries.

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This week I’m pleased to turn over the blog microphone to my friend and colleague Curt Westberg. Curt is our heavy/highway industry expert and has some thoughts to share on a topic that affects all of us – fuel prices. If you’re a project or construction manager reading this blog, this information may not pertain directly to you, but the information is still good to know. Feel free to pass along the knowledge to your friends and colleagues.

If you’re like me, a trip to the gas pump can cause a lot of anxiety, not to mention visions of the good ol’ days when gas was under a dollar per gallon. Alas, those days are long gone, which means we’re left to manage our fuel consumption or lose profit margins.

Recently, some of my colleagues attended a seminar on fuel management by Eric Newton of Comdata. They shared these tips and tricks with me on fuel management. Hopefully you’ll find them as helpful as I did.

Tip #1: Negotiate Fuel Costs

Fuel spending is the second highest recurring cost to most construction fleets, so if you can create some amount of stability, you’ll be able to control this expense. Before you go down the negotiating path, be sure you know your overall consumption by gallons. You’ll also want to identify where you purchase the most fuel and if there’s an efficient way to centralize those stations.

Tip #2: Increase Your MPG

I’m sure we all wish we could get better fuel mileage, even if it’s only a few extra miles per gallon. Every little bit counts, right? Consider the following:

1. Driving 55 mph or less can use up to 20% less fuel
2. Idling burns about 0.8 gallons of fuel per hour
3. Driving with the engine RPM too high wastes several gallons of fuel each hour

Unfortunately, there is no magical way to double your mileage per gallon. There are, however, a few things you can do it better you mpg:

1. Educate your workers on fuel saving techniques
2. Outfit your equipment to be more aerodynamic
3. Create engine restrictions with governors.

Tip #3: Fuel Smartly

When you have to fill up your tanks, just remember these tricks when fueling.

1. Purchase from bulk sites or retail locations
2. Don’t top off the tank and be sure your tank cap is on tight
3. Try to buy on Wednesdays, but stay away Mondays and Fridays if possible.
4. Purchase fuel during the coolest part of the day.
5. Use the diesel pumps that are located in the back of locations where it’s sold in large quantities.

I hope these simple tips and tricks help you manage your fuel more efficiently. Do you have any tips to share?

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When you think of your e-mail inbox, is the first word that comes to mind usually “Ugh?” If it is, no one would blame you. Many of us have e-mail inboxes with dozens, hundreds, sometimes thousands of unread emails. The problem with that is that sometimes critical information gets missed — especially when it comes to construction projects — and it can impact schedules and bottom lines.

Here are a few general tips for managing email I’ve learned over the years.

1. Designate certain times of day to check e-mail – Reading and responding to e-mails as they come in can often distract from any other work getting accomplished. Figure on two or three times a day; a half hour at a time.
2. Set up rules or alerts – Flag subjects or people that you know are important or move routine e-mails out of your general inbox and into specified folders automatically. Doing so will provide that extra filter and make it easier to spot important communications.
3. Communicate your habits with those important to you – Let people know the best times to e-mail important information or what subject lines to use to grab your attention.
4. ‘Weed out’ e-mail cloggers — Those “Fishing in Guam” newsletters or Facebook updates about the hair loss survivor’s group won’t magically stop unless you tell them to. Every once in awhile, take the time to opt out from or change settings for programs or services that send e-mails you never read.

Of course e-mail is only one of the many ways we collaborate in the workplace every day, which leads me to ask a favor. I would love to know what communication tools you use most throughout your construction projects. If you have 60 seconds, please take this brief, two-question communications survey.

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To my readers, occasionally you’ll notice guest authors blogging on topics related to construction operations. This week, I’m pleased to welcome David DeVita, a safety expert with 20 years of experience, from Carolina Safety Consultants.

“If you’re doing something the same way you have been doing it for ten years, then chances are you are doing it wrong.” –Charles F. Kettering, American inventor & businessman

I often believe this is the case when it comes to safety in the workplace and on construction sites. Often times, we tend to get complacent and start thinking ‘if nothing bad has happened thus far, then we must be doing it right.’. This type of thinking is not only wrong, it is extremely dangerous! In fact, the more you continue unsafe practices, the probability rises that something bad will happen. You don’t want to wait until it is too late to learn that important lesson.

Unfortunately, I can honestly say that this has been true even in my own life as a safety professional. I too have succumbed to complacency in working around the house and farm. One day in May 2010 it caught up with me. It was a hot day and I had 14 trees to cut down. I cut down 13 large pine trees and they fell exactly where I wanted them to go. The next day I started early and de-limbed the trees from the previous day so the logs could be taken away. After several hours of work I decided to take a break from the heat and finish the job when it cooled of later that evening.

However, I didn’t wait long enough. Even though I was tired, dehydrated, and had some neck and shoulder issues from the hard work, I continued. While cutting the last tree down the tree fell the wrong way, trapping the saw in the trunk. I had to get another chain saw and cut the first one out. I should have stopped there, but I didn’t and continued to de-limb the tree. I was getting more tired as the job wore on and really pushing myself physically but kept thinking “I know what I am doing, I have been doing this type of work for 30 years.” As soon as I completed that thought, I went to step over the tree trunk and did not realize how low my arm was hanging. Before I realized, my leg and saw kissed, cutting into my leg. Of course, I was also not wearing protective chaps which would have caught the saw before it could get to my leg. I am thankful that I did not sustain a life threatening injury, but I could have. It woke me up from my complacent place.

It’s easy to tune out the back-up alarms so often that you don’t realize when you are in real danger but what about that saw or grinder without a guard, or not wearing safety glasses and a face shield? While these issues may seem like common sense, it is incidents like these that have led to over 4,500 deaths on the job in 2010 which equates to more than 87 deaths a week or more than 12 deaths a day. These devastating numbers are not only heart breaking tragedies for the families of the deceased, it is damaging to the economy as well.

To be reminded of the severity of safety on job sites, we must continuously make an effort to be informed. This includes keeping up to date on all new OSHA regulations, having properly working equipment that is regularly maintained and inspected, and enrolling in safety courses that focus on creating a safer environment on the job. Taking these small steps within your organization can mean the difference between life and death.

What kinds of practices keep you and your crew safe on a daily basis?

I hope you enjoyed David’s blog this week. If you have a construction operations topic that you’d like to see featured in a future blog post, please let me know by commenting below.

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