Five Steps that Will Transform Your Business

Most owners of small- to mid-size construction companies are too busy micro-managing, ordering materials, scheduling crews and worrying about equipment to delegate important tasks to their foremen or superintendents. When owners stay in charge of making most decisions, their companies aren’t able to expand beyond what the owner can accomplish. As a contractor business coach, I have observed the strategies that enable companies to move to the next level. One of the common denominators of successful construction companies is the owner’s ability to delegate essential responsibilities and hold people accountable for results. In order to succeed at this strategy, these business owners install systems and meetings that leverage their time and effectiveness, allowing them to focus on priorities like attracting better customers.

Committing to hold weekly project supervisor meetings allows the owner to delegate responsibility to supervisors, stay in touch with the team on a weekly basis (versus hourly or daily) and keep track of production, schedule, quality and safety results. Holding weekly meetings also allows the owner to hold foremen and superintendents accountable for achieving expected results. Contractors who continually make excuses for not finding time for these systems and meetings are those who stay stuck in the status quo and can’t seem to grow their businesses. To complete your construction projects on time and under budget without punch lists or callbacks, follow these proven systems.

1. Hold Weekly Supervisor Meetings

Hold regular mandatory meetings in your office with all of your field foremen and superintendents each week. The meetings should be facilitated by the president, VP of operations or general manager.

The purpose of these meetings is to encourage supervisors to outline their goals for the upcoming week and to hold them accountable for achieving results. The supervisors present their targets on a project scorecard, which includes field production, project schedule, crew hours, equipment usage, subcontractor activity and all work to be accomplished. Having to share results with peers helps keep supervisors accountable for reaching their goals. These meetings allow project and company managers to monitor weekly progress and keep projects on schedule and on budget in real time, so they don’t discover the final results at project completion when it’s too late to make adjustments.

During the meeting, the owner should require all foremen and superintendents to describe the following to the group:

• Production – Their progress compared to their goals established at the last weekly meeting. These commitments can include what was to be built or produced last week, the crew size and equipment required to accomplish the production target, the quantity produced and the crew and equipment hours used versus the budget spent. Use a field measurement tracking report to keep track of your actual field production versus the job budget.
• Schedule – Their two- or four-week “think-ahead” schedule and production commitments, including self-performed and subcontractor work activity.
• Safety – Their safety issues, concerns and action plans for the week.
• Quality – Their quality action plan for the upcoming week.
• Needs – Their tools, equipment and crew needs for the upcoming week.

2. Complete Weekly Quality and Safety Report

Implement a required weekly quality and safety job walk system on every project for the foreman or field superintendent to complete. Requiring the field supervisor to perform a thorough job walk to inspect the jobsite for quality and safety issues will force the supervisor to find and fix punch-list or repair items as they occur, rather at the end of the job.

Create a short report form for the field supervisor to turn in weekly. The form should include space for the supervisor to document the observed quality and safety issues, action steps and completion dates for each issue that needs attention.

3. Sign Off Before Leaving a Project

Require your foreman to walk through each project with the customer representative or project superintendent before you complete your work and leave the project. Document this event and forward a copy to your customer, stating that the walk-through occurred and that no items were left incomplete on that date. Following this step will prevent callbacks when other subcontractors damage your work after you leave the project.

4. Require Supervisors to Attend the Final Walk-Through

Have your foreman and job superintendent attend every final project punch-list walk-through with the project owner, customer, architect or engineer. This will allow your team to see what concerns and expectations the customer has before he or she will sign off on a project. Then, have the project supervisor complete this repair work, and ask your customer to sign off on it.

5. Adjust Pay for Poor Workmanship

Be sure to make it your policy that all field foremen and superintendents have their incentive compensation reduced for any punch-list work, poor quality workmanship, callbacks for unfinished work or additional repair work required after the crew finishes and leaves the project.

If you want to grow your business and hold your field supervisors accountable for reaching project targets and staying on time and on budget, commit to using these proven systems.

To receive a copy of a field measurement tracking report, send an email to [email protected].