Creating Potential and Delivered Value for Contractors

We are contractors and the contract is a tangible representation of potential value. That value is delivered when the right information, materials, and equipment come together at the right time in the hands of the right craftsperson for installation.

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Once your strategic decisions are made about your markets, operations, and talent, the business of building is largely about winning work and building work. This will be the focus of most of your people and management systems

"Eighty-Five Percent of the reasons for failure are deficiencies in the systems and processes rather than the employee. The role of management is to change the process rather than badgering the individuals to do better." - W. Edwards Deming


 

Identify priorities, bottlenecks, and constraints in your business by focusing on two critical milestones—the contract and field installation. Use this simple checklist for each to start your continuous improvement process

The Contract (Potential Value)

  1. Identifying and choosing the right opportunities to pursue (BizDev & Executives)
  2. Defining the right scope, design, and schedule to deliver maximum value to the project owner (Precon / Engineering)
  3. Accurate quantity take-off (Estimating)
  4. Accurate costs including materials, equipment, subcontractors, and crews (Estimating)
  5. Accurate unit production rates given the conditions (Estimating)
  6. Right terms and pricing for the risk (Executives)

 

Field Installation (Delivered Value)

  1. Right field workforce—trained for the task(s) including field leadership
  2. Right tools and equipment
  3. Right information
  4. Right materials
  5. Clear work area
  6. Stretch goals

Achieving this in the field comes down to Effective Tasking, The 6 Pillars of Productivity, Short-Interval Planning (SIP), and ABC Daily Planning

 

 




Situational Awareness: Learning to See (3 Levels)
Outcomes are determined by quality decisions and actions. Those decisions will never be better than the situational awareness they are built upon. There are three ascending levels of situational awareness which can all be evaluated and developed.
Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) and Contractor Growth
A responsibility matrix is a simple but powerful tool for helping everyone on a project and in the company see who is responsible for what. With a few added columns, it can easily indicate when, what tools, and link to the "how-to" procedures.
From More Generalized to More Specialized with Growth
Job roles, tools, and equipment progressively get more specialized as projects and contractors grow. These changes must be balanced with versatility and talent development.