Money down the drain

Construction is still a people business, with the vast majority of buildings put up on site in the traditional manner. We create some amazing buildings, though waste and reworking remain stubbornly trapped in the process. One senior manager of a large, well-known and successful contractor recently told me that the company builds 1.2 buildings for all its customers. This 20% waste factor undermines client satisfaction (because they ultimately pay for it) as well as the contractor's profitability and that of its supply chain.

You can reduce waste by following the right first time approach. It engages everyone involved in a building to maximise their contribution and minimise waste.

It's a people-based process for a people-intensive industry.

You begin with a team-building meeting to align goals and get everyone working together. A defects workshop then looks at common problems with the type of structure being built. Interface meetings are held between key specialist contractors and designers to ensure good detailing. Information from these meetings is then communicated to the site line managers and trade supervisors and then to operatives via tradesmen or toolbox talks.

are you putting up 1.2 buildings for each client?

The process is kept alive throughout the project with four-week quality plan meetings where the team looks at new works starting in the coming four weeks and what normally goes wrong with them. The team then agrees who can be counted on to prevent those defects. Learning is captured and shared in a project debrief meeting where the team decides whether the team-building workshop goals were achieved, what worked, what was missing and what they would do differently if they had their time again.

One business trebled its site profits after implementing right first time on 100 projects. Another, Dorin Construction, is currently piloting it on two building projects in the North-east. The subcontractors on site are much better informed and far more proactive, according to Dorin. They're coming up with suggestions and tackling problems together. Meetings are more relaxed, easier to chair and more productive because of the relationships. The site manager has really warmed to brainstorming sessions with subcontractors – he's been surprised at how much they contribute given the chance.