Hey – Walker and Davis here.
Happy Saturday morning to our Laying Foundations community.
You are always going to be busy in the construction industry. What you have to decide is if you are going to be organized or sloppy.
Today’s issue takes about 4 minutes to read and was written for you by Davis Hambrick.
Enjoy.
According to Propellor, 31% of construction projects came within 10% of their original budget. Think about that statistic; that means for the majority of our industry, we finish the job over budget.
Some of you might be thinking, what the heck does organization have to do with being over budget?
Let me ask you this, how many times have you asked someone, “hey do you remember where we put ____?”
We order so much material that at the end of the job, it ends up in the dumpster or remains hidden for months. I believe that a HUGE part of us being over budget is because we don’t know how to stay organized within our management roles (daily reports, labor reports, schedules, notes, shop drawings, emails, etc.), and we don’t demand a clean job site where we know exactly where all material is placed.
Organization in Management Roles
If you are a leader (we all are), then it pays to be organized. Here are some of the personal things I do to stay organized.
I have a file system on my iPad where each thing is broken down by category. Schedules it is broken down by month. For shop drawings, it is broken down by CSI number and then by trades name. I also take a tremendous amount of notes, my brain can only take in so much information, so I write anything and everything down. On my current project, I am in charge of the day-to-day of 8 floors. I break down each category by building and then the floor. Within each note, I write the date at the top, so I know what I wrote down that day.
All of this may sound like a daunting task, but the two hardest things are setting up the system and then maintaining it. It takes 21 days to make a habit. Think about how you implemented an organizational system within your full-time job and how much easier life would be. Instead of struggling to remember what you did on a certain, you can go back through your notes and recall your information easily because you are organized. A cluttered life leads to a cluttered brain which leads to wasted time trying to remember.
Quality of the Week – Thorough
20-Year-Old Self Advice – Take time to develop systems that keep your thoughts and material organized
Jobsite Organization
This image is the gold standard for organizations on the job site. For some, it is a way of life. For others, it helps keep the job site clean. Wherever you land, implement this simple 5S system.
Sort
- Organize all workspaces and lay down yards
- Materials must be in place within 3 days of being on site
Straighten
- Materials moved in 10 minutes or less
Shine
- Floors swept at the end of every shift
- Trash Carts emptied the ¾ line
Standardize
- Set a place for everything
Sustain
- Create a culture of continuous improvement
5S Explained
When you walk on a job site, you should see a clean laydown yard. All materials should be stacked neatly and easily recognizable. Material inside the building should be used for daily use and stored on racks with wheels. The material should be easily accessible, there should not be a lot of wasted steps in wondering where everything is stored. Because you took the time to Sort, it will be easy to get more material at a moment’s notice.
Shine
The job site floor should clean every day before leaving; this is a momentous task but whatever it allows is what the standard will be. Make sure all trades clean their work area before leaving at the end of the day. I prefer the trade foremen to call me and walk their area to verify it has been cleaned before packing up. Please make sure you have labor allocated to take out the trash carts; I have not found a sound system for this yet.
Standardize
Make sure everything has its designated place; if you have a ton of misc nails and screws, make a shelf to organize by size and use. You can even go as far as creating labels for all misc items.
Sustain
As we mentioned before, it takes 21 days to create a habit. Try to start at the 1S sort and create a job site that maintains it for 21 days. Once you have mastered it, maintain the 1S and try straightening for 21 days. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel and burn the entire job site out with a new system, make one small improvement and continue to get a little bit better every day.
Check out episode 91 on The Laying Foundations Podcast.
Join us for a conversation with Ed Stelter, Vice President of Procurement at Faulconer Construction. Ed shared with us his journey in construction and how he learned from each job as he continued in his career. Ed learned early on that the people around him were going to define the success they had as a team. No matter the task you are given, do each with excellence and model it to the people around you.
