Consistency

We hope your month goes great,

This months tip may seem simple even silly but we see contractor’s problems continue because of the lack of consistency. While completing an estimate or managing a project or any number of other tasks that every contractor completes practically daily. At the begining of the year where did you plan on being at the half way point of the year? Have you reached those goals? Below are a few ideas that may make your life better, that is our intent.

Having methods to complete your every day tasks will pay rich rewards. Many contractors have the belief that they complete their daily projects in the same fashion from project to project. We have witnessed the opposite in many, heck the majority of contractors that we visit in virtually every task. We visit contractors across the country and the results are all too often the same. The lack of planning or consistency results in inferior performance. The saddest part of this story is that many of these contractors have the capability to be consistent, what they do not have is the planning. Recently we visited a firm in the northeast, this firm had six Estimators and many Project Managers. A problem that was obvious immediately is that all six estimators had a different style of estimating, each used their own color code for marking their drawings, I think, as 3 out of the 6 where not even consistent from one project to another. Different materials were used from project to project from all the estimators. Again they were not even consistent individually from similar projects they had estimated only a week or so previous to the one they were working during our visit. Everyone has heard the term “dysfunctional family”, what we saw was a dysfunctional company!

As a visitor we can often see what the employees that are doing their level best can not see and the reason is we do not live in their offices everyday. Opportunities begin with the estimator themselves, when their estimating practices have no method or direction then items often fall in the cracks and mistakes are made. Checks to assure accuracy are often missed that are relative easy to complete yet costly when they are not completed. As an example taking off switchgear for me is an easy task, I take off the gear shown on the floor plans and then cross check it against the single line to fill in the details, highlighting both the floor plans and the single line while I complete each task. This assures me of two items, first that the switchgear shown on the drawings are accurate compared to what is shown on the single line. The second item is that items on the single line that are not shown on the drawings are picked up off of the single line. This is easy because you will have items that are not highlighted that must be accounted for, these items can include, CT cabinets, meter bases, grounding for the service to name a few possible items. The same technique can verify that all feeder and fixtures have been completed. If you wind up missing a feeder or a fixture type it is a wise choice to see if all fixture types were actually used, sometimes they are not all used. A missing feeder could be an expensive miss depending on the size feeder and distance involved.

The particular contractor visited did not have a bid review by someone other than the estimating team to get that second opinion. In my opinion that second opinion is critical, a saying that I have heard for years is that the longer an estimator stares at a set of drawings, the more the drawings lies to that estimator. To me that second opinion is critical, during the bid review ego must be put on the side table as everyone in the review is working for the same firm. I have always felt that the review portion was to benefit not only the estimator but the firm as well.

Next on my list after a project is awarded is the pre-job meeting between the Estimator, Project Manager and the field Supervisor. If all the Estimators estimated in the same fashion using the same methods and color codes to mark their drawings some consistency will develop not only within the estimating staff but also in the bid reviewers, Project Managers and the field. I have always believed that the majority of a contractors profits were made in the field, why not give the field the tools needed to make a good splash? I am always amazed at the number of firms that skip this step entirely, as a young supervisor I was hired to run a huge project that encompassed over sixty acres holding eight different buildings, an extensive site lighting and miles of duct banks for both communications and power. My pre-job meeting was to be handed a key to the office trailer and was told that all the drawings were to be delivered that afternoon. When I walked into the trailer the general contractors Project Manager walked over and informed me that several duct banks needed to be started tomorrow, no prints, no one but me on the job, and no material or tools - does anyone know how to spell meltdown? This was an extreme case but we have seen countless smaller projects started in a similar fashion. Had a meeting been held even a week previously the information, labor, material and tools could have been planned far better than was the case which would have saved a lot of frustration and money, imagine two to three weeks before the items were needed. Can you spell, better yet, feel sheer bliss?

As important as a good estimate is, and make no bones about it, it is critical, the project management is even more critical. If I had to make a choice between a perfect estimate which had poor management techniques or a somewhat flawed estimate on a project where the project management was top drawer, I will always take the second choice and take the project with the great project management processes. My question is why not have both? Now I personally do not believe that the perfect estimate exists, we can however come real close and good management techniques are really not that difficult just maybe a little hard to get everyone on the same page. Is this not where we all want to be? The processes really are not that difficult as it all starts with a vision which leads into the methods that everyone follows.

A key element that must be taken is to take the time to write down these methods and procedures. Do not try to complete them all at one time, this may lead into an overload for both the author and the people that need to understand and implement the new processes. With a little planning and conviction that better methods can be used to increase efficiencies and profits while reducing stress and wasted efforts these goals are not difficult to achieve. With time most contractors can put together a number of ideas that often make a significant difference. At JDE & Associates we have many of these techniques ready to go, better yet most of our items are time tested by other contractors and have proven to be useful assets. No technique will work for every contractor but we are confident that many of our items can help firms that may need a slight nudge to help regain that efficiency and profit. Contact us and we can discuss items where you may benefit from our efforts.

If 2010 is not turning out to be working as well as you had hoped, why not invest the time to place a toll free call to see if our classes or information might not redirect your firm into a better position for the second half of 2010?

Any input to these ideas are more then welcome.

Thank you for reading ours.