The Build Process - Compare Job Progress to Job Plans - Part 4

Information collected from the site is reviewed and compared with the project plan to determine if the project is on time, the resources (both material and personnel) allocated were sufficient and of the right type, and the actual state of the project conforms to the schedule. Effectively comparing the project’s progress to the job plan enables you, as the customer, to bring the project manager’s attention to an area of the project most in need of attention.

Take Corrective Action

The corrective action necessary requires decisions to be made by the project manager and addresses questions that are technical in nature and relative to an actual issue that may be the cause of or result in a delay.  Your input may be required, time to time, to agree with a proposed solution to an unanticipated event.

Typically, this may be something as simple as where the tile can be stored indoors, an alternate location to keep a family pet, or setting aside an area in the yard to stage materials. Or you may find the discussion involves dealing with a cost overrun, material shortage or substitution.

Whatever the issue, your input will be required to help guide the project manager and it is necessary you, as the owner, agree to the proposed work arounds, or offer alternate solutions.  Unfortunately, you may find making these kinds of decisions bring you out of your comfort zone because you lack sufficient expertise and knowledge to know if your decision is the best one to make.

Whatever the case, deviations in the project plan must be noted.  Failure to note these issues and deal with them will result in a job that will end up behind schedule, over cost, and not conform to the contract documents.  The result of not taking corrective action is the equivalent of not monitoring the project at all.

Collect Historical Data

This involves collecting data about what has happened.  The type of information collected validates the work as the project progresses.  This requires measuring walls to validate they were built the required length, are the needed width, and placed in the correct location. Walls built in the wrong location happen more often than you may realize.  The same goes for lowered ceilings, bulkheads, and chases for mechanical elements such as ductwork and plumbing.

The drawings are your authoritative source of information indicating where the electrical, plumbing and HVAC rough-ins are to be placed, the sizes for openings for doors and windows, and show the tile installation patterns. Comparing the as-built conditions to the design requirements needs to be done as the work progresses in order to identify or pinpoint any deviations from the job plan.  Also, prior to any material being installed, the material needs to be inspected and validated to ensure they match those specified. A record of this inspection needs to be kept available along with any photographs taken.

The historical data collected serves two purposes: first, to serve as a basis for planning future jobs; and second, to serve as a thorough record of actual events in the event claims for non-performance arise.

The purpose and importance of describing the components of the Project Control Cycle was to help you understand what they are and the underlying concepts behind all the actions and steps used to properly control, monitor, report, and record the status of the project.

By understanding how the project is managed and monitored you are empowered to know if the project is doomed or can be saved. It’s not enough to understand how things are to be controlled, you also need more information describing when an activity is to take place, who will be doing what, how long it will take.  This information is contained in the Building Schedule.

The Build Process - An Introduction - Part 1

The Build Process for your project requires you to prepare the space where the work will be done, select and then coordinate the delivery of your materials, and hire the trades necessary to do the work required.  If you’ve done all this, you are now ready for the Build Process for your project.  

When you were planning your renovation, selecting the materials, and working to prepare the construction documentation such as specifications and scope of work, it may have taken you well out of your comfort zone.  Completing all of those tasks requires a great deal of time, patience, and perseverance on your part. Now you need to ensure all that time and effort you’ve invested into your planning and design phase is actually used to build your project. To do this, a process or system is used to manage the build.

To ensure your project is a success, process management tools are used. The more you understand about the build process and how it’s managed, the more it makes sense for you to understand how your project is controlled and the activities and resources are managed. This knowledge equips you with the means to measure and evaluate the progress of the project on a day to day basis, along with the performance of the contractor you’ve hired to do the work.

A fundamental building block of the process used to manage, monitor, and control your project is the Project Control Cycle.  Every activity starts and ends with this cycle. What you need to understand is the project is made up of a number of smaller individual projects or activities and each of these smaller activities is managed by the Project Control Cycle. The success of your renovation depends on how well the Project Control Cycle is applied to these activities.

As the owner of the project, you are a stakeholder and whoever you hire someone to do the work for you, shares the responsibility with you to ensure the work is done to conform to the specifications and scope of work.

Although some of the trades such as the plumber, HVAC, and electricians may need to be certified, the person running your project does not need to be. Nor are they required to be either. So despite all the time and effort you spent with other certified and accredited building professionals and/or suppliers, to help you design and develop your project, there are no guarantees your project will be managed well, or at all.

To protect your project and the investment you are making, you need to monitor the project and measure its outcome to be sure you are receiving the services you paid for.

So how do you do that?

The Project Control Cycle is the key you use to be assured what you have created will be delivered.

Feeling Confused? Frustrated?

If you're feeling confused or frustrated about how to proceed with a renovation or any building project, you're in good company.

Without taking the time to prepare for the project you also include everyone who would like to help you too.

Forget Free Estimates, because they have an accuracy of plus or minus 120 percent.

Before contacting anyone to do anything, you need to:

• Identify your requirements
• Know your budget
• Be realistic with your expectations. 

Let's face it, building a house is expensive, and renovating an older home even more so. In order to properly move your project successfully from napkin scribbles to where nails are being driven, you need to spend time preparing an accurate scope of work.

Your scope of work identifies:

• The type of material used
• How the material is stored, handled, and installed
• Crew size required to do the work 
• How you will evaluate the work performed.

Your scope of work also forms the foundation of the agreement between you and your contractors. It provides everyone with a clear and concise set of expectations enabling you to get a price for work and materials you want rather than what people think you need.

Here is a high level outline you might find helpful as a framework to use to help you prepare for a renovation or construction project:

1. Do a feasibility study to see if: your zoning allows you to do what you want, your existing services are up to snuff, and the expectations for your project are realistic.

If all is good, then:

2. Identify your budget
3. Develop a design/plan to suit

Use the budget and plan to:

5. Determine costs for upgrades to your existing systems
6. Create a scope of work and set of specifications based on the design and/or plan
7. Solicit and pay for a detailed cost analysis based on the scope of work, specifications, and plan
8. Assess and adjust the budget and/or design and/or project scope of work to give you what you need
9. Go back to step 1 and repeat as often as required.

Only when your budget, pricing and plans all align do you go to the next step:

10. Tender your project for bids

I Hate Mice

I hate mice.  

I mean, I really, really, really hate mice.  Rodents of any kind that want to live in my house, uninvited, are near the top of my list of things to hate.

What tops off my list of things to hate are dumb contractors, or people who are dumb enough to think they are contractors.  Dumb contractors are a mouse's best friend.

Why? Because the lack of attention and the sheer idiocy exhibited by dumb contractors is taken advantage of by mice.

Have a dumb contractor build your home and mice will surely follow.  They are the piped piper of furry scuttling feet running around in your attic or walls.

That's all I have to say for today.

I may hate mice, but dumb contractors top my list.

How Accurate Is My Quote?

You've all learned why the Free Estimate needs to die.

With the Free Estimate gone, what fills the void vacated by all that Free Estimate foolishness?

A Quote or Price for the Project, that's what.

So what's the difference between a Free Estimate and an price or quote?

Well, to start with, creating a Price or Quote for a project requires you to work with someone who will spend time, use their expertise and understanding to assess the risks and challenges, and then determine the material and labor requirements required to make your project a success.  

Most customers are unaware of what the project costs are and would like to have the flexibility to adjust the scope so they can control the cost. Being able to move markers as the design progresses eliminates a condition called "Over Design" which occurs when the designer creates a product the customer is unable to afford.  

So how do you do that?  Price your project at intervals as the design process for your project matures.

Processes And Pricing

Your project documentation is used to define, clarify, and describe your project's scope, material requirements, and configuration.  Development of your project's documentation is a four step process and looks like this:

• Concept
• Schematic
• Design
• Construction Documents

You can have your project priced at each of these intervals realizing the accuracy of the pricing provided reflects the accuracy of the documentation provided for the stage of the process priced.

Process Pricing

To help you understand what I mean, refer to the Process Pricing image. The darker the color, the more precise the pricing provided.

For example, because more than one CONCEPT is prepared for your project, the prices here vary the most. Materials are guessed at as well as the scale and scope of the work. 

As you move from the CONCEPT to the SCHEMATIC, the pricing tightens up more as the scale and scope of the project become more defined.  Room sizes are known, some material decisions are made, and the location and size of doors and windows are provided.

The DESIGN stage of the process is quite a bit more accurate because you have cabinet layouts shown, flooring types identified, and elements such as trim and door style identified. (It's at this stage you typically sign a contract with a Design-Build firm to build your project)

The COMPLETED DOCUMENTATION process provides you with the more accurate pricing levels of all the processes because everything is specified, including how the work is to be performed. (It's a this stage where all the Change Orders are issued, before the project begins).

As you can see, as the your project's construction documentation increases in its level of detail, ambiguity, assumptions, and unknowns are removed. The accuracy of your pricing is directly tied into the completeness of the documentation you provide.

Free Estimates Need To Die

Free Estimates suck.

You want to know why? Because the scope, specifications, and other items associated with the project are unknown, and because these are unknown, the ability to price out the project is unknown too.

All around, the Free Estimate is a waste of time for you, your customer, and makes us all look like nincompoops too.

So what needs to be done to fix this?

Believe it or not, I have an idea.  It's a pretty simple fix too.

First, Free Estimates need to die, and the people advocating their reps to give them shown the door to someplace else. Pretty easy fix, if you ask me.

Information As An Image

Think of the information exchanged between you and the customer as an image.  In order for either of you to have the foggiest idea of what it is you are looking at, the image needs to be clear, focused, illuminated, have context, and be viewed from the right distance or perspective.

Let's take a simple project (and I'm not going to let you know what it is either) to show you what I mean.

First, we have the initial call.

First Information Exchange

Something is being described here and the focus is somewhat customer centric.  I want you to give me, this, that, and another thing, you to be here on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 PM because blah, blah, blah.  This conversation is going nowhere fast. Usually the Free Estimate thing is brought up. Now try to describe what this project is all about, and give me a price to boot.

The Conversation Continues

Things are getting a bit more clearer and you're both beginning to share information about what it is you're talking about.  There's still quite a bit of fog and stuff going on here so to help "educate" you, the client demands you come out to "see" what it is they're talking about. Oh, and maybe you can give me some design ideas while we talk about the Free Estimate? Right?

The Conversation Continues Some More

The project still lacks scope, focus, context, is not clear in its intent, and although the customer may feel this one wee image contains all the information needed to give them a Free Estimate, a detail doesn't define a project.

If you're a customer, your first step is to hire the right professionals to help you bring your project into a focused image. This will require you to spend time working on defining, creating, and clearly illuminating the project's scope and specifications so anyone can easily understand what it is you want to do.

What The Customer Was Talking About