“To end a project well,
start fast.”
Heath Vice President PreConstruction Jack Tubbs...
What’s the best way to lower the risk of quality problems on projects? Start by reviewing hundreds of projects, large and small, and analyzing the underlying causes of quality failures.
This process is immensely valuable, because it tells you so much about the real causes of problems on jobs of any size. With the insights revealed in this process, a company like Heath can focus on the issues that will yield the greatest possible benefit for its customers and partners.
We know, for example, that when a project fails to start fast – for any reason – the odds of quality problems near the end of the job rise dramatically.
That may seem a little counter-intuitive, because a typical project spans many months. Even after a sluggish start, there’s plenty of time to catch up. Right?
Wrong. A project that starts slowly can throw the construction team onto defense right from the start.
And believe me, it’s more than just a state of mind. With the schedule is compressed, minor quality issues can quickly become unnecessarily serious problems. Instead of proactively managing the job and staying way out in front of complications, the team struggles simply to avoid falling off the critical path.
Of course, a capable team can overcome the disadvantage of a slow start. But why make their job any harder? The best strategy is to start fast, eliminate the need to catch up, and lower your risk of back-end problems.
Heath Vice President Operations Joe Kish…
Getting virtually any project off to a fast start is beneficial – but only if you can do it without sacrificing any discipline or losing the smallest detail through a crack in your process. That’s the difference between rushing and simply moving very fast with all cylinders firing.
There are several critical issues to address whenever you fast-track a project start-up. Here are my top three:
1. Assign the right team to the project before you acquire the job.
2. When you have a full-time estimating team staffed with construction veterans like ours, you build a vast knowledge base during the estimating process. That’s an incredibly valuable asset!
Our goal is to preserve all of that knowledge and transfer it to operations smoothly and completely.
3. Provide human continuity throughout the process to eliminate the risk of losing anything in the process. I personally join each of our preconstruction meetings, along with the preconstruction and operations staff assigned to the project. That’s my personal guarantee of continuity on every project.
For me, the perfect start to a project is fast, completely controlled, and airtight. That’s what we shoot for on every job.
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Jack Tubbs
VP PreConstruction
Joe Kish
VP Operations
Employee Owner
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