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Construction mistakes are a common occurrence and as expensive as a construction project is, any mistakes during the project can prove to be equally costly for the company. Moreover, when it comes to big projects, the last thing a contractor wants to deal with are extra costs. Construction mistakes force the contractor to add the repair and maintenance cost to the construction budget.
Since the entire construction process lasts for a long time, mistakes can arise at any time. While most of these problems and mistakes do not have an easy fix, oftentimes, they don’t have a solution at all. A tiny error not only has the potential to compromise other elements of a project but it can also bring it tumbling down, literally!
Oftentimes, a construction project that doesn’t pass the inspection process is torn down due to safety concerns. Moreover, construction project mistakes have a domino effect. They affect every part of a project extending from plumbing to electrical issues.
Here are a few ways which you can use to avoid making construction mistakes.
Maintain Open Communication With the Project Team
Communication is the key to avoiding mistakes. The entire construction project team is required to work in harmony and coordination to keep any mishaps from taking place. Unfortunately, if any do occur, the entire team should be notified instantly. Since even the smallest of mistakes can cause a domino effect, if they are kept under wraps, it could prove to be detrimental to the entire project.All project team members should be aware about an issue and the immensity of its potential to influence other prospects of the project. In case you fail to notify the team or make them comprehend the severity of the mistake, they won’t be able to minimize the damage as quickly and effectively as possible.
Moreover, you should also keep other stakeholders and subcontractors informed, ensuring that they completely understand the error so that you can reduce chances of a recurrence. With the technology like a project management solution at your disposal, it has become super-easy to maintain communication between the field and the office. Construction management software allows teams to remain in contact, be up-to-date on changes and coordinate with one another to ensure mistakes don’t happen on their watch.
Adopt Automation
Human errors are a natural occurrence. While they can be controlled at times, this is not always the case. The more people involved in a project, the higher the chances of mistakes. However, with the right technology operations and communication can be streamlined to ensure costly errors don’t happen in the first place. Through the automation of certain tasks, human errors can now be successfully counteracted and minimized.Processes such as data entry or other redundant processes can now be done using specific technology, giving workers more time to focus on other more significant tasks that require their expertise. Moreover, adopting automation tools like construction drawing management software will keep track of revisions and changes, hence allowing managers and team members to deliver accurate data and information to everyone involved in a project. Moreover, you can manage the budget of the construction project using a construction budget management software.
Apart from automating certain basic tasks such as administrative ones, you can also bring about automation in the actual construction work by using such software’s like construction management software for small business. The process of doing so is referred to as prefabricating. You can prefabricate building materials during offsite construction and fit them into the rest of the onsite construction process. This not only saves up a lot of time but also helps reduce expenses and the chances of human errors. It is important to remember that not all projects can reap advantages from prefabrication as it is more suitable for standardized aspects.
Construction Quality Due Diligence
Another vital step to take to reduce the occurrence of construction project mistakes is conducting due diligence. Contractors need to focus on the quality of the products that they are using and they can do so by due diligence. A great method that helps achieve considerable quality control is standardization. By standardizing all stages of a construction project including project templates, workflows, and systemized communication systems, you can expect to achieve greater quality control.Moreover, standardization also unifies processes, bringing about a reduction in construction errors. Furthermore, if all the workers follow the preestablished construction quality standards and codes, they can reduce or eliminate errors thus making sure that the project successfully passes through all safety and health inspections.
Document Mistakes Occurred
If you want to avoid any big construction mistakes, you need to get to the root of the problem. Finding out the causes of an issue or error is the first step to resolving it. For example, if any problem has occurred due to any mistake by one of the workers, you will have to consider and address their work performance. Secondly, if any mistake occurs due to the materials used in construction, you might want to consider switching to a better vendor that provides high-quality materials. Moreover, you will have to halt the construction project until you switch.By taking care of small mistakes proactively, you can nip bigger and costlier errors in the bud. Offering complete descriptions of the misstep can prevent it from materializing in further developments of the current project or even in future ones. You can also take pictures to document and provide evidence of the incident or mistake and communicate it with other team members using field collaboration software.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that construction mistakes are a common occurrence and can be extremely costly for contractors. Small construction mishaps can lead to much bigger mistakes which can be detrimental to the entire project. By automating certain processes and systems and maintaining open communication with other team members, you can reduce some big construction mistakes! So make sure you have the appropriate software to do so.
Dan Conery serves as the Director of Product Marketing for Trimble Projectsight, which provides construction contract management software. Throughout his 24+ year career, Dan has leveraged a unique blend of backgrounds from the architect, engineering & construction industry, project & program management, and software industry to position tech companies for growth.
