Masonry Magazine April 2001 Page. 28
WDP
Consulting Engineers
Specialists in masonry, concrete, materials, design, and diagnosis of problems.
- Structural Engineering
- Materials Testing
- Repair & Restoration
- Litigation Support
- Product Evaluation
- Research
- Nondestructive Testing
- Laboratory Facilities
- Water Penetration Testing
- Failure Investigation
- Forensic Engineering
8832 Rixlew Lane
Manassas, Virginia 20109
Phone: (703) 257-9280
5555 N. Lamar Blvd., Suite K109
Austin, Texas 78751
Phone: (512) 467-8830
Internet: www.wdpa.com
WITTHAUT
GERMANY
GERMAN QUALITY
ATAN
AFFORDABLE
PRICE!
GUARANTEE FOR QUALITY
Member of Clankan
DIAMOND TOOL
Manufacturers Association
Toll Free: 888-434-2832
Sierra Nevada Diamond Inc.
Web Site: http://www.without-diamond.com
Looking for Mana
represents the same scope of work as that in the change order. Yes, this may involve breaking the total change amount down into the different trade classifications (i.e. plumbing, saw-cutting, and concrete patch work for an added sanitary line in a building) and assigning dollar amounts to each. Of course, it should all add up to the total change amount when completed.
Once broken down, add the new budgeted amount for the change to the original (base) budgeted dollar amount for that line item. Then, the only important thing to remember is that the next time you calculate the percentage-complete for that line-item, you have to be sure to take into consideration both the base work and the added change when arriving at your new percentage-complete.
Now of course, the exercise above assumes you are collecting on the change order in the first place. No, I'm not being funny. We all have times when we're not very good at keeping up on (what can be) numerous changes that occur on any construction project. It's simply too easy to let a few slip by during a normal, hectic day. But as you can now more easily visualize from our simple equation above, productivity ratios will only stay positive when there is a budgeted amount of revenue to apply to the additional work. When work is performed in the field that is not assignable to a budget (often through a change-order not applied for or approved), those man-hours and material costs spent completing those activities turn into charity work - and as benevolent as it may seem, construction contracting isn't a not-for-profit enterprise.
OTHER PRODUCTIVITY THIEVES
So now that we know how to track it what are we tracking? Well, many things can adversely affect productivity on the work site- too many to adequately address in such a short piece - but here are a handful of common culprits to watch out for:
• Weather. Of course, sometimes this one's simply out of your hands, but there are many things you can do such as careful monitoring (do you know they have Doppler networks on the INTERNET?) and disciplined, daily planning and positioning of work crews to help your cause.
• Height and levels. The formula for this one is relatively easy to understand. The higher you go, the more likely you'll require additional scaffolding, staging, hoisting, craning, etc. Now yes, the direct cost for these items is often assigned when calculating general requirements for the project, but seldom is the actual loss of worker productivity taken into account. In short, a mason is not going to lay as many brick in the same period of time on the fourth floor as he would the first.
• Work having to be repaired or re-done in the field. This is a productivity killer because you not only lose productivity - you also lose credibility. Poor quality is the easiest way to lose your next sale. Insist on quality work from your people, for quality isn't just a hollow business mantra - it directly effects productivity and profits.
• Poor-quality architectural documents and/or detailing. When a worker has to stop to clarify (or even find) a detail for the work he's performing, job continuity is interrupted and productivity negatively impacted. In my experience, this has been one of the greatest (if not the greatest) causes of productivity lapses out on the site. Since back-charging the A/E for this lost time is seldom done (perhaps it should be more often), the onus falls upon the contractor to flush out all needed details and information early on (and preferably before his workers are on site).
• Poor supervision, planning and scheduling. But of course, we contractors aren't perfect either. Lack of planning on our parts is another leading cause of poor productivity. The cure is sound construction management. Project schedules should be created with input from all affected trades and schedules should be constantly stressed and reviewed throughout the course of the project. Besides overall project schedules, smaller interim (such as weekly) man-power schedules should also be created to enhance continuity.
• Excessive safety, security, or protocol requirements. Clients such as nuclear power plants, medical facilities, and some factory settings often require extra-stringent security or safety requirements implemented