The project was going really well, so I was in a great mood when going to meet the clients for a Saturday walk-through. Granted, there were a few cost overruns, so the profit wasn’t as much as I had figured. But that was offset by the two referrals the client had given me and the fact that the project looked like clear sailing from here on.
I knew the clients would be pleased with the progress, as the tile floors were installed and the interior trim had begun. So, imagine my shock when I walked in and the husband took me aside and said, “Uh, we’re not very happy. The tile that was installed in the front hallway, laundry, and bath are not what we picked out.” Now mind you, this was about 300 square feet of tile, so naturally my heart started pounding and my mind started racing. “Hmm, I’m pretty sure that we installed what you picked out,” I said. “The tile store had it as your selection.”
“It was one of our selections, but not our final one,” the husband responded, to which he added the magical phrase “I hope this isn’t going to be a problem.”
Well, I probably don’t need to go into how this ended, except to say that the underlayment had been screwed and glued. The clear sailing I was expecting had become a Northeaster!
This event happened over twenty-five years ago, but it still feels like yesterday (except I laugh about it now). And, contrary to the article title, my company (although relatively small at the time), had started putting some processes in place. But this event reinforced the need to speed that activity up and to put a Client’s Selection process in place immediately, which we did.
One of the good things about our industry is that it is relatively easy to start a business in. If you have a few years of industry experience and (in Massachusetts) can pass the Construction Supervisor exam, you basically have what is required. But starting a business and operating a successful on-going business, especially in our industry, are two significantly different things. And if you are someone that read this article’s title, and said “Damn straight”, well, I wouldn’t unpack your bags because you’re probably not going to be here very long.
Processes are your business blueprints
Processes are the blueprints for your business. They show the people using them how to complete a multi-step activity in an effective and repeatable manner. And they don’t have to be complicated to be effective. In most cases, the simpler you can design a process and still achieve the desired outcome, the better.
For example, let’s say you’re having an issue with getting and verifying client selections and don’t want to have a situation similar to mine. A process to resolve this might look like this:
Project Product Selections Process:
1. Create a checklist of all the product selections required and their due dates.
2. Add the product-selection due dates to the project construction schedule.
3. Review the selections checklist and dates with the client at the pre-construction meeting to:
a. Determine who will be responsible for providing selections
b. Emphasize need for having selections made according to schedule
c. Discuss the change order process
4. Schedule follow-up meetings with client to assist with selections as needed.
5. Issue change order for product selection when received from the client:
a. Change order to include product description, model #, supplier, price and photo
b. Client approved change order is required before ordering product
c. Follow-up with client to resolve issues if client rejects change order
d. Issue revised change order
6. When change order is approved:
a. Issue purchase order
b. Order product from supplier
c. Verify delivery date and notify Project Manager.
7. Review product selections, orders, and delivery dates at Project Manager meetings.
Once the process is written out like this, the next step is to gather the team members who will be implementing it and get their feedback. In this case, that would be whoever creates the schedules, change orders and purchase orders, plus the Sales and Project Managers. Processes are only as good as the people using them, so getting team buy-in is crucial to their effective implementation. And speaking of implementation, integrating your processes into whatever technology your team is using can be a huge benefit. At Encore, we were early adopters of BuilderTrend, so we took advantage of its selection, schedule and change-order functions to make our project product-selections process more streamlined and effective.
When creating a process for an activity that you don’t have first-hand knowledge of, it’s best that you get input from the people who do. For example, if I wanted to create a process on installing kitchen cabinets, I would sit down with an experienced cabinet installer and have them walk me through the steps from start to finish; and then have him review the completed process for accuracy.
Once your team is in agreement that the process includes all the necessary steps and that the flow from one step to another is accurate, the next step is to rewrite the process and add the positions that will be responsible for making sure that the steps get done. (This would also be a good time to revise relevant Job Descriptions to add these new responsibilities, and to revise any affected meeting agendas – in the example case of kitchen cabinet installation process, the weekly PM meeting agenda – accordingly.) And finally, if you are not using software that alerts team members when an activity has been completed, for example when the client approves the change order, then consider creating a checklist that can be kept in the project’s file and filled out by the person responsible for the activity. Like any other tool, a process is only useful when it is being properly used, so you will want to verify that your team members are doing that, especially in the first few months of its implementation. During this time, also make sure that you are getting feedback on the effectiveness of the process. The last thing you want to do is to require your team to use something that seemed like a good idea at the time, but in the end, doesn’t actually improve your operations.
The Ultimate Goal
It didn’t take long for me to realize that the benefits of having processes far outweigh the time and effort spent creating them. That is, as long as I made sure that they were being consistently followed by my team. And by me! Over time, as we implemented more of them to include all of the company functions, we ended up with an Operations Manual, which became our Holy Grail. We now had a comprehensive document that laid out how our company should operate on a daily basis and what each team member’s responsibilities were. And given time and proper management, these processes became part of our company culture and helped fuel our company’s profits and growth over the next twenty plus years. Our Operations Manual was the main reason that I accomplished my ultimate goal of successfully selling Encore, which I did in 2021, and why it continues going strong to this day.
As I stated previously, construction is an industry that’s relatively easy to get started in, but notoriously difficult to survive in. According to Mr. Google, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that only about 17% of construction firms survive the twenty-year mark. My guess is that all of those 17% have well documented processes and systems; and owners and managers who ensure that they are being followed.
But, hey, if you decide you “don’t need no stinkin’ processes”, good luck! Just don’t say that I didn’t try to warn you.