Quality - why you should care

We all aspire to delivering a project that meets our clients’ expectations and is profitable for us.  A quality project.

Why is it important?

Quality can affect profitability.

Direct costs include defects rectification and the delays due to the associated rework.

Whether it be structural defective work that affects the project’s structural performance, including waterproofing, or the general standard of the construction or finishes, a lack of quality leads to defects which will cost you.

Indirect costs are related to client dissatisfaction and its effect on your brand, unproductive time attending site, inspecting and addressing defects, and the administrative burden.

What does it involve?

Quality is more than just assessing a project’s success at completion. It requires you to evaluate, monitor and improve the quality of your project throughout, starting at the planning and design stage, during contract formation, through to scheduling, purchasing of materials, and actually constructing your project.

It requires a collaborative approach with all stakeholders. You can’t deliver a quality project if your suppliers or subcontractors are supportive.

It also requires proper training of workers, adequate supervision to ensure issues are identified as soon as possible, and clear communication and specification with suppliers and subcontractors.

What you can do?

As Master Builders you all know how to build a quality project (our annual awards show every year what amazing work our members do!). The challenge is taking the knowledge and experience you have and communicating that during a project to ensure your quality standards are implemented.

One way to do this is using an Inspection and Test Plan (ITP).

ITP’s

An ITP details the ‘plan’ for managing the quality of elements of the construction works. It’s not a plan for an entire project’s quality, but rather parts of it, and is typically either created by the subcontractor, or the Head Contractor responsible for the works.

It is a comprehensive list of what needs to be undertaken to ensure the quality of the delivered works – providing details of the requirements, an overview of the method(s) to be used, responsibilities of relevant parties, and any documentary evidence to be provided to verify compliance.

Once it is finalised, the relevant persons performing the work are briefed on the ITP’s requirements.

What else?

Keep records of your ITP’s, specifications, emails, and other records of interactions about quality, and any briefings you provide to workers and subcontractors, to ensure that if you must defend your work, you have evidence to back you up.