The Value of a Spring Day
There are so many factors that can throw your project timelines off course. With so many moving parts and – inevitably – surprises along the way, how do you ensure your projects finish on time?
Watch Digging Deeper this week as Dennis shares a real-life example of how one of our roundtable members tackles the issue of constrained time and leaves you with food for thought about how to seize schedule opportunities.
We look forward to hearing what time management techniques you’re implementing in your projects. Please let us hear from you.
The last two weeks to register for The Contractor Business Boot Camp are upon us! Please contact Charlotte at ckopp@familybusinessinstitute.com to learn more about the program.
Hello, everybody. Dennis Engelbrecht with Digging Deeper, our blog series, trying to dig deep into daily construction issues.
So, today's blog, comes from another one of our members. And this member is from Alaska. So, he has a specific
perspective, I guess, on today's subject. And the subject is the value of a spring day. And wherever you are, that could be
the value of a summer day. But for him in Alaska, there isn't too much you can do on outdoor work up until May in many
cases. Perhaps some of April, but some of May.
But today in the construction world of, course, meeting schedule is becoming more and more difficult simply because we
don't have the supply of construction workers and people and skilled people to get the job done as well as we need to.
So, we seem to be working short all the time. And then, of course, things happen such as weather and other impacts that
may happen on a job site that can put you off schedule.
So, in thinking about this, what Joe had to say was that understanding the value of that spring day, which may be near the
beginning of your projects, and when you actually have everything going your way, to try to get more done there. Maybe
you work overtime at that point, and you're working 12-hour days, so you can get ahead, with the idea that come October
or November, it's going to be very hard to get a lot of things done or certain things done. And later in the project, when
you have all the trades working on top of each other, of course, it's much, much harder to make good progress or extra
progress.
So, whether it's working a longer day or working a Saturday, and if you're a project manager, thinking about how you can
get ahead of the job. Plan ahead to get ahead and utilize that spring day or that summer day to get ahead. And the rest of
our contractors in the group really took onto that. And one of them, Todd Hodges, his plan is to go back and really try to
quantify the value of that day and quantify the impact it can have by taking full advantage or not taking full advantage of
that day. So hopefully he can get his superintendents, project managers, thinking about the value of that spring day and
what impact it can have long-term on the project.
Again, Dennis Engelbrecht, Digging Deeper. Hope to see you again next week, and don't forget about our bootcamp. Next
session starting in February and hoping to have some of you apply. Thanks a lot.
