Assuring Quality on the Jobsite

As American author John Steinbeck wrote (borrowing from Scottish poet Robert Burns), the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. In homebuilding, if quality assurance isn’t taken seriously during construction, all of the design and engineering effort that went before is worthless.

Take the performance goal of comfort, for example. If the foundation, walls, and roof of a home don’t achieve the thermal performance goals that the heating and cooling system was designed to meet, homeowner comfort can suffer. Defects can arise from faulty insulation installation, inadequate airsealing, or the wrong window being delivered and installed. If the distribution system is not tightly sealed with mastic, air may not get delivered to the space it was intended for.

To assure quality on the jobsite, there needs to be a process for the site supervisors to be continually reviewing contractors’ work to check that systems are all correctly installed. As part of this process, your contractors should be explicitly aware of the construction and installation details that are critical to meet the home’s performance goals.

Quality assurance can be especially challenging when you’re using new products or practices to improve the home’s quality. Says Tindall Homes’ Senior Project Manager John Clark, “In the field you have to be diligent and constantly pay attention. We don’t just do a simple inspection anymore. Each phase needs to be looked at differently. We’re using new products and trying things differently, and the site super has to make sure that all these things are being done correctly.”

One critical component of a comprehensive quality assurance process is documentation. Because there are so many people involved, especially in big builders’ organizations, you need to make sure everyone’s on the same page. Create comprehensive documentation that allows for consistent communication through your and your trade contractors’ organizations.

Documentation, or scopes of work as it’s commonly called, should be customized for the different people who will need it. For example, purchasing agents, site supervisors, and trade contractors will use the same documentation differently, so tailor it to their needs. A comprehensive scopes of work package for each of these people should include installation details, installer checklists, an installer requirement of understanding, material spec sheets, standards and requirements, supervisor checklists, and a step-by-step installation guide.

If you want help developing comprehensive scopes of work, contact IBACOS at info@ibacos.com.

Don’t gamble on whether your planning and design is being implemented correctly. Make sure your quality assurance process includes documentation and training to enable your team to carry out your best-laid plans in the field.