How Do We Get It Right as Often as We Do?

You’re likely familiar with the “Extreme Home Makeover” shows that have become popular with audiences. The premise is simple: build a new house from the ground up in a week. The execution is not simple – it requires months of planning and coordination long before the volunteers show up. This is critical because the volunteer workforce is often counted in the hundreds or beyond.

Production homebuilders don’t typically build homes in one week. They also don’t have thousands of workers on our jobsites. But they do have more people on a site over the course of building a home than you might believe. Let’s look at the numbers.

There are typically 20-25 different specialty trades under contract. And these trades often send a crew that is more than one person. But that same contract may require different skills, for example, drywall hangers versus finishers. So, when you list it all out, the actual number of different individuals on site to build a single house often exceeds 75… about the size of a philharmonic orchestra.

Now, let’s factor in that production builders are building more than 1 house at a time. This can mean more than 1 crew from that trade to the same jobsite. Even though both crews could be building the identical house, that’s twice as many people who need to stay aligned. Add to this turnover, vacations, or simply changes in the way a trade contractor allocates resources. It’s possible that the people who were onsite today, may not be back tomorrow. That is a vast number of individuals to equip with the right information, when they need it, in the format that works best for them.

Do mistakes happen? Yes, they do, and sometimes these mistakes can cause a lot of damage and cost of lot of money. Of course we want to get things right the first time. But, upon reflection, it’s somewhat surprising that we get it right as often as we do... and we should be proud of these successes. Yet, that doesn’t mean we should accept today’s level of performance and stop seeking opportunities to get even better.