Construction Labor Budget - Alternate Perspective

Improving craft labor productivity in construction will significantly reduce risk while providing a long-term competitive advantage for the contractor.

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It will provide job security and opportunities for every member of the team from the apprentice on the front-line through the senior management.  

Field Productivity: Your Project Budget an Alternate Perspective. Invoice representing the impacts of minimization.

For most contractors time spent on actual installation is less than 65% of the day.  The labor studies that form the foundation for the estimating unit databases we all use provide details for how time is spent in the field.  

As contractors focus on creating the “Perfect Day” for their field they must look at every step in their value stream focusing on minimizing all work that does not directly add value to the customer.

Sometimes it is important to backup and look at this non-installation time from the project level rather than seeing it as embedded in every labor unit detail.  This perspective allows you to make bigger decisions impacting productivity including:


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Construction Labor Budget - Alternate Perspective
Field labor is the often the biggest variable on a construction project - making it the biggest risk and opportunity....

Construction Labor Budget - Alternate Perspective
Field labor is the often the biggest variable on a construction project - making it the biggest risk and opportunity....

Using Checklists Effectively
Too many construction businesses needlessly run on razor-thin margins due to poor productivity. Checklists are a very simple and powerful tool that can be used to mitigate many of these problems.
Change and Improvement (Expectations vs Reality)
Leadership at the company, team, and individual level starts with setting the direction, trajectory, and milestone goals. With that said, more failures occur due to failed execution rather than bad goals or strategy.
Production Tracking - Total Daily Production
Look at productivity as a daily “Jar” where your objective is to pack as much “Earned Value” into it as possible. Look at your costs in three major categories and focus on tracking what matters the most.