hen asked why you should you never are. A quality control
be chosen over a system can be kept pretty simple
competitor, do you if you adhere to a few proven
respond with "because we do tricks.
things right"? In other words, is
quality your calling card? 1. Appoint a lead man and hold
him accountable for quality
I’m betting that you spend a lot control.
of time making sure your crews 2. Create user-friendly quality
build things as you want them standards.
built. You probably check in on 3. Review quality standards
your crews frequently, or work on frequently with your crews.
the crew personally, just to 4. Require pictures to be turned
avoid poor workmanship. in.
Personally checking on work is Appoint a lead man, pay him a
the most common approach used by little extra, and make it his
small contractors - unfortunately responsibility to ensure the
it’s not the most profitable proper workmanship is provided to
approach. Every hour you devote your customer. You can’t afford
to checking quality is an hour to be your company’s one and only
not spent building and running quality control inspector. Assign
your business. that task to your crew leader.
How about considering a different He should be responsible for
approach, one that is more in safety, production, paperwork,
tune with systematizing your and quality. If you haven’t put
business? You need a system that that in place yet, you need to.
will produce quality work as if You will never be free to grow
you were on the crew, even though your company if you fail to put
effective crew leaders in place. and passable" quality.
One tool you MUST create is a But don’t stop there. Show your
user-friendly quality standard. crews how you would like the work
Your quality standard needs to be to be done. Provide pictures of
friendly to your field personnel. "preferred and desired" quality.
Pictures and checklists are the
best. You should print your pictures in
color to best bring attention to
WARNING! Do not write long-winded important details. Buy yourself a
operating procedures. Nobody color laser printer. Pictures
likes them, including you, me and printed from inkjet printers blur
your crew leaders. when they get wet. Laser prints
are water resistant and better
Use check lists to explain withstand field use.
procedures. They should be kept
brief and easy to read and Place the pictures and check
follow. lists into three ring binders.
Slip the pages into water-proof
Use pictures, tons of pictures, protectors. Consider laminating
to guide your crews’ efforts. the photos so that they are
Always write notes on your virtually weather proof.
pictures to point out important
details. Each crew leader should keep a
Quality Standard in his truck.
Make sure your crews can tell the Standards are worthless unless
difference between when they need readily available to your crews.
to redo the work and when they
don’t. For that reason, provide Quality standards should be
pictures of "barely acceptable reviewed with the crews. It’s
best to hold a meeting weekly to until after you inspected them.
review quality standards, safety
standards, and upcoming schedule. One final piece of advice
When a new member is added to the regarding quality control. When
crew, use that opportunity once the same quality problem keeps
again to reinforce your quality popping up, bring your crews in
standards. for a brainstorming session. They
will have a boat load of
To complete the quality control suggestions for fixing the
process, require your crew problem. Several will be
leaders to take pictures of the unacceptable, but a few will be
work and turn them in with their viable and worth consideration.
timesheets. Clearly communicate
the pictures you expect to be Remember, to err is human; to
taken. Let the camera be your forgive is divine - but the
eyes. bottom line is that doing it
right the first time is far
To keep everyone on the up and cheaper than doing it twice. Make
up, you will need to perform sure your crews know that is your
periodic, random spot checks. attitude.
Don’t let your crews know which
jobs you are going to inspect
About the Author:
Ron Roberts, The Contractor's Business Coach, teaches contractors how to turn their businesses into a profit spewing machines. To receive Ron's FREE Contractor Best Practices Newsletter visit http://www.FilthyRichContractor.com.
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Ron Roberts
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