The changing face of a construction project makes it hard, but always worth it.
We’ve all been there. Feel like your on top of everything and then the goal posts change. This usually happens daily on a construction project. Its no easy feat to stay organised and keep your team productive when you rely on so many variables. In my own experience the biggest pain point for every project was the installation of cable markers, but we’ll get to that soon.
Other trades need to complete their work before you can start. Your workforce needs to be on time, focused and competent. Materials need to be onsite and correct for their use. Tools and equipment need to be in good condition and available. Sometimes the weather plays a part. Honestly the list can go on and on.
The key is all the small systems
The key to a successful day is to ensure you have a system in place for all the activities that you control. A system doesn’t have to be a complicated series of tasks. Its can be a simple one or two step process, or even a question you ask yourself, that is triggered every time an event occurs or you start a new task.
You already have systems you use in your everyday life without ever giving it a second thought. Its how you get through your morning routine or make your breakfast and never once have to think about what you’re doing next. Systems become second nature when you use them regularly. We then call them habits.
Write it down
Its straight forward but sitting down and writing out all your little tasks and the best way to tackle them is the first step into becoming a streamlined, less stressed operator.
To be organised you need to stay one step ahead and during my years as a construction supervisor I learnt early on that if you weren’t looking forward and planning for the events for tomorrow, next week and even the following months then you were waiting for disaster.
An example of a simple system I used was when ever I was planning for a new task in our schedule I’d ask myself the same set of questions every time. We all know them. The Whos, whats, whens , wheres and hows.
Who needs to be involved?; is the team I need to undertake the task and who needs to be involved in organising the task beforehand? Who do I need to get more information from or seek approval from in order to move forward?
What do we need?; materials, equipment, plant, sub contractors, permits, approvals etc. What could hold us up or delay our start.
When? do we need to be there? do we have access? can we setup? do we need to be finished by?
Where? is it? do we source our materials.? do we source our plant and equipment from?
How? – are we going to complete the task? -much time, materials, labour has been allowed for?
The most important question
The simple system of questions I used above was just a prompt that quite clearly led into a lot of planning and other little systems but I found it quite helpful to overcome the feeling of not knowing where to start when there is a lot to think about. Before you know it you have a list of tasks before you that need executing.
The most important question of all comes once you have completed the task. What can we improve for next time?
NO matter how organised you are its unlikely everything will go to plan. Like we said there are too many variables. Learning from the past means actually contemplating these events and writing down possible solutions.
Everything can be improved
Even if everything went smoothly and your planning was spot on it doesn’t mean it cant be improved upon. Asking myself the question “What can we improve for next time? ” actually led me to starting Base Labels.
Our whole business was built around the fact that I wanted to improve how we ordered, received and installed the 1000’s of cable markers that went into building the plant and equipment in the multi million dollar mining projects I was apart of. I saw too much wasted time in the whole process.
I’m sure many people in the industry know it well. Thousands of uniquely identified labels delivered unorganised in bags, taped together in bundles or strung together on a cable tie. When the order got to site we wasted time checking that everything was accounted for, wasted time and space sorting them into some sort of format. Wasted time tryingt o find the required labels for a particular section. We Wasted time double (or triple) checking if labels had already been installed or if we’d lost them. And also Wasted time and money reordering labels twice or sometimes 3 times.
I couldn’t believe it was the 21st century and this kind of thing was acceptable. We had all the information needed to make this a seamless process but it was far from that. I searched around to all the suppliers I could contact to see if any of them could offer a better solution. They said “That’s how it’s done”.
Let’s do it better- the new standard in cable markers
I decided to work out a way to improve all the little reasons we were wasting resources. When you order cable markers from Base Labels Australia we guarantee;
- You won’t waste time or workspace sorting your cable markers
- No more wasted time checking off and counting labels when receiving your cable markers
- You won’t waste time seeing if they were installed or who installed your cable markers
- You won’t waste money reordering cable markers because they couldn’t be tracked down.
It all started with a simple system a long time ago but now your labels are in good hands. At Base Labels Australia, we are the new standard. We do it better. See for yourself!
