There is a labor shortage in our industry; skilled trades people, superintendents, project managers, and estimators are difficult to find.
It is tempting to think we could overcome this by using technology to increase speed rather than changing our processes, but we can no longer afford to overlook the abundance of waste in construction.
Industry Reports
In 2018, FMI and PlanGrid published the 2018 Industry Report: Construction Disconnected, which revealed that surveyed construction professionals worked on “optimal” activities only 65% of the time. From the C-suite to the job trailer, an average of 14 hours per person per week was spent fixing mistakes, looking for data, and managing conflict when this time could have been spent on priority activities that make progress on the job.
In their estimate, the U.S. was on track to spend $177.5 billion in labor costs on these “non-optimal” activities in 2018.
I remember attending a session during CFMA’s 2018 Annual Conference & Exhibition where James Benham said that saving someone five minutes a day is a 1% improvement to your labor bottom line. He also recommended the book 2 Second Lean by Paul Akers. The idea that incremental improvements have a profound impact is powerful when we set out to eliminate this much waste.
Eight Wastes of Lean
The eight wastes of lean are listed below with some office-related examples. This is just a drop in the “14 hours per person per week” bucket, but I hope it gets you thinking about and identifying waste. Recognizing waste is the first step to eliminating it!
CFMA & Waste
CFMA recently reduced waste through navigation and design improvements to our new website by reducing mouse clicks and more efficient searching for information.
The search function on the website enables members to search across all content sources including the website, e-newsletters, education materials, and CFMA Building Profits. These improvements are great examples of eliminating waste and utilizing new technology.
This issue of CFMA Building Profits focuses on technology and its valuable role in our industry’s improvement. Implementing new technology can increase safety, simplify work, remove duplication and complexity, and help us make better decisions. If we also work to reduce the waste in our processes, we will free up valuable hours for productive activities and may solve our labor shortage.
I’m curious to hear how you have identified and removed waste in your organization. Please share them with me on CFMA’s Connection Café!
Copyright © 2021 by the Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA). All rights reserved. This article first appeared in July/August 2021 CFMA Building Profits magazine.