This one is for builders and anyone thinking of becoming one.
Construction has a low barrier to entry, so standing out from the crowd is one of the hardest parts of the job. How many builders do you know whose house designs, materials and methods never change? Most compete on price, which is a race to the bottom.
There's a better way, and it comes down to three things: purpose, people and process.
Purpose: why your business exists
A business exists to improve its customers' lives: delivering more value, with less waste, every day. Do that consistently and customers come back, refer their friends, and the money follows.
Profit is a by-product, not the purpose. That sounds soft until you watch it play out. I know of a building company that started out people-focused and lost its way when profit became the main goal. Culture erodes quickly when customers and staff come second to the numbers. Leaders who focus on themselves and the bottom line forget why the business exists in the first place.
People: grow your team and listen to clients
Your team delivers the value, so invest in them:
- Lead by example. Start improving yourself before asking anyone else to change. Don't force lean on people. Show them.
- Build on strengths. Train people in what they're good at through courses, workshops and industry training, such as programs supported by Construction Skills Queensland.
- Ask, then listen. Ask your staff, trades and clients: "What do you think of what we're doing? What could we do better?" It's the simplest improvement tool there is, and most businesses never use it.
- Give people ownership. When the people doing the work can suggest and make improvements, they care about the result.
For further reading, look at Eli Goldratt's Theory of Constraints and Critical Chain, which explain bottlenecks, throughput and inventory better than anything else I've read.
Process: the lean method
Lean thinking is one of the simplest management ideas to learn, and it can make a big difference to your bottom line quickly. The hard part is keeping it going.
Lean is about eliminating waste: anything that doesn't add value for the customer. The customer wants the house. They don't want to pay for the waiting, rework and running around that went into it.
- Identify value. Work out what your clients actually value. Ask them directly.
- Map the value stream. Map every step from first enquiry to handover, and mark each one as value-adding or not. Our post on value stream mapping shows how.
- Eliminate waste. Look for waiting, rework and defects, double handling of materials, unnecessary travel, over-ordering and unused skills.
- Create flow. Make each stage hand over cleanly to the next, without gaps or bottlenecks.
- Use pull, not push. Start work and order materials based on when the next stage is actually ready, not on a guess. A simple Kanban board helps.
- Keep improving. Measure what matters, review regularly, and improve again.
- Train your team in the principles and tools so improvement isn't just your job.
- Use the right tools: lean tools such as 5S (sort, set in order, shine, standardise, sustain), Kaizen and root cause analysis, often combined with Six Sigma (Lean Six Sigma).
What it looks like on a job
Take the gap between trades. A typical build has days where the site sits idle: the plasterer is waiting on the electrician's rough-in to be finished, the electrician is waiting on the plumber, and nobody confirmed the frame inspection was booked. Each delay is small. Together they add weeks.
A lean approach would map those handovers, find where the waiting happens, and fix the cause. That might mean confirming each trade's start a few days ahead, booking inspections before the stage is finished, or using a stage checklist so the next trade arrives to a site that's genuinely ready. The client gets their house sooner, trades waste less time, and you carry less holding cost. Nobody had to work harder.
Start small
Lean isn't about slashing costs or people. It's about finding waste in everything you do and improving it, again and again. Start with your own work and the problems you hit every day. If you improve by 1% a day and keep it up, you'll be ahead of almost all of your competition.
Ask one question this week: "Where are we wasting our clients' time?" Then fix one thing.
Further reading
Maximising Efficiency in Construction with VSMDiscover the power of Value Stream Mapping (VSM) in residential construction. This article looks into VSM’s application for process optimisation, waste reduction, and efficiency enhancement, offering a step-by-step guide and insights into technology integration for better project management.
Step-by-Step Guide to Residential Building in AustraliaThis guide provides a detailed overview of the residential building process in Australia, highlighting key stages from the initial deposit to the final handover. It offers insights into contract stage claims and the elements within each stage.
Construction Project Management ExplainedDiscover the intricate dance of construction project management, where coordination and control bring structures from plans to reality. Dive into the phases and roles that shape the skyline.
