Why Contractor Jobs Fail, and What YOU As His Teammate Can Do About It
Bill Floyd
Every Contractor and each entity that serves them needs to know what makes a project successful and conversely why a job goes bad. How else can they take corrective action, and how else can their Manufacturers and Distributor Partners be the kind of teammates that they can rely on?
With that in mind, I chatted with George Hague, himself a former contractor and founder and past President of ConEst Estimating Software, to get some of his take.
George: "Project leaders who know some of the common causes that contribute to these failures learn from their previous mistakes and the mistakes of other projects, thus maximizing their chances for success by implementing corrective measures and isolating problem areas. "
George: " Electrical and Data projects are known to fail from some of the following reasons:
Knowing what leads to failure can keep a Contractor on the path to success. But it's critical for any Supplier who wants to stand out and be a valued teammate to not just low ball prices and plead for orders. Because if you read George's comments above he reiterates what you already know. The Contractor's real risk is in the LABOR. This far exceeds the relative pittance in product material savings he can achieve on many of his jobs.
The Suppliers who get close to their Contractor customers and take a real interest in understanding how the overall job is going are few and far between, but they become so valuable to each other that neither the Contractor nor the Supplier will let the other fail. They depend on each other to make sure they are mutually successful.
So in short, the best Manufacturers and Wholesalers work together to understand and focus on the big picture - or a roadmap the Contractor needs to follow to be successful. Just concentrating on the job piece that they hope to sell him is shortsighted and keeps him from the Contractor's inner circle of extremely important and trusted vendors.
Stay tuned for the next round of innovation from ElectricSmarts and NetPak.
To reply to this article or contact the writer bfloyd@electricsmarts.com
With that in mind, I chatted with George Hague, himself a former contractor and founder and past President of ConEst Estimating Software, to get some of his take.
George: "Project leaders who know some of the common causes that contribute to these failures learn from their previous mistakes and the mistakes of other projects, thus maximizing their chances for success by implementing corrective measures and isolating problem areas. "
George: " Electrical and Data projects are known to fail from some of the following reasons:
- Project participants are not on board with project objectives. This includes all trades.
- Business needs are not clearly defined (i.e. inadequate, fluctuating design and requirements), incomplete project scope and unrealistic expectations.
- This domino effect negative compounding and increases the magnitude of submitted change orders.
- Many estimators look for profitable Change Order’s, but not all Change Orders are profitable. Many Change Order estimates overlook work flow and mobilization. This is a real cost to the Change Order.
- Absence of a viable work breakdown plan, Critical Path (CPM) and work breakdown schedule.
- Lack of Job Costing not available or not used in the Bid Analysis Phase.
- Working with suppliers for special material and package pricing. Remember that low price is not always the best price. "
Knowing what leads to failure can keep a Contractor on the path to success. But it's critical for any Supplier who wants to stand out and be a valued teammate to not just low ball prices and plead for orders. Because if you read George's comments above he reiterates what you already know. The Contractor's real risk is in the LABOR. This far exceeds the relative pittance in product material savings he can achieve on many of his jobs.
The Suppliers who get close to their Contractor customers and take a real interest in understanding how the overall job is going are few and far between, but they become so valuable to each other that neither the Contractor nor the Supplier will let the other fail. They depend on each other to make sure they are mutually successful.
So in short, the best Manufacturers and Wholesalers work together to understand and focus on the big picture - or a roadmap the Contractor needs to follow to be successful. Just concentrating on the job piece that they hope to sell him is shortsighted and keeps him from the Contractor's inner circle of extremely important and trusted vendors.
Stay tuned for the next round of innovation from ElectricSmarts and NetPak.
To reply to this article or contact the writer bfloyd@electricsmarts.com
