Quality is what differentiates the good from the mediocre. In other words, it’s what you call a degree of excellence. And everyone wants quality outputs in everything they do.
Construction is no exception. Achieving the highest level of quality for any job starts with having standards. Let’s make sure that the next civil infrastructure you build is built with the highest quality in mind. We’ll dive into what construction quality is, how construction quality is determined, why it’s important, and how you can improve it to ensure that you are giving the highest level of quality for your clients.
Definition of Construction Quality
Construction quality can be defined as the fulfillment of acceptable levels of performance from construction activities in compliance with the standards set such that a project is completed within the defined guidelines.
The Scope of Work is a document that serves as a guide for the project based on the owner’s goals, expectations, and standards. It’s a document that assists you in achieving the best construction quality that your project can reach.
Importance of Construction Quality
Construction Quality is important because it significantly affects your bottom line.
Accomplishing projects with a high level of quality can get you to repeat business and protect you from expensive mistakes that require a lot of rework. On the other hand, construction projects with a low level of quality can tarnish your reputation as a company that does low-quality outputs for projects and will lead you to lose more business in the future, especially from clients that have heard of the poor quality of your work.
Aside from the financial consequences of poor construction quality, it can also waste time, resources, and materials. This means higher quality construction improves the speed, efficiency, and productivity of a project, and that makes it easier for a job to stay on schedule and no further rework due to mistakes and issues.
Project safety is also one of the significant concerns when poorly executing a project. Projects that are not done well and are not compliant with the standards for quality and safety can hurt others as well. That’s why high-quality construction projects are important because they can also improve safety, and avoid issues and accidents that can hurt people as a result. It is one of the reasons why civil engineering consultants will always recommend prioritizing the quality of your construction project because it helps you avoid costly repairs, improve safety, and get returning clients.
Determinants of Construction Quality
In order to determine the construction quality of the project, there are a lot of factors to consider. One of these factors is whether you have completed the project on time within the schedule. Another is being able to meet the owners’ standards and requirements within the stipulatory budget.
Once you have fulfilled the specifications listed in the job’s contract and avoided unnecessary disputes during the construction process, it is a good determinant of good construction quality.
Lastly, making sure that your final output works as intended is also a major factor in construction quality. There is no point in building something with quality in mind and it doesn’t work as it should.
Improvement of Construction Quality
After knowing what construction quality is and how important it is in the scheme of things, and how you can determine quality, it’s important that you can work on improving construction quality for your next job.
In the modern age particularly, being constantly aware of risks is especially important when it comes to a project’s closing out on time.
Constantly assessing risk involves constantly identifying any threats or concerns on the job, regularly reviewing the project for any potential threats, risks, and liabilities, and creating approaches to mitigate all issues you discover in the process.
Learning from your mistakes in previous projects is also a tactical method for improving construction quality. Reviewing past issues from previous projects should be more widely implemented in the construction industry. Standardizing data collection and documentation on all projects and will help reduce overall risk on the project and help improve construction quality as each project is accomplished. Mining contractors are adopting this to have more successful outcomes in mining projects, where more risks are being involved than usual construction projects.
Causes of Construction Quality Issues
Identifying the causes of issues that are affecting quality management is the first step in improving the quality of your construction project. The second step is finding out how to address them.
One of the most common causes of issues is the use of damaged and low-quality materials. Low-quality materials will always lead to low-quality outputs. Like how bad ingredients cannot make a good dish.
Other common causes of issues are:
- Supplier failures and shortcomings
- Subcontractor mishandling
- Emergency changes
- Miscommunication
- No project management system
These causes are found throughout the project lifecycle and can be avoided by constant risk assessment and due diligence.
Conclusion
Construction quality involves many different factors that play a different role but are all crucial in making sure that the output is quality output. Using the right strategies when managing and improving the construction quality of your projects can help improve business and can positively impact your bottom line now and in the future.
