Small builder workflow

This is a part of the Business of building feature

By Ruth Berry - 1 December 2012, Build 133

By better understanding the process of small residential building, a Productivity Partnership workstream has been able to identify issues and solutions, ultimately aiming to improve productivity in the sector.

A PROJECT IDENTIFYING OPPORTUNITIES for smaller residential building companies to improve productivity is one of several being undertaken by the Productivity Partnership – the joint initiative between the building and construction industry and government to raise the sector’s productivity by 20% by 2020.

Part of the partnership’s Construction Systems Workstream, the project aims to create an industry that makes value-based decisions by understanding how construction processes can be most effectively manipulated to increase overall project value. This includes encouraging widespread use of smart technology, such as building information modelling (BIM) and other IT tools, enabling knowledge sharing and faster and more efficient construction processes and whole-of-life value-based decisions.

Construction process complex

The building process is complex, and a single project may involve many individuals and companies. This complexity and the number of small firms in the residential sector, in particular, have been identified as barriers to improving sector performance. Surprisingly, there has been little analysis or documentation of industry processes.

To know where and how to intervene to increase construction sector productivity, we need to understand all the construction processes in the production of different types of buildings at every stage of their life from conception, client brief, design, consenting and construction through to use, maintenance and demolition. A way to do this is by value stream mapping.

Using value stream mapping

Value stream mapping was developed in the manufacturing sector to show how materials and information flow within a business. By critically examining a value stream map, activities or processes that add value to the final product and activities or processes that add little or no value can be identified.

Once identified, the next stage is to eliminate or modify activities or processes that do not add value.

Mapping applied across sector

This project focused on the new residential homes sector – small builders building 10 or fewer houses a year. The value stream mapping concept was applied across the sector, rather than at an individual business level. It was suspected that some unproductive processes and activities might occur outside the confines of an individual business and that some issues that negatively impact the productivity of building professionals were outside of the control of an individual business.

A facilitator worked with building professionals representing architects and designers, builders and subtrades as well as merchants, manufacturers, building consent authorities and Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to:

map a typical new house build process from design through to issuing of the Code Compliance Certificate and final payment
identify areas where improvements could be made
develop ideas for practical solutions.

From the mapping exercises and workshop discussions, areas were found where builders, in particular, add value for others but add very little or no value for themselves.

Areas where productivity could improve were identified such as the adoption of better project management and planning and the use of new technologies.

Small steps lead to gains

Ultimately, there is no silver bullet solution to productivity improvement in the small builder new home segment. Rather, a number of smaller solvable issues could significantly improve productivity.

The next step is to develop tangible projects to achieve desired outcomes and improve productivity in:

client skill levels – develop products to improve clients’ knowledge and understanding of the design and building process
consent and tendering processes – standardise contracts, improve technology use and ensure the government’s online consenting process includes features that assist building professionals to submit and process consents more efficiently
project management and planning – develop tools and skills tailored to building professionals in the residential sector
technical solutions to weather delays – cost-effective and practical technical solutions for small builders in the residential market.