Quality Is No Accident
The best companies build quality assurance systems into their practice.
What separates great builders from good ones? A lot of things do, but part of the answer is that great builders are obsessive about small details. And taken together, those small details leave a big impression.
Most builders really want to do good work for their customers. They strive to craft high-quality homes and respond quickly if the customer has a serious problem like a leak after move-in. At the same time, many builders lack formal systems for detecting and correcting errors during the construction process and for making sure they don't happen in the future.
Industry research has found that builders who avoid such problems are systematic about quality. A recent article in Professional Builder magazine noted that most builders around the United States lacked formal quality assurance (QA) programs, but that those who had put a QA program in place were quickly rewarded with steep reductions in warranty claims.
It's no surprise that those builders' customers are also more likely to refer them to friends and family.
So what does a QA program include? Most people assume it's all about inspecting the work, but while inspections play a big role they're not the whole story. Someone in the company needs to conduct detailed project reviews and make sure underlying issues get corrected.
There's no "right" way to implement QA—you can buy special software for it, but simple checklists can be just as effective. Ultimately, it comes down to a mindset, and a commitment.
The mindset shows up in a lot of ways. For instance, quality-driven builders have clearly written and communicated expectations for workers and trade contractors, and they are diligent about making sure those expectations get met. They tend to have clutter-free jobsites with neatly stacked materials—signs of an efficient and safety-conscious company that pays attention to detail.
The Professional Builder article also reported that builders who reap the most rewards from their QA efforts pursue collaborative relationships with trade contractors and seek their advice on how to improve. This helps build a company culture that encourages excellence—a culture that attracts contractors and employees who do the best work.
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