Construction projects are not easy to handle. Focusing on the quality control measures to be taken for the project is a crucial part of the job. Unless quality control is properly handled, defects will loom up large and ugly, resulting in more loss than profitability. Delivering the best quality services without ignoring the regulations while ensuring deadline is maintained properly helps in gaining a positive reputation in the industry. It also adds to the customer satisfaction level, making way for better sales and client retention.
Quality Control–The Essential Measures
Once a construction project is assigned, the quality control subcontractors associated with the job must realize the QC norms and regulations. There will be certain mandatory guidelines to follow. Here are the essential measures to ensure the best quality control for the construction project:
Define What’s Being Accepted
This is the first step. You need to define the scenario “completed the project”. What qualifies for a finish line for the project? Be it the crews, subcontractors, or the superintendents, each one of those associated with the project must have a clear idea regarding the regulations and quality control norms that must be followed to ensure acceptable results to mark a project as “done”. To make it happen, every participant for the project must have a clear understanding of the project goal.
Some Of The Essential Factors That Will Fall Under The Accepted Norm Are:
- Complies with the basic code standards.
- No defects visible.
- Complies with the organizational preferences.
- Complies with every specification mandated by the manufacturer.
- Following the common practices as per industry standards.
Always remember, the better you can articulate the acceptance criteria, the more convenient it will be for subs and employees to meet the expectations for the project.
A Proper Inspection Plan Is Crucial
Without a proper inspection plan, you will not be able to determine whether the quality of the project is maintained or not. A detailed inspection is necessary to ensure that every task associated with the project is completed as per the guidelines and specifications. When carrying out the inspection plan, make sure the quality control subcontractors are present to explain the procedures and techniques used in project-specific completion. Usually, 3rd-party inspectors are hired to carry out the inspections.
Never think that a single inspection will be sufficient to examine the quality control norms of the project. There will be many inspections, if not hundreds, going on once the “project done” tag is established by the contractors. A proper inspection plan will help make the QC testing process a lot easier and convenient. An organized approach is necessary for the process. It will help the team notice the errors and defects in the projects and what measures need to be taken to rectify the same.
Checklists Are A Must When Conducting Inspections
Never forget to maintain a checklist when the inspection is being conducted. The presence of a checklist helps in creating an organized effort to the process. It ensures that the critical items are properly verified. But said that, make sure the checklist is well developed. It must not be the basic binary format of yes/no that can cause problems. The fact is, binary checklists do not measure a project quality.
If properly arranged, a checklist certainly comes with many benefits. Quality control subcontractors must maintain the checklist. They must share it with the team before the start of the project. For every checklist item, they must properly scrutinize the checklist. Never confuse a checklist with a specification list. A checklist highlights the project target, ways to achieve it, and certain information about the team working under it.
This checklist can act as a pre-task conversation for the project team to communicate on. Essential areas to highlight, the necessary rules to follow, quality measures to enforce, all will be discussed once they issued the checklist. In other words, the checklist can help increase awareness among the team members regarding the quality to be maintained for the project. The inspection procedures will conclude only after focusing on the checklist and ensuring that all the tasks mentioned in the list are received OK and signed off.
Accept deficiencies once identified and act accordingly to rectify the same.
During the inspection process, if deficiencies are identified, it is the responsibility of quality control subcontractors along with the crew members to correct the same. Well, the rectification process must go through certain steps. Have a look:
- Physically pointing and marking the area that prevents chances of cover-up.
- Take a photograph of the error area and highlight the problem that has occurred.
- Rectify the error and then document the entire process of correction.
Once the errors are rectified, the inspection auditor will again verify the work to ensure that things are carried out properly. Once the inspector/auditor is satisfied, the approval of acceptance will be provided.
