Pre-kit, Not Same-kit

Pre-Kit, Not Same Kit: A Lean Construction Mindset Shift

In this blog, I’m going to talk about the importance of pre-kit, not the same kit, and why this shift in thinking can transform how we plan and execute work.

We’ve discussed the concept of pre-kitting before. Pre-kitting means you do not start a task until you are ready to finish it. That means having all the tools, materials, equipment, labor, permissions, and information required to accomplish the task from start to finish.

The key point is that it is not pre-kit to just start. It is a pre-kit to start, do it, and finish it.

What Pre-Kit Really Means

In Lean Construction terms, we talk about working in a single process flow: plan, build, finish. Your kit should be prepared for all three of those stages. At Lean Built, our work package effort and trade partner preparation process (TP3) help teams achieve this.

As we move through buyout, preparatory meetings, inspections, and follow-up steps, we collect the information for the work package. By the end, we use a checklist of 17 key items to confirm whether we have a complete kit. If something is missing by the time we get past the look-ahead and weekly work plan, that is a roadblock and a red flag.

Why Same Kit Does Not Work

I grew up in a world of strict inspections and checklists with the Army Corps of Engineers, government quality control programs, and manufacturer startup lists. While these had value, they often became stale. Reusing the same checklist repeatedly without updating it turns it into the same kit rather than a true pre-kit.

Same kits are often walls of text, outdated, and generic. Human nature means that people stop actively processing them, and they lose their effectiveness. Pre-kitting, on the other hand, means creating a fresh, useful, frictionless set of instructions and resources for this specific job.

Designing a Useful Pre-Kit

When I design work packages, I use Canva to make them as clear, visual, and engaging as possible. The goal is to create information that trade partners will actually want to use. This means minimal text, lots of visuals, and custom-tailored content.

It is not about dumbing things down. It is about matching the format to how crews prefer to work. Many skilled tradespeople want to be hands-on, not spend time wading through unnecessary text. So we give them exactly what they need, in the way they want to see it.

The Bottom Line

Pre-kit means preparing the right information, in the right way, for the right job. It is about tailoring and refreshing content, not just reusing outdated checklists. If everyone on the crew starts with a true pre-kit, they are equipped to plan, build, and finish without unnecessary delays or mistakes.

Key Takeaway
True pre-kitting is about readiness to finish, not just readiness to start. Outdated, generic same kits slow projects down, while tailored, visual, and specific pre-kits empower crews to execute work efficiently and without roadblocks.