The 14 Things – Self-perform

Self-Performed Work: The 14-Point Checklist for Success

Here’s one of the fourteen key things you should check to make sure a project site is going well: self-performed work. And let me just cut to the chase. The best way to look at self-performed work with a crew is that you have a scope of work and that scope of work is broken out into zones inside of a phase. And each of those are planned in one piece process or progress flow. And every piece that that crew is going to build must have specific things in place or you don’t have a plan.

And if you don’t have a plan, self-performed work will fail.

The Pain of Self-Performed Work Without a Plan

First of all, who am I to talk about self-perform? Well, let me tell you, I have spent most of my career actually with self-performed companies with framing and drywall and specifically with concrete, mostly with concrete, and have actually been in a crew, led a crew, concrete crew, and not as fancy as you might think, like on a massive commercial project. And then was a field engineer and then assistant superintendent, superintendent who came up through the ranks supervising self-perform.

And so let me just go ahead and tell a quick story and then get right into the meat of this. There was a company that we consulted with just a few years ago and self-perform was their bread and butter. And we focused on enabling the field, the craft. We started foreman training and foreman development for specific key scopes like surveying and how to use instruments and how to manage quality control and how to do production analyses and how to track their units to make sure that they were monitoring the finances and each of their self-perform codes properly.

Everything was done to the nth degree. We created a visual manual, we created standard role cards for every position, standard practices from a logistical standpoint, and then installation drawings and pre-installation meetings. You can go to that company today and you will see that all of their projects operate the same. All of their projects have safety plans. All of their projects have their job hazard analyses signed that morning. All projects are using the quality checklist every morning. All projects are using their survey sheets. All projects have their visual plan. All projects know the schedule. Every foreman is working in unison and they are making good money.

Here’s what made that possible: they had a plan. And the plan covered six critical areas that most self-performed crews miss.

The Six Requirements for Self-Performed Success

Requirement One: Installation Drawings and Work Packages

Every piece that that crew is going to build must have a lift drawing or installation drawings that are accurate. You must have the materials to install that, inspected, ready to go, with a kit of your perishable or consumable parts. Meaning you might need to have a list of all of your large and small materials and the tools that you need. And that crew is able to install with those materials and those tools and that equipment that day.

If you do not have lift drawings or detailed shop drawings or specific submittals, or I would say at a minimum, an installation work package with visuals for every zone for that scope of work, clear, easy to read, easy to install for the crew, then you do not have a plan.

Requirement Two: Layout and Surveying

You also must make sure that your layout is correct so you can do it right then and there. If you do not have a plan for how you are going to tackle the site from a layout standpoint, meaning know where you’re supposed to install, then you do not have a plan.

Requirement Three: Cadence and Flow

You also need to make sure that your crew is executing work on a cadence, on a Takt and pull rhythm. And that you are going from area to area in a plan, build, finish cycle.

If you do not know what your phases, scopes, and zones are and how your crews will move through an area, then you do not have a plan.

Requirement Four: Organization and Training

And if you have the people with the right organization structure, the right leadership, and the right training, you will have every opportunity to be successful.

If you do not have an organization chart that shows how your crews are going to be organized with proper leadership and how all of the people on those crews will be trained, then you do not have a plan.

Requirement Five: Logistics and Material Flow

And if you have not identified logistically how you’re going to feed the crews, then you do not have a plan.

The idea here that I got from Todd Zavelle is that every crew should be able to have everything they need to install in a work package in a zone for that day. Everything that they need. Plan, build, finish.

Requirement Six: Safety Planning

If you do not have the safety planning and preparation and the major job hazard analyses for their scopes of work, you do not have a plan. And I’m not trying to be insulting. I’m trying to help everybody.

Now, there’s much more to it, but we have to make sure that that self-performed plan is in place and visual and correct and ready.

The Critical Elements: Zone Size, Takt Time, and Bottlenecks

The other thing we have to do is make sure that we understand how the crews are going to flow from area to area. So that means you have to identify proper zone sizes. You have to identify your Takt time. And you have to analyze how long each activity time takes inside of that area, inside the Takt time. So, you plan it with a little bit of a buffer in there.

And in order for that to work, you have to right-size your batches. So that means if you’re working in zones, you have to right-size the zones by work density. And if you’re doing concrete placements, you don’t just go in a manner where you’re just taking the structural engineer’s word for how you do the construction joints and placement breaks. You have got to design those to where the work is leveled so the crew can have even flow through the building. That’s one of the biggest mistakes. Absolutely horrible.

The third thing that you need to make sure is that you’re looking at your most limiting factor. And this is what I would do with self-performed crews over and over, is just always look at their most limiting factor. What is the thing that’s holding them up the most? Is it that this crew doesn’t have a foreman? Is it that that crane is too small, doesn’t have the capacity? Is it that there’s not enough laydown area over there? Is it that this forming system is taking too long? Like what is the thing that’s taking them the longest? And then work bottleneck by bottleneck by bottleneck so that you can benefit people and keep creating flow. It’s absolutely remarkable.

Here are the key elements:

• Right-size zones by work density, not by structural engineer’s placement breaks
• Identify Takt time and analyze activity times inside each zone
• Identify the most limiting factor and work bottleneck by bottleneck
• Design placement breaks to level the work for even flow

These aren’t optional. If you don’t do these, your self-performed crews will be out of rhythm and the project will drift.

Sequencing, Quality, and Finish-as-You-Go

The other thing you need to do is make sure self-perform is sequenced to protect everyone else. It is the pace center on the job, but you’ve got to get other trades, like notably MEP, in and around you in an effective manner to where you can be successful. But you have to pace the job to where you support other trades. And the most important thing: finish as you go.

Number five: quality has got to be a huge, huge, huge thing. I just talked about finishing as you go. Let’s take concrete as an example. When you’re finishing work, don’t leave it for the patching crew or the finishers later on to scrape cement or actual piles of concrete off the deck. Don’t wait to patch the columns and the walls. Don’t wait to clean up your mess. Don’t wait to demobilize. Don’t wait for any of these things.

When you’re done, get done. Finish. If you’re a good carpenter crew, labor crew, and finishing crew, you will just go ahead and strip the forms and chip and patch, and not one hundred percent, but for the most part, all of your large items right then and there before you move on. That’s what you’re going to do if you want to be effective. And make sure that quality is planned in the pre-construction meeting and that every crew has visuals and that you’re inspecting and finalizing things before moving on.

That’s the most important thing that you can make sure that foremen are doing out there in the field.

Foreman Leadership and the Mafia Problem

Number six: make sure that foreman leadership is aligned with the overall project site leadership and that it’s functioning like an operating system. Does the self-perform have foremen that are attending planning meetings? Are they doing daily huddles, pre-task planning, and end-of-day status updates? Are they coordinating with other trade partners? Are there lead persons to be with the crews underneath that foreman? Do we have the right cadence?

And then the other thing I’m going to say: your self-perform, especially if you’re a general contractor, you can’t have your self-perform be like a mafia.

Another story that I probably should have started with. One time I worked for a general contractor where their self-perform was treated like a profit center to the point where they were willing to do dishonest things. It was like they were a mafia and they would boss around the project delivery team and act like a mafia. But I’m so stubborn that I would never let them do that to me. And I took it all the way to the end where I’m like, “You’re either going to get these people off of me or you are going to have to fire me.”

Self-perform has got to fall in line with the job site rules and be an actual partner in an ethical way. They can’t act like a mafia. It’s not going to work. If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

A Challenge for Superintendents

So, self-perform, it’s a huge thing. Your self-performed crews can get the job done if they have everything: the people, the equipment, the materials and resources, the small tools, the access, the logistics, the laydown, the permissions, the information. If you want to run great self-perform, make sure that your self-performed crews are led properly and that they have all of those things before they need it. And this is what you should check. One of the fourteen things you should check when you’re on the site.

Here’s what I want you to do this week. Walk your self-performed crews. Do they have installation drawings? Do they have materials kitted and ready? Do they have layout correct? Do they have a cadence and flow zone to zone? Do they have the right organization and training? Do they have logistics figured out? Do they have safety planning in place?

If the answer to any of these is no, they don’t have a plan. Fix it. Give them the tools they need to succeed. And make sure they’re finishing as they go, working bottleneck by bottleneck, and sequenced to protect everyone else. As we say at Elevate, self-performed crews can get the job done if they have everything they need before they need it. Check the plan. Enable the crew. Finish as you go.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does “if you don’t have these, you don’t have a plan” mean for self-performed work?

It means you must have installation drawings, materials kitted, layout correct, cadence and flow planned, organization structure defined, logistics figured out, and safety planning in place. If any of these are missing, you don’t have a plan. You’re just winging it.

Why do you need to right-size zones by work density instead of using structural placement breaks?

Because structural placement breaks are designed for engineering, not for crew flow. If you use them blindly, you create uneven zones. Some zones have dense work. Some zones are light. And the crew is out of rhythm. Right-size zones by work density to level the work and maintain flow.

What does “finish as you go” mean for self-performed concrete crews?

It means don’t leave it for the patching crew later. Strip forms, chip, patch, and clean up the large items right then and there before moving on. Don’t wait to demobilize. When you’re done, get done. Finish.

Why can’t self-performed crews act like a mafia?

Because they have to fall in line with job site rules and be an actual partner in an ethical way. Self-perform can’t boss around the project delivery team, act dishonestly, or treat themselves as a separate profit center. They’re part of the job site team, not above it.

What’s the most limiting factor you should look for with self-performed crews?

Look at what’s holding them up the most. No foreman? Crane too small? Not enough laydown area? Forming system too slow? Identify the bottleneck and work it. Then identify the next bottleneck and work that. Keep creating flow bottleneck by bottleneck.