The Trade Partner Preparation Process

Trade Partner Preparation Process (How to Enable Trades to Succeed from Buyout to Final Inspection)

Before we get started, I want to anchor us back to what we’ve been covering. We covered in the overall system the team, the plan, the supply chain and the culture. The point there is your logistics plan, the budget, the trailer and signage design, and a master builder and an experienced team. Everything before you begin work.

The Truth: Projects Don’t Go Wrong, They Start Wrong

Statistically, if you don’t plan the project before it begins, you have a 48% chance of being on budget. You have an 8% chance of being on budget on time and half a percent chance of being on budget on time the way the owner wanted. So, you cannot design a project or plan a project on the fly, the design bid build way. You have to be in pre-construction if you want the numbers in your favor.

Now, do you have projects that are sometimes design bid build? Does your business need to design bid build projects? Probably, but that’s where you have to swarm. That’s where you might have to hire a Lean Takt to help you. That’s where you might need to know, “Hey, we’re going to do our best, but we can’t hold people’s backsides to the fire because you can’t hold somebody accountable for a project, they didn’t have time to plan.”

So, this is the truth. Projects don’t typically go wrong, they start wrong.

First: Plan Your MEP and Commissioning Systems

Before we get into the trade partner preparation process, we need to make sure our production plan is complete and that our MEP and commissioning is tied in 100% as well. In this template, we have mapped out the most common MEP construction items that must be tied in your production plan and then therefore must be triggers for your trade partner preparation process.

If you don’t have any of these in your production plan, we need to make sure we get them. So, elevators have to be tied properly. Fire command room, your service entry section, your SES for your electrical systems and your electrical rooms, your entry level mechanical rooms and MDF and IDF rooms. Those rooms and the construction of what houses and enables those systems must be some of the first things you plan in your production plan and in pre-construction as a part of your first planner system.

Every default commissioning effort is already at least six weeks too late. Your owner is going to trigger commissioning too late. Your commissioning agent is going to trigger commissioning too late. Your MEP folks are going to trigger it too late. The best thing that you and I can do is plan it from the beginning, start commissioning day one and move the actual steps of the commissioning process forward because it’s always like this last minute thing and it needs to stop.

Visualize the Commissioning Sequence

The best builders will visualize these commissioning steps in a sequence. It’s site utilities. Then we have to have our entry rooms like our service entry section, our lower-level mechanical rooms, our MDF, our IDF, our fire pump room. Then we’re going vertically up through the chases and room by room. Then we’re focused on power and controls and internet. Then we get the roof up and running and the air handler installed. Then we get the building temporary condition where that could be heat or cool. Then we’re enabled to put in casework, flooring and finishing. Finishes, do our final work, startup, balancing the network, commissioning work, temporary certificate of occupancy.

For those of you who are image minded, the way we think about projects is you have your utilities likely in the street. And then what we need to do is get the site work to the building, your entry rooms, which is your MDFs, IDFs, entry level mechanical rooms, your service entry section, your fire pump room, anything that enables the utilities and your systems to come into the building. Then you’re running up your chases, which means that we want to have electrical rooms and IDF rooms built as one of your priority rooms up through the building. And you want to get all of your systems up to the roof air handlers so that you can blow hot or cool air so you can start to perform your finishes and your commissioning so that you can finish everything in the building.

The Ultimate End: Installation Work Packages at the Gemba

The ultimate end of the trade partner preparation process is not just Procore meeting minutes or an executed contract or approved submittals. I believe that if throughout the process of buyout and executed contract, pre-mobilization meeting, pre-construction meeting, the preparation that the foreman does, your look ahead plan, weekly work plan, and day planning, that the ultimate end of that is that the crew has something to install in the field that gives clear expectations.

If you’re already having these meetings, which you should, you’re already buying out trades, you’re already trying to execute a contract, you’re already telling them what they need to prepare for before they hit the site, you’re already three weeks before the work package starts having a meeting with the foreman, the foreman are already doing planning, you’re already doing look ahead planning, you’re already doing weekly work planning, why not just pull this file up from the start and add anything pertinent as you go as your main source of meeting minutes?

Let AI take your meeting minutes for Procore, but whoever your project engineer PM is that’s really driving this process, why not just pull up the file and add pertinent items to the things that the crew will see?

The Six Steps of Trade Partner Preparation Process

The steps that I like, and you can do it however you want, is the plan it first, build it right, finish as you go. I like to do it where when you’re doing your teaming, you’re contracting. Two weeks after at the max, you’re having a pre-mobilization meeting. This can be an email, it can be an actual meeting, but you’re telling the trade partner, “Hey, this is what we want you to show up with on site.”

And then I like to have the pre-construction meeting two to three weeks before the actual work package starts in their first zone. I like to do three, and I don’t like to let trade partners fail, but if after all of our preparation, they still come with the foreman and the superintendent not having read the plans and specs and ready, if I do it three weeks ahead, I can at least reschedule the meeting for the next week for two weeks ahead to where they are there ready to discuss this work package.

And so that pre-con meeting, the purpose is to collect and explain the deliverables and enable the foreman and the superintendent to do their work. A pre-con meeting for every trade before they start is the single biggest driver of excellence that I know of from an administrative standpoint. That’s the single most important thing.

And then when you get out to the field, you do your initial inspection or your first in place, mock-up or whatever you want to call it, where you then use that same visual that you created in the pre-con meeting to make sure that the crew is off to the right start. And in their work package, in their end zone cycle time, properly executing work. Then you can do your follow-up inspections and your final inspections and make sure you’re closing out the trade before they demobilize.

Here’s the trade partner preparation process:

• Buyout meeting: verify proper scope – The contractor has the proper scope. You probably have a great process for it.
• Pre-mobilization meeting (2 weeks max after buyout): explain deliverable needs – Can be email or actual meeting. Tell trade partner what we want them to show up with on site. Explain deliverable needs before they mobilize what’s expected and what we need. Commit contractor to deliver by pre-construction meeting.
• Pre-construction meeting (2-3 weeks before work package starts): collect and explain deliverables, enable foreman – Single biggest driver of excellence from administrative standpoint. Purpose: collect and explain deliverables in visual manner and enable foreman and superintendent to go build the work. If they’re not ready, reschedule for next week (two weeks ahead) so they are there ready to discuss work package.
• First in place inspection: get crews off on right foot – Use same visual created in pre-con meeting. Make sure crew off to right start. In their work package, in their end zone cycle time, properly executing work. Visually review requirements with them as they go.
• Follow-up inspections: zone control walks with visual standards – Question: how do you want what is expected communicated to people at place of work, especially if foreman’s not there all the time? Visual standards at a glance inside zone where they’re doing work. Only walk key handoffs for a day. Isolate to one area or one building. Probably only one to seven handoff checks per day. Very manageable.
• Final inspection: don’t let crew demobilize until signed off – Getting them back is going to be absolute gut-wrenching nightmare. Close out trade before they demobilize.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

The Key: Enable the Foreman and Workers to Have Clear Expectations

The key here is that we’ve got to enable the foreman and the workers to have clear expectations. Quality is simple, it’s two things. What are the expectations and do the crew know about them and are they implementing them? That’s it, that’s quality. A quality process, we have these 85 page manuals on quality process. It’s this simple. Do we know the expectations and are we implementing them?

And if you go out to a crew, I don’t care what you use, if you use a physical board or if you use an iPad or Procore, whatever you use. But if the workers don’t know the expectations when you walk up and talk to them, then it’s not getting to the workers, that’s the goal.

Project Engineers: Your Job Is to Help Trades Plan, Build, Finish

We have a misconception from the Project Management Institute and from PMP certifications and from the industry at large that we think project engineers do RFIs or submittals or subcontractor pay applications. No, it’s not. Our job, especially for a project engineer is to help trades plan their work, build their work and finish their work.

And RFIs and submittals and everything else are just tools that help you do that. So, if I’m a PE or if I’m training a PE and they’re like, “Okay, so my job, I write RFIs, right?” No, no, no, no, no, no. You help trade partners plan their work, build their work and finish their work as they go.

There’s no such thing as “I told you” or “it’s there” or “the information’s on the server.” It is our job to help them win. We don’t win unless they win. They’re the kings, they’re the queens. Everybody supports the kings and the queens on the job site.

We’ve got to get them the information, not just the information, but the information clear. We’ve got to help them understand the requirements, not just as an “I told you so,” but as an understanding part of the meeting. And we’ve got to help them shoulder to shoulder as they’re starting in their zones, one by one as they enter the project site.

The Civil Contractor Story: Visual Standards Plummeted Rework

Let me tell a story here. It is not simple and nobody knows what they’re doing. Nobody, including me in this industry, knows what they’re doing. We can’t assume people know what they’re doing. We must rely on checklists. We must rely on leader standard work.

I’ll give you an example of a civil contractor. We were talking about leader standard work and we got the typical pushback of, “You know, they have the information, we’re fine, we got everything.” And we went through an idea of possibly having all of this visual for the crews to actually see out in the field. And the crews kind of rebelled a little bit and said, “Hey, we know how to do our work. All we’re doing is installing pipe.”

And when we actually went to start looking at it, even just for something as simple as a water line, they weren’t putting the tracer wire in the right location. They weren’t labeling the joints. They weren’t getting full purchase between the pipes all the way up to the indicator line to make sure that we had full penetration in the male end of the pipe. They were not backfilling it properly, like the simplest of things.

And so now what Petty Coach Schmidt does is they have these binders out there in the field that the crews can reference whether the foreman’s there or not. The crew sees this visually every single day. And they have larger boards and visual boards out there and their huddle boards that make it visual. Their rework plummeted. Their quality is outstanding. Every crew every day reviews the visual checklist, the standard work for their work every day in the morning in addition to their safety prep.

And they have probably 70 crews and it’s all consistent. You cannot surprise these people. You walk up there, every crew is reviewing these every single day. Every crew is doing their survey checklist. Every crew is reviewing their pretest plans and doing it right every day. You cannot catch them.

A Challenge for Construction Leaders

Here’s what I want you to do this week. Plan your MEP and commissioning systems from the beginning. Start commissioning day one. Visualize the commissioning sequence: site utilities, entry rooms, chases, power and controls, roof air handlers, temporary condition, finishes, startup, balancing, commissioning, TCO.

Implement the six-step trade partner preparation process: buyout, pre-mobilization (2 weeks max after buyout), pre-con meeting (2-3 weeks before work package starts), first in place, follow-up inspections, final inspection. Don’t let crew demobilize until signed off.

Enable the foreman and workers to have clear expectations. Quality is simple: do we know the expectations and are we implementing them? Make it visual at the place of work. You help trade partners plan their work, build their work, and finish their work as they go. That’s your job. As we say at Elevate, trade partner preparation process: buyout, pre-mobilization, pre-con meeting, first in place, follow-up, final inspection. Visual standards at place of work.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the six steps of the trade partner preparation process?

Buyout meeting (verify proper scope), pre-mobilization meeting (2 weeks max after buyout, explain deliverable needs), pre-con meeting (2-3 weeks before work package starts, collect and explain deliverables), first in place inspection, follow-up inspections, final inspection (don’t let crew demobilize until signed off).

Why is the pre-con meeting the single biggest driver of excellence?

Because purpose is to collect and explain deliverables in visual manner and enable foreman and superintendent to go build the work. If held 2-3 weeks before work package starts and they’re not ready, can reschedule for next week so they are there ready.

What is the job of a project engineer?

To help trade partners plan their work, build their work, and finish their work as they go. RFIs, submittals, pay applications are just tools to accomplish the mission. Not “I told you” Or “it’s on the server.” Your job is to help them win.

Why must MEP and commissioning be planned from the beginning?

Because every default commissioning effort is already at least six weeks too late. Owner, commissioning agent, MEP folks trigger it too late. Best thing: plan from beginning, start commissioning day one, move steps forward.

What happened when the civil contractor made visual standards?

Crews weren’t putting tracer wire in right location, weren’t labeling joints, weren’t getting full purchase, weren’t backfilling properly. Now have binders and boards in field. Rework plummeted. Quality outstanding. 70 crews, all consistent.