The Trade Partner Preparation Process: 6 Steps

Months to Buy Out, Thirty Minutes to Prepare: The Six Step Trade Partner Preparation Process

Here’s the deal. We might spend months buying out a trade partner and no more than thirty minutes preparing them to actually build. That is a mismatch. We invest heavily in choosing the trade, and then we leave the preparation to chance. I want to walk you through the key steps we should follow as part of the trade partner preparation process, so that we can be successful.

Short answer: The trade partner preparation process is six steps that get a trade ready to build after buyout: (1) purchasing, (2) a pre-mobilization meeting within two weeks of the executed contract, (3) a pre-construction meeting three weeks before the trade starts, (4) an initial (first-in-place) inspection, (5) follow-up inspections, and (6) a final inspection.

Why This Is Most of the Game

People hear pre-construction meetings and say, oh, that again. I would rather eat black licorice than do this. But I am telling you, if you master this, it is most of the game won.

Ask why projects drift at the two-thirds point. Most of the time, it is because of dissolving logic in a CPM schedule that pushes everything to the last third. But the other part of it is complexity. In the middle third of the project, the project delivery team is building complex things and doing less of the actual preparation. That is why the latter part of projects typically drifts, and I do not want that for you. The preparation work does not go away. It simply gets pushed later, into the part of the project where the team has the least capacity for it.

The 47 Things

Let’s say you are looking at a phase of work in construction. This is not our focus, because our focus is everything that happens before it. Pretend that every first task, or wagon, has forty-seven things that need to be prepared ahead of time. All of those things have to be done ahead of time by the project delivery team, and they have to be leveled by level of effort, according to how much that person can accomplish in a week.

We have to understand that a person only gets about twelve to sixteen productive hours in a week amidst everything else. We have to consider PTO and all of their interruptions. And that is for one wagon. It matters, because the team’s time is limited and every item competes for it. Across many work packages, it is forty-seven times forty-seven things that have to be moved back and leveled forward, so they can be started on time and the project delivery team can get them done on time.

Now you may be thinking, Jason, you are freaking me out. Here is the deal. This can all be broken down into different phases, and that is exactly what we do in our construction company. My favorite way of doing it is the trade partner preparation process.

The Six Steps

Here are the six steps.

• Purchasing.
• The pre-mobilization meeting.
• The pre-construction meeting.
• The initial inspection.
• Follow-up inspections.
• The final inspection.

Let me take them one at a time.

Step One: Purchasing

The first step is purchasing, which means an executed contract. That means actually buying out the trade properly, with the right inclusions, making sure everything is compliant, and making sure we have selected the right trade partner.

We have to do this on a buyout schedule. Take your actual production schedule for the project and work it back to the supply chain. Find out when you have to have that trade bought out. That tells you when you have to have your executed contract, and before that, when you have to have finished design. Do the purchasing on time, so the trade can start long lead procurement, coordination, and any permitting on time. If the buyout is late, everything that follows is late, because the trade cannot start the preparation until it has an executed contract.

Step Two: The Pre-Mobilization Meeting

The second step is the pre-mobilization meeting, held no later than two weeks after you have an executed contract. It can be a meeting or an email, but I prefer a meeting. You sit down with the trade and say, we have an executed contract, and we have all of your inclusions. Now we need to start coordination, permitting, long lead procurement, supply chain management, and getting our quality and safety plan in place. Start, start, start. This is the start of all of the trade preparation for the project. Two weeks is the maximum, and you can do it right away. The point is that the preparation starts as soon as the contract is executed, not weeks later.

Step Three: The Pre-Construction Meeting

Some people call it pre-install. Hensel Phelps calls it the preparatory meeting. Whatever you call it, it is the meeting three weeks before the trade starts, not two. This is where you collect all of it and make sure all of the items are done, and where the foreman and the superintendent for the trade are brought together to understand the plan.

The purpose, and I cannot stress this enough, a visual definable feature of work. I will call it a card, a board, an installation work package, or a checklist, however you want to do it. It is visual instructions of what is expected from the crew when they go build, so they have a visual, boots on the ground.

The foreman, the superintendent for the trade, and the PM should leave one hundred percent aligned with the team, with a visual that says, this is what I am going to do out in the field. Let AI take your notes for Procore, and let the project engineer or project manager create that visual with the trades during the meeting. Do they know what is going on, and are we one hundred percent ready?

Why Three Weeks, and Why I Cancel the Meeting

The reason it is three weeks before is that if the foreman and the superintendent come not ready, I cancel the meeting. I say, we will host it next week, which is two weeks before the start. I am not punishing them. They have to come prepared, one hundred percent ready to go.

Everything should hit the crew as a full kit. That is how you get a full kit, and the pre-construction meeting is key.

• All of the information.
• All of the materials.
• The equipment.
• Clear space.
• Permissions.

Step Four: The Initial Inspection

Once the trade has started in its first zone, you do a first in place mock-up or a first in place inspection, which Hensel Phelps calls an initial inspection. This is where you ask the crew whether they are building first out of the gate according to the visual definable feature of work, the installation work package. It is really cool stuff.

Step Five: Follow-Up Inspections

The fifth step is to continually inspect handoffs with that visual definable feature of work, the installation work package. The visual keeps the inspection tied to what was agreed in the pre-construction meeting, so the handoffs are checked against the same standard the crew was given before they started.

Step Six: The Final Inspection

The final inspection is where you do not let them go. Hold on to them until you have reconciled change orders, punched everything out, finished as you go, and made sure the work is complete. If you let them go before you are done, try getting them back. That is just human nature, and I am not making fun of anybody.

Putting the Six Steps Together

That is purchasing, the pre-mobilization meeting, the pre-construction meeting, the initial inspection, the follow-up inspections, and the final inspection. Those six steps are the trade partner preparation process. Each step prepares the next one, from the executed contract, to the meetings that get the trade ready, to the inspections that confirm the work and the handoffs match the plan.

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So here is the challenge. Look at your current project and ask how much time you spent buying out your trade partners compared with preparing them to build. Then pick the next trade starting and schedule its pre-mobilization meeting and its pre-construction meeting.

Jason Schroeder said it plainly: “We might spend months buying out a trade partner and no more than thirty minutes preparing them to actually build.”

On we go.

FAQ

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

Purchasing, the pre-mobilization meeting, the pre-construction meeting, the initial inspection, follow-up inspections, and the final inspection.

When do the pre-mobilization and pre-construction meetings happen?

The pre-mobilization meeting happens within two weeks of the executed contract, and it can happen right away. The pre-construction meeting happens three weeks before the trade starts. The pre-construction meeting happens three weeks before the trade starts.

What is the trade partner preparation process?

It is the six steps a general contractor uses to get each trade ready to build after buyout: purchasing, a pre-mobilization meeting, a pre-construction meeting, an initial inspection, follow-up inspections, and a final inspection.

Why does Jason cancel the pre-construction meeting if the foreman and superintendent are not ready?

Because they have to come prepared, one hundred percent ready to go. He is not punishing them. He hosts the meeting the next week, which is two weeks before the start.

Why hold a trade until the final inspection?

Because if you let them go before the work is complete, change orders are reconciled, and everything is punched out, it is hard to get them back.

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First Planner System book
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First Planner System – 18 – The Trade Partner Preparation Process