Full Kit For Field Engineers (How To Prepare Materials, Tools, And Information In Construction)

Full Kit for Field Engineers (How to Prepare Materials, Tools, and Information in Construction)

Let me tell you a little story, like a recent story. Adam Bean, or Beanie, I believe he lives on the Sunshine Coast, halfway around the world, is an amazing influencer for both field and office, and we do live streams probably every other week, something like that. And he saw one of my videos about full kit, which is from Eliyahu Goldratt, which he’s a big fan of as well. And he sent a video on our daily coaching chat.

By the way, we have a daily coaching chat. And what that is, it’s on WhatsApp, and people come in. We get past the spam screening so that we don’t have investors trying to sell you stuff. But once you’re in the chat, you can ask questions, you can share. It’s great. We have 130 people. I want to get it up to 1,500 people by halfway through this year. That’s a big goal, but I really want to get there. If you’re ever like, “I feel alone sometimes and I want more help,” then hop on our coaching chat.

Anyway, he was on there, and he took a video and he’s like, “I’m going to go mow my lawn.” Now, this is all in Australian, so it was much cooler words and in a better accent. But he’s like, “I’ve got my gloves, my earplugs, my safety glasses, my boots. I’ve got the trimmer and the lawnmower, all filled up with fuel.” He’s got a full kit everywhere. And I was like, “Yes, this is the vision.”

Let me explain what full kit means and how field engineers make it happen.

The Pain of Not Having Full Kit

Here’s what happens when you don’t have full kit. The crew shows up. They’re ready to work. But they don’t have the right materials. Or they don’t have the right tools. Or they don’t have the information. Or they don’t have the layout. Or they don’t have the permissions. Or they don’t have the space. So they wait. They improvise. They guess. They work their way through it. And rework happens. Delays happen. Frustration happens. And the schedule collapses.

I keep going back to this analogy: if you want to go build something, like let’s say you want to build a wall, we’ve got to be ready to build that wall. We can’t just go out there willy-nilly and guess and try and work our way through it. It’s absolutely ridiculous. Before we go do the work, we need full kit.

What Is Full Kit? (17 Items Total, 7 for Field Engineers)

And I want you to know that field engineers are a crucial part of this. There’s 17 things. I only have right here 7. So the other 10 are for the rest of the project delivery team and the foreman, but seven of the key items directly relate to a field engineer.

There are other things in a full kit in addition to these, like let’s say primary planning, secondary planning, there’s backup planning, there’s the installation work package. There might be like the lift plan for the crane. There’s lots of other things that would go in an installation work package. But the idea is, how can we have a full kit before we start? That’s the idea. Now, a field engineer will help with the materials, the tools, the information, the layout, the equipment, the permissions, and the space. Let me tell you how.

The Ideal Setup: A Queuing Area for Full Kit

But first, I want to bring you to a new idea that would be a base. Let’s say that I have a site, and let’s say that we have space. I just went to a program in San Francisco with a massive project on it where they didn’t have the space. I get that there are situations where we don’t have the space unless you have an off-site staging or in a different lot or something, but let’s imagine you have space.

And what I want to see in the future, where we can, is where your office is set up and people come in, but there’s also this queuing area. Let’s say hypothetically that you have this open area and the truck comes in and you’ve got a little forklift that comes and grabs the materials off. And I think it would be best done with like a little elevated platform. And I know we can do this on these massive data centers, so we should start doing it.

Where literally the stuff comes off and the trash goes right into the recycling and the waste dumpsters and like scrap metal dumpsters, and we don’t have to haul it into the building and haul it out. It’s unpackaged right there. And then it comes right up here. And it’s not put in bulk, but it’s actually put on colored pallets or in bins or in some kind of package on this deck by zone so that it can come out to the building.

So for instance, this kit would actually just be for that one concrete placement or that station or that zone or something like that. And what I love about this is, yes, field engineers are out in the field, but it’s close enough to where literally, let’s just zoom into one of these. Let’s say that you had something here that needed to be kitted and maybe that’s some bulk material. And then you have your bin with your consumables. And then let’s say that you have actually what we typically use in construction is a crew board. So, all of the information right here ready.

Now, if you’re going to go mass deliver reinforcing or large segments of duct or curtain wall, you’re not going to pull them through the queuing area. This is only the things that need to be kitted, and that would be coordinated in the afternoon foreman huddle the day before. But let’s say that you’re on this platform and the field engineer or the office engineer or the project engineer could go actually inspect this. Go actually inspect the screws and the fasteners and then go make sure that the installation work package is put on the crew board with the lookahead, with the weekly work plan, with the day plan information, and that literally this was all ready.

And then let’s say that there was an inventory of flags on the ground, and on these flags, it had a little sign that said, “This is ready for forklift pickup.” And the forklift, when it comes back, “Oh, this is ready to go. I’ll just go ahead and bring this directly to the zone or the station or that component or whatever you’re working on.”

This is what I think we should be getting to in the future. Like these massive data centers, we have no business just bringing stuff to the location. Everything should be coming in from a queuing area. Everything. And if we have the space, everything should be coming in through a queuing area. Hospitals, everything should be coming in through a queuing area. There’s very few situations where I wouldn’t want this to happen. And if you don’t have space, then I would highly recommend that you do it through the trade partner offices for their work and that a logistics person is designated to coordinate it.

How Field Engineers Ensure Full Kit (The 7 Items)

Here’s how field engineers ensure full kit for the seven items:

• Materials inspected and kitted: Field engineer participates in material inspection in the queuing area. Check screws, fasteners, reinforcing, everything. One time we were on HCAI (formerly OSHPD) for hospitals and they were using the wrong fastener. I didn’t catch it. Everything had to be ripped out. Material inspections are a thing.
• Tools quality-checked: Foreman makes sure the right tools are there, but field engineer participates to make sure the right quality tools are there. Pull testing equipment for reinforcing. Test panels for shotcrete. Tools for different assemblies that aren’t just the foreman’s to coordinate.
• Information provided (lift drawings, work packages, checklists): Do we have the installation work package that we put inside the crew board? Do we have the lift drawing and a single visual checklist from the precon meeting so they have all the information? They don’t have to run around for it.
• Layout completed (grid lines, benchmarks, elevations): Does the trade partner have the layout grid lines and, if it’s not here on the intersection, a benchmark showing the elevation for that work so they can go ahead and build that structure? Layout is crucial from a field engineering standpoint.
• Equipment safety-checked (alarms, fire extinguisher, inspections): If you have a yard and an equipment pass-through, check to make sure it had backup alarms, fire extinguisher, current inspections, it was safe, had a current seat belt, and then it gets through the queuing area and goes out on site.
• Permissions secured (permits, inspector notified, authority enabled): This means that we have current permits. This means that the authority having jurisdiction is enabling the work. This means the inspector knows that the work is coming up.
• Space organized (work area, laydown, access): It’s not just the work when it comes to space, but it’s also where you’re going to lay down materials, where your workers are going to be working, and the access over to the area. We have to have enough space for the crew to get to where they’re going.

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 Field Engineers and Superintendents

Here’s what I want you to do this week. If you’re a field engineer, participate in full kit. Inspect materials in the queuing area. Quality-check tools. Provide information (lift drawings, work packages, checklists). Complete layout (grid lines, benchmarks). Safety-check equipment. Secure permissions. Organize space (work area, laydown, access). That’s your job. That’s how you enable the craft.

And if you’re a superintendent without field engineers, know this: there’s no way you’re going to get full kit before trades start. You need field engineers. Not just for survey and lift drawings. For enabling the craft with full kit.

My point with this blog is that this is how we make sure that we’re ready, full kit. And it’s definitely a part of the field engineer’s job to do it. As we say at Elevate, full kit means materials, tools, information, layout, equipment, permissions, and space ready before work starts. Field engineers ensure 7 of 17 items. That’s how you enable the craft.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is full kit in construction?

Full kit means having everything ready before work starts: materials, tools, information, layout, equipment, permissions, and space. There are 17 items total. Field engineers ensure 7 of them. The other 10 are for the project delivery team and foreman.

Why do field engineers participate in material inspections?

Because using the wrong materials causes massive rework. On an HCAI (OSHPD) hospital project, they used the wrong fastener. Everything had to be ripped out. Material inspections in the queuing area prevent this.

What is a queuing area and why does it matter?

A queuing area is where materials come off the truck, get unpackaged, inspected, kitted by zone, and staged for forklift pickup. Everything should come in through a queuing area. Data centers, hospitals, everything. It enables full kit.

What information does a field engineer provide for full kit?

Installation work package inside the crew board, lift drawing, and single visual checklist from the precon meeting. So the crew has all the information and doesn’t have to run around for it.

Why can’t you get full kit without field engineers?

Because field engineers ensure 7 of 17 full kit items: materials inspected, tools quality-checked, information provided, layout completed, equipment safety-checked, permissions secured, space organized. Without field engineers, trades don’t have full kit.