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In the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industries, errors can be costly. For one thing, these industries have a fundamental role in shaping our daily lives. We interact with the things they build every day, and a flawed product can range from inconvenient to a major safety risk.
Fortunately, quality is a high priority for most AEC firms, and the majority of errors are spotted and cleared up before they have a chance to impact the final result. These quality-control processes are good for customers, but nobody—and especially not AEC firms in a competitive sector—enjoys the idea of backtracking and starting over on work they’ve already completed. Rework is frustrating, demotivating, and can cause a slew of downstream planning issues.
Mistakes are a fact of life, and there will always be moments when you need to fix one. But the simpler, cheaper, and faster option is when you can address the issue at the source. It’s possible to build workflows that minimize the causes of rework, which nips errors in the bud and saves your organization time and money. And you don’t need to start from scratch—a Learning Management System (LMS) like Pinnacle Series provides the perfect framework.
Redoing a task is unavoidably expensive. Even the simplest rework is a usage of time and materials that could’ve been avoided. What’s more, if the flawed job was part of a multi-step workflow and laid the groundwork for later steps, those may also need to be rolled back, multiplying the expense.
Although the costs of rework make intuitive sense, they can be difficult to put a number on. Direct costs, like extra supplies and labor hours, are easier to quantify, but indirect costs—like customer dissatisfaction, or delays that cause logistical setbacks—don’t come with a clear price tag.
Even so, they could be adding up to significant losses for your firm. One 2018 study into rework in the construction industry examined almost 350 projects by a single contractor over the span of six years. The researchers found that rework reduced the contractor’s average annual profit over that time by 28%. An older survey, conducted in 2002 and examining 161 construction projects, found that the average rework cost of the projects was 12% of the original contract value.
At the end of the day, the specific financial penalties for a single rework event can be all over the map, depending on the size of the project, the nature of the work, and all the other variables that make each contract unique. But regardless of the specific circumstances, it’s clear that minimizing rework has significant potential to reduce your costs, streamline your processes, and pay off big for your organization.
At its most basic, rework results from a lack of information about project goals and strategies. Team members may be pursuing outdated milestones, or addressing them in the wrong order—or they just may not have received the latest drawings yet. An LMS like Pinnacle Series centralizes project knowledge so that team members know exactly where to go for the most up-to-date info.
In a recent study into the construction industry, researchers pinpointed poor planning and management as the most critical factor in creating rework. Structuring a project plan requires specific knowledge and skills, and without them, projects can fall victim to a range of problems:
An LMS puts the information that project planners need right at their fingertips. When you use it to capture details from previous projects and other key context, it can help you build a tailored, achievable project plan—one that your team can deliver confidently on.
In a complex project with many stakeholders, things can change fast. Clients might ask for a design change at the same time that the procurement team discovers a supply shortage that will limit their options. With multiple threads in motion, firms need a single, authoritative source for the most up-to-date project information.
Pinnacle Series was designed to be a brain for your organization: a place where you can store, access, and share essential information seamlessly. It makes the process of capturing and communicating project details intuitive and simple, while protecting you from communications chaos with a flexible permissions system. Clear goals and up-to-date documentation mean that questions are answered quickly, so everyone can keep pulling in the same direction.
AEC firms face expansive, complicated regulatory landscapes that vary from place to place and can change quickly. At the same time, the work they do is specialized, and might require particular skills or a unique workflow to achieve high-quality results that meet customer expectations.
An LMS gives your team seamless access to workflows, reference materials, and guidance. If an engineer needs to double-check specifications, or a construction worker needs step-by-step instructions on operating unfamiliar equipment safely, they can find helpful content on the spot. No guesswork or “good enough”—with an LMS, teams have the resources to get it right the first time.
In a sector that’s facing uncertainty from multiple directions, rework is one area where AEC firms can find some control. With the transparency that Pinnacle Series provides, you can build more detailed project plans with better forecasts that set you up to succeed.
At Eagle Point, we’re invested in powering your success. We commit to keeping our users at the cutting edge of their industries—because if you’re not moving forward, you risk falling behind. To see what Pinnacle Series can do for your project management, request a demonstration today.
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