As highlighted by the CIOB, this issue is largely driven by weak industry systems and cultures which don’t prioritise quality. In a bid to rectify this, the CIOB’s Construction Quality Commission is aiming to publish a Code of Quality Practice that will set standards the construction industry should be achieving.
Although this is a welcome move, it could be some time before there is a noticeable impact. In the meantime, contractors need to raise their game and implement robust and consistent quality management systems which set higher benchmarks.
At LST, our focus on quality is ingrained in our culture and our system managed by a dedicated contact who ensures that several key processes are consistently implemented and monitored. This approach has enabled us to achieve multiple accreditations including IS0:9001, CHAS (the Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme), CQMS (a health and safety consultancy) and EXOR level Gold (a SSIP Accredited Contractor Competence Assessment Scheme).
One fundamental element of our quality management system is the training of our people ensuring each team member is knowledgeable, motivated, competent and informed.
As highlighted by a recent external audit of our business, ‘competency of staff is a particular strength of LST and there is considerable investment in ensuring staff are appropriately trained for the roles they conduct.’ This commitment includes training focused both on the company and individual needs. The same audit also demonstrated that our people take ‘pride in what they do’ and have a ‘desire to produce quality work at all times.’
We recognise that quality can only be maintained and improved through continuous monitoring, so another key part of our system is obtaining client feedback for every project. We ask our customers to rate us out of five in 13 different areas ranging from performance of staff through to dealing with variations, and we seek their comments on any areas which could be improved. This has proved to be a vital tool in helping us consistently raise standards and which currently has enabled us to achieve an average rating of 4.5 out of 5.
Balancing time and cost is often a challenge for contractors but no matter how difficult this task can be, quality should never be compromised. An investment in the right systems and processes, and most importantly people, can generate much higher returns in the long term for both contractors and their clients.
