Nice write-up. Re: McKinsey's point on timely delivery taking priority over productivity improvements.
I think project completion should stay as the key metric, and that new tech tools should focus on accelerating project completion, or at worst, minimizing risk of delays. Getting real-time insight into subs and suppliers' lead times would lead to decreased idle time and increased on-the-job efficiency.
Assuming there is a solution that can provide real-time lead time info to GCs, who stands to lose from this unprecedented industry transparency and predictability? Where do the incentives become misaligned across the various construction stakeholders?
Completion is a good metric, Singapore publishes man days per square metre for 5 building types, but most GCs don't have the data.
New tech might provide that with the project monitoring systems becoming available, and DfMA platforms have supply data. Transparency will be a game changer in construction.
I feel like so many people who write so managerially about construction have so little experience with the industry. The list of recommendations seems either to be buzzwords, or just in time bs. Nurturing a supplier ecosystem is all well and good - but wait, most contractors already have dedicated suppliers for whatever they have contracts for, barring the absolute shit show that iron works may be with inconsistent american or foreign steel beams. Question, author, have you been a hand in the construction industry?
I hope that you trust me when I say, the incompetence has increased, many times due to management (or corporations) squeezing labor and production, while trying to maximize profit, but also because many high human capital types have migrated elsewhere, often looking for better pay. This leaves the so called "dregs of society" to build projects. (Some truly are dregs, but many are not). Materials cost more and are shittier (cannot instantly grow old growth wood, obviously). And the quality of designs have focused no longer on good bones, using thick expensive foundations - but rather on 'luxury features', itself a paint job on a piece of shit many times. Nevermind the overall increase in the "race to the bottom" that has occurred since, in the US case, the Hart Cellar immigration act that let lowballing foreigner crews come in and undercut natives and overall lower quality. It's been disastrous imo
Great read. Thanks so much for putting this together.
Nice write-up. Re: McKinsey's point on timely delivery taking priority over productivity improvements.
I think project completion should stay as the key metric, and that new tech tools should focus on accelerating project completion, or at worst, minimizing risk of delays. Getting real-time insight into subs and suppliers' lead times would lead to decreased idle time and increased on-the-job efficiency.
Assuming there is a solution that can provide real-time lead time info to GCs, who stands to lose from this unprecedented industry transparency and predictability? Where do the incentives become misaligned across the various construction stakeholders?
Hi Ben
Completion is a good metric, Singapore publishes man days per square metre for 5 building types, but most GCs don't have the data.
New tech might provide that with the project monitoring systems becoming available, and DfMA platforms have supply data. Transparency will be a game changer in construction.
I feel like so many people who write so managerially about construction have so little experience with the industry. The list of recommendations seems either to be buzzwords, or just in time bs. Nurturing a supplier ecosystem is all well and good - but wait, most contractors already have dedicated suppliers for whatever they have contracts for, barring the absolute shit show that iron works may be with inconsistent american or foreign steel beams. Question, author, have you been a hand in the construction industry?
I worked on building sites after leaving school for a couple of years, a long time ago now. And I too think managerial buzzwords are pointless.
I hope that you trust me when I say, the incompetence has increased, many times due to management (or corporations) squeezing labor and production, while trying to maximize profit, but also because many high human capital types have migrated elsewhere, often looking for better pay. This leaves the so called "dregs of society" to build projects. (Some truly are dregs, but many are not). Materials cost more and are shittier (cannot instantly grow old growth wood, obviously). And the quality of designs have focused no longer on good bones, using thick expensive foundations - but rather on 'luxury features', itself a paint job on a piece of shit many times. Nevermind the overall increase in the "race to the bottom" that has occurred since, in the US case, the Hart Cellar immigration act that let lowballing foreigner crews come in and undercut natives and overall lower quality. It's been disastrous imo