The construction industry involves many hours of planning from paper to execution. A construction project requires thorough preparation including the right people, tools, and equipment like hoists and lifts.
However, despite all the efforts to stay on track– construction projects can still have several unexpected changes which may cause delays. For instance, schedules may change overnight, some materials might get canceled without prior notice, hoists and lifts issues, or valuable information not reaching the right people. And of course, you can’t do anything about unexpected weather changes or natural disasters once they are there. You can only adjust to the circumstances.
Hoists and Lifts, and Other Variables in the Construction Site
You can expect the unexpected when working on a construction project. Although you cannot completely avoid the unexpected, you can at least reduce the uncertainties and critical issues on site.
There are three significant elements that you need to reduce the chances of unpleasant surprises: the right people, process, and tools.
The right people can help you stay on track despite any possible delays or obstacles. The right process will allow your whole team to adjust to sudden changes in plans. Lastly, make sure that you have the right tools and equipment like hoists and lifts on-site will help you manage the tasks on site.
How to Handle the Unexpected on the Construction Site
Now that you know the three important elements to handling variables in a construction project, here are the three main steps that will help you manage the unexpected in your construction projects:
Invest in the right construction equipment and tools.
Construction tools come in many shapes and forms. First, you need to make sure that you have an effective communication tool that will allow you to easily send information from one person to another. Progress reports and status updates are important, especially for construction projects. Ensuring that information reaches the right people can mean fewer delays on your project.
The next type of tool is the equipment you need on the construction site. Before the project starts, you need to determine what kind of heavy machinery you need for the project. There are many kinds of equipment such as cranes, hoists and lifts — all of which have individual purposes. For your safety, only use your equipment for the task that it is designed to do. Accidents are also a type of uncertainty. You do not want to cause damages, injuries, and delays for trying to use a crane as a hoist. If your company does not have a construction hoist, you can rent one from reliable hoist equipment rentals.
Create a documentation process that does not overload admin tasks.
There are a variety of reasons for individuals or entities to file a claim against your construction company. Since uncertainty is a part of the industry, there might be cases when there are accidents or unexpected damages. In some cases, hoists and lifts mishandling can lead to accidents, as well as, injuries and damage within the construction area. For some people, a simple misunderstanding or a few days of delay are enough reasons to file a claim or a complaint against you. To avoid being wrongly accused, particularly when handling hoists and lifts, you need to make sure that your construction project is well-documented.
Documentation is an important step during a construction project. Not only can you add it to your business portfolio, but it will also help you update clients on your progress. Documentation will also help you prove innocence in case of claims against your construction company.
You need to create a process that will allow you to update clients and create documentation of the project without letting the admin tasks pile up.
On top of overwhelming admin work, you do not want to dig through hundreds of emails or scroll for hours on a chatting app to look for a specific image or file when a situation demands it. That said, step one must be emphasized– an effective process calls for an effective tool.
There are many project management tools that you can use to make sure that your construction process is well-documented while still being organized. You can give some of them a try and see which one works best for your company.
Standardize your process.
People can be resilient when caught up in a difficult situation– they can be resourceful too. That may be an amazing thing, but it may lead to some problems in a construction project.
If you do not have a standardized process for most of the common possible issues on-site, then some of your workers might get creative to get the job done. However, this means that there will be some inconsistencies with your output. Although some solutions do work at first, there might be some quality issues that may only show up after a few years.
By standardizing your processes, you can lessen variables and increase predictability in your projects. The more predictable the results are, the better you can mitigate risks.
Bottomline
You cannot fully avoid accidents or the unexpected, however– you can always decrease the chances that they would happen and be prepared if they do.
Reducing risks and the unexpected or the variables in the construction site may not be a walk in the park, but it is attainable. You just need to invest in the right people, tools, and equipment such as hoists and lifts, while continuously improving and standardizing your processes.
By allowing these elements to work in harmony, you can reduce the number of variables while working on your construction project.