Our Floor Contractor's Motto: Always Be Prepared

Site organization and cleanliness is important to the over-all quality of the job and more importantly the safety on the job. A clean site is a safe site.

Why site organization is important

There is a professor out of Bradley University, Kenneth A. Hooker, who specializes in site organization and he makes some great arguments about why we should all care a bit more about a well-organized site. If you take the time to pre-plan, he notes, you can ensure that your materials are handled properly, and you can optimize storage space at the site as well as the amount of time your workers spend transporting materials around the site. Good pre-planning and thinking also helps you reduce wasted time and money. You can increase security and reduce theft, and most of all, you can create a safe working environment for the people on the site. Read more about Hooker’s approach to job site organization.

When should you begin thinking about how the job site is organized?

The smartest companies start thinking about how the site will be organized before they even bid on the job. Some companies place such a high priority on this aspect of working any job, they will send out a team to inspect the site for potential inefficiencies or safety hazards before bidding on the job, or they’ll research who the general contractor is – if the contractor has a bad reputation for organization, they might think twice about putting in a bid, or bid higher to compensate for the potential problems poor planning always causes such as delays, remobilizations because areas are not ready, stacking trades in areas which impedes every trade’s production.

Scoping out the site and establishing relationships early can help you develop the best advantage for your crew – you can begin your supply chain planning, or get a jump on glitches you might run into from a transportation or logistical standpoint when the job begins and you can help determine the opportune time to mobilize on site.

Key things to keep in mind

We believe that keeping a site organized begins at the office, so our office, and the yard where we keep all our equipment, is well-organized. The staff that support us from home base knows where everything is, and we can keep track of equipment as it comes and goes.

On the site, we keep a tidy work area and we’ve developed a method for using, keeping track of, and packing up tools throughout the day to minimize lost equipment, tools and time. Small actions can have big results.

Of course, we also want to leave the site ready for the next trade that’s coming in. We also try to keep things tidy day-to-day when we’re on the site – earning a reputation as the “slob on the job” is not good for site relations.

What’s really important

Let’s face it, at the end of the day, you may be saving some money – and some good money – by being organized, but the real value in putting effort into organization is in keeping everyone on the job safe. Trust me, you never want to make that phone call to someone’s spouse or parent that their loved one is at the hospital, and if you have a conscience at all, an on-the-job injury that was caused by neglect will haunt you for a long time.

Saving time, money, and lives – that’s something worth putting a lot of thought into for your business.