Tracking rework hours so the causes can be fixed
Eight weeks into an office fit-out, the interior contractor's framing and drywall hours are 9 per cent over budget. The foremen say crews have been rebuilding meeting-room walls, but every hour sits under a base-work code. Nobody can say how many hours went into doing work twice, or why.
Give rework its own code, make every entry carry a cause from a short list, and total the hours by cause each week; the one or two causes behind most of the hours are where to act. A rework code alone shows how much was done twice; the causes show what to fix. A Construction Industry Institute research team defined field rework as repeating field activities or removing work already installed on the project. Read literally, that includes work redone for an owner's change: keep those hours on the change's code, where they can be priced, and count the rest here.
Setting up the count
- Open one rework code, defined in one line: hours spent removing, redoing or repairing installed work that was wrong or damaged. Setting up codes is covered in cost codes field staff can use.
- Write six to eight causes that do not overlap: superseded drawing, layout error, installation error, damage by another trade, defective material, design conflict, and other with a note.
- Record at the source, the same day: hours, cause, location and a line of description, with photos when another trade did the damage.
- Total the hours weekly by cause, largest first, and as a share of all labour hours.
- Act on the biggest cause with a short cause analysis, and change the process, not only the wall.
- Pass recoverable hours on: damage by others and design conflicts go to the project manager for a back charge or a change request.
Common mistakes
- A rework code with no cause, so the total rises and nobody knows why.
- A cause list so vague that most hours land in "other".
- Recording rework only when it is big enough to argue about.
- Using the numbers to blame a crew instead of fixing the process.
Checklist
Your rework count
- One rework code, defined in one line
- Six to eight causes that do not overlap
- Hours, cause and place entered daily
- Change work on its own codes
- A weekly total by cause
- One action on the biggest cause
Check your understanding
Rework fell from 5 to 3 per cent of hours this month, but damage by other trades doubled. Is the job improving?
