Five early warning signs that a project is heading for trouble
Your month-end cost report shows the supportive housing job 1 per cent under budget, and the owner's meeting goes well. Walking back to the trailer, the superintendent mentions that the framers finished barely half of what they planned last week, again. Drywall starts in five weeks, and nobody has connected the two.
Watch five signs every week — plan reliability, RFI age, the change backlog, crews against plan and repeat defects — and act when one worsens two weeks running. A cost report records money once it is spent or committed, so a slipping job can look healthy on paper for a month or more, while missed plans and short crews show on site the same week. Plan reliability is how well the weekly plan forecasts what happens, measured as percent plan complete (PPC): tasks completed as planned divided by tasks planned for the week.
The five signs
- Plan reliability: PPC from the weekly work plan; the method is in percent plan complete.
- RFI age: RFIs open past the date the work needs the answer, from the RFI log.
- Change backlog: changes directed or claimed but not yet priced or approved, by number and value.
- Crews against plan: daily head count by trade against the labour plan or the trade's commitment.
- Repeat defects: the same deficiency found again in a new area.
- Put the five on one page, with this week's figure and the last four weeks', from records the site already keeps.
- Set a trigger for each from the job's own normal: PPC below 70 per cent, say, or any RFI a week past its needed-by date.
- Review the page every Monday with the superintendent, before the weekly meeting.
- When one sign turns for two weeks, find the cause and give it one action, one owner and a date.
- When two or more turn together, tell your manager that week instead of waiting for the cost report.
Common mistakes
- Watching only the cost report and the finish date.
- Reacting to one bad week, or explaining away three.
- Tracking numbers with no action, owner or date against them.
Action list
Set it up this week
- Work out PPC for each of the last four weeks
- Count the RFIs past their needed-by date
- Total the changes not yet priced or approved
- Compare daily head counts with the labour plan
- List the defects found more than once
- Choose a trigger for each and book the Monday review
Check your understanding
PPC has fallen from 78 to 60 per cent over three weeks, but crews are full and the cost report is on budget. Is that a warning?
