You’re sitting in your office, two subcontractor proposals in hand. One’s quote is substantially lower than the other. All things being equal, who wouldn’t choose the lower price?

As an experienced leader, you know there’s more to value estimation than just the price. You know that some companies provide built-in processes, advantages, risk management, and technology, while others do the bare minimum.

CEC Facilities Group goes beyond the basics, instead focusing on supporting the owner’s goals for the facility. Part of the way CEC accomplishes that goal is through its Operational Excellence commitment, an ingrained method to provide predictable schedules and costs through prefabrication, safety, BIM/VDC, training and quality management.

In the first of two blogs on the topic, we discuss safety, training, and quality control.

Improve safety, decrease risk

There are very few contractors who don’t take safety seriously; however, some are more effective at mitigating serious injuries and fatalities (SIFs) before they reach that status. Proactive prevention of injuries isn’t just smart business; it’s the right thing to do.

The obvious advantages of keeping employees healthy snowball into additional advantages for the project team:

• Efficiency: Fewer sick days mean more productivity, and less rework from inexperience.
• Priming the team for safety: Proactive teams start each shift discussing scope, hazards, controls, and solutions using Risk Management Protocols. It helps the team work safely, but also primes everyone to identify hazards as they pop up.
• Expanded safety: Safety-conscious contractors have a bleed-over effect: their employees often help improve other contractors’ methods by pointing out hazards, reducing risk throughout the jobsite.
• Reduced insurance costs: Safer organizations have fewer workers’ compensation claims, which lead to lower premiums – savings that can be passed along to the customer.

CEC uses an Operational Risk Management process before every shift, as well as stretch and flex. The results are easy to see: CEC’s experience modifier rate (EMR) is well below the national average.

Learn more about CEC’s safety program here

High quality is the standard

Plan, prevent, detect, and correct. That’s the process for continuous-improvement companies. It covers everything from rework to defective products. Groups that follow this philosophy have the following advantages for owners, general contractors, and end users:

• Predictability: Continuous-improvement companies have processes in place to execute plans as scheduled. Typically, they have built-in contingency buffers as well.
• Adaptability: When better solutions are presented, these companies are eager to use them. This not only improves the current project, but potential repeat work.
• Standards of excellence: A quality-control plan is a series of inspection checks. When combined with a prefabrication strategy, it reduces material defects and rework delays on the jobsite. A well-trained project team is critical to continuous-improvement companies.

CEC uses a client-focused, process-driven strategy when preparing projects. Its designated quality managers recognize and correct nonconformance immediately, and communicate new procedures quickly.

Learn more about CEC’s Quality Management program here

Well-trained workforce

One of the unfortunate truths in the trades industry is that the younger generations are not joining at rates to replace retiring workers. That puts an extra emphasis on having highly trained skilled trades workers on the jobsite. Not every company is willing to invest the cost to train these individuals. Those that do offer several advantages:

• Better project: Skilled tradesmen can think beyond the instructions and adapt to onsite situations. This improves schedule, quality, and innovation. All will serve the owner in the short term, and help keep costs lower on repeat projects.
• Diversity on the jobsite: Self-improvement drives the best candidates forward, regardless of their background. Good companies will recognize these individuals and leverage their skills to support the owner’s goals. Training gives everyone an equal ladder for improvement.
• Safety: A skilled laborer knows all the details of his trade. His, or her, commitment to continuously improving his skills helps mitigate potential serious injuries and fatalities.

CEC Facilities Group is a training-first company, focusing on several opportunities for its employees. CEC partners with local craft education groups, provides leadership-focused courses, skill certification, apprenticeships, and detailed instructions on all operations and equipment. CEC project teams also commit themselves to creating, following, and adapting standard operating procedures to maintain consistency.

Learn more about CEC’s training programs here.

CEC’s objective, on every job, is to manage time, scope, and cost, in alignment with our contractual and stakeholder agreements. By identifying and managing both risk and opportunity, CEC ensures success for all parties involved. These methods empower CEC’s project teams with timely and accurate construction indicators to ensure the best decisions are utilized to achieve a successful project outcome.

Want to know how CEC Facilities Group can help provide ingrained value to your next project? Contact CEC at 817-734-0040.