Do you remember the A-team? It was a popular TV series in the eighties, later made into a film in 2010. (Apologies to younger readers, who may not have seen the series, but it was good fun even though the plots got repetitious.). The series revolved around four Vietnam vets who sorted the bad guys out, helped those in need, and kept one step ahead of the law who didn’t approve of their methods. The most memorable character was Mr T, the mechanic who provided the muscle – he also incidentally wore lots of gold chains and had an interesting hair style. The group was led by Colonel Hannibal Smith who developed the plans and gave direction to the others. His favorite saying was “I love it when a plan comes together”. The 3rd member was Templeton Faceman Peck a suave organizer and con man who could organize anything. The 4th was Murdoch their crazy pilot.
All four characters had critical flaws and wouldn’t have been able to operate on their own, yet, when put together in a team they performed impossible missions – even though of course these were only on the TV screen. What can construction and field service companies learn from the A-team?
Continue reading......... (The full article written by Paul Netscher is published on the ClockShark website) To read more about the author’s books and find out where you can purchase them visit the pages on this website by clicking the links below: 'Successful Construction Project Management: The Practical Guide' 'Building a Successful Construction Company: The Practical Guide' 'Construction Book reviews' To read more about the author visit the page 'Paul Netscher' Want to contact Paul Netscher please enter your details on 'Contacts' Find out how Paul Netscher can help you Order your books from Amazon Order your books from Amazon UK © 2016 This article is not to be reproduced for commercial purposes without written permission from the author.
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![]() Project cost reports are useful and can supply contractors with valuable information. Last week I published a post ’10 Reasons why you should prepare project cost reports’. Readers seemed to agree that project cost reports were essential. Unfortunately some cost reports can be complex and time consuming to prepare. I’ve known some companies with cost reports that took several days to prepare. You couldn’t find the Project Manager for two days as he was locked away in his office trying to complete his report before month end. This meant that things went unattended on the project while the cost report took priority. Then when the report was completed nobody bothered to read it because it was too lengthy and difficult to interpret. Furthermore contractors sometimes make errors in their cost reports which then provide the wrong information. Occasionally management ignores the cost report and doesn’t take action to figure out why the project is incurring losses or they misinterpret what the cost report is showing. In extreme cases I’ve known managers instruct that losses shouldn't be shown. Some Project Managers leave the preparation and interpretation of the cost report entirely to their Quantity Surveyor or Contract Administrators and pay scant attention to the end report. They view it as just another document produced for their senior managers. Don't make these 10 mistakes with your cost reports I’ve found the following problems with costs reports:
Regular construction project cost reports are invaluable and can provide much useful information. However cost reports with the incorrect information can give the project team a false sense of security. It’s essential that cost reports are kept relatively simple and also that companies have accounting systems which quickly and easily provide accurate data to support the cost report. It’s important to investigate anomalies in cost reports. Don’t just take the report at face value. I’ve discussed investigating your losses, but sometimes it’s equally important to investigate where you are making money. You don’t want to find later that where you thought you were profitable you actually aren’t, and there were in fact errors with your report. Like any useful system the information produced from a cost report must be easy to interpret. This information must be used correctly to uncover losses and either recover the money or at least prevent further loss. What errors have you uncovered in your cost reports? Do you believe everything on your cost reports? To read more about the author’s books and find out where you can purchase them visit the pages on this website by clicking the links below: 'Successful Construction Project Management: The Practical Guide' 'Building a Successful Construction Company: The Practical Guide' 'Construction Book reviews' To read more about the author visit the page 'Paul Netscher' Want to contact Paul Netscher please enter your details on 'Contacts' Find out how Paul Netscher can help you Order your books from Amazon Order your books from Amazon UK © 2016 This article is not to be reproduced for commercial purposes without written permission from the author. I’ve seen some managers who only see ‘black and white’. There is no ‘grey’. Unfortunately life is never that simple. Wars have been fought between groups who have been so convinced they were right that they could see no compromise. Construction is often the same and we have to compromise.Are you listening?
Or is it your way or the highway? Do you listen to other people’s ideas? Do you do things the same way as you have always? Continue reading.... This article is written by Paul Netscher and published on the ClockShark website. Please click on the link to continue reading. The other night I watched a program called Resort Rescue followed by Hotel Impossible. The programs visit hotels which are performing poorly and suggest improvements. Now I know there are many similar programs from reviving restaurants, businesses, hotels, shops, etc. Many follow similar lines. But can construction learn from them?
In these programs the hotels were generally a mess and the rooms were sometimes dirty and in a poor state of repair. Service was poor – sometimes even rude. Customers were writing bad reviews. I’m sure you wouldn’t have stayed there! In one program they installed cameras around the hotel to record what employees did as they went about their work. What happened shocked owners. Employees were seen stealing liquor, smoking pot and drinking alcohol on duty, they goofed off watching their favorite soaps on TV instead of cleaning the rooms. One chef microwaved all the food (including burgers). Others were disinterested, provided poor customer service and did whatever they wanted. It got me wondering – do you know what your employees are up to while they should be working? Are they stealing from you – both physically as well as company time? Are they doing their work safely, productively and delivering the quality product both you and your customers expect? Now I’m not advocating you rush out and install cameras around the project, even though this might provide interesting information. But, every good project manager, supervisor and construction manager knows what their crews are doing. They’re regularly in the field checking quality, safety and productivity. They know when someone in the crew is goofing off, arrived late or left early. Generally good managers have a decent relationship with their crews and know when something isn’t right. Are you a manager who sits in the office doing paperwork and attending meetings, or are you out in the field a couple of times in the day? “Do you know how to correct that?” “Nope, I spend most of my time in the office, check with Jeff”. I also know managers who can walk the field looking at the project, failing to see obvious problems because they aren’t really seeing. Maybe they don’t know any better, but often it’s just because they’re preoccupied with their own world – a world of telephone calls and meetings. Watching these programs reminded me how most of our problems in construction are caused by people. Although the hotel industry may seem distant from construction I was surprised by how many problems were similar. I guess most industries have similar people related problems. How people can wreck your construction project and your company. Continue reading Some construction companies, especially smaller ones haven’t a clue whether they’re making or losing money on individual projects. They think it’s too tiresome to produce cost reports for each project. Some contractors just look at their bank accounts at the end of the month and if there’s cash in the bank they’re happy.
What is a project cost report? Cost reports usually compare the costs spent on the project with the income earned. Usually these cost reports allow contractors to break the cost and income down into separate cost codes. Contractors can then compare costs versus income for labour, equipment and various materials. Some reports can be quite detailed and break the report down even further to different types of labour and equipment. There are dangers of breaking cost reports down into too many different categories as it can become difficult to monitor, which inevitably leads to errors. Cost reports are usually done on a monthly basis. However they can be done more frequently, even done daily for a particular task. Contractors often don’t do cost reports as they believe they take time and one needs computer access. Yet, I have done simple exercises in the field on a daily basis. So for instance, on a bulk earthworks job if you know what each item of equipment costs it’s easy to work out the hourly cost of the equipment team (say excavator and trucks). If you know how many cubic metres of earth the team is moving in an hour it’s simple to calculate the cost per cubic metre. Why cost reports are useful Project cost reports can yield much useful information. They often save contractors money, or help contractors make more money. I’ve always done monthly project cost reports and found them useful for a number of reasons. They:
Conclusion An accurate cost report is a useful tool on construction projects providing information on where the project is making and losing money. Unfortunately many cost reports are poorly done or the information is ignored which can lead to problems. I’ll deal with cost reporting errors in my next post. Do you prepare project cost reports? Have you found them useful? Read: 'Avoid these 10 cost report errors' To read more about the author’s books and find out where you can purchase them visit the pages on this website by clicking the links below: 'Successful Construction Project Management: The Practical Guide' 'Building a Successful Construction Company: The Practical Guide' 'Construction Book reviews' To read more about the author visit the page 'Paul Netscher' Want to contact Paul Netscher please enter your details on 'Contacts' Find out how Paul Netscher can help you Order your books from Amazon Order your books from Amazon UK © 2016 This article is not to be reproduced for commercial purposes without written permission from the author. |
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