Tangible targets for productivity

The Building and Construction Productivity Partnership project targets ‘time wasting’ in residential construction.

Ever wondered where all that time went? According to a recent homeowner’s satisfaction survey conducted by BRANZ, less than 60% of respondents were happy with the amount of time it took to complete their home.

A recent value stream mapping project, completed by the Building and Construction Productivity Partnership and BRANZ, aimed to identify where waste occurs in the construction of residential buildings. It maps the steps in the construction process and quantifies the importance of each in providing value (defined as functionality and market value) to the end-user.

This plan can then be used to improve or eliminate certain steps in order to reduce the time taken on a residential build, thereby reducing costs and improving productivity.

Background

The building and construction sector employs approximately 8% of New Zealand’s workforce and is a major contributor (about 5%) to the country’s GDP. However, it’s been acknowledged throughout the industry that sector productivity has been flat, and at times negative, over the past15 years. With a significant building boom on the horizon, The Partnership(a partnership of industry and government established through MBIE in 2010) set out to addresslow productivity by researching building processes.

Project process

The Partnership’s value project involved four steps:

Market segmentation: Identifying the segments which might benefit the most from a value stream mapping exercise.

Value stream mapping: Identifying whether processes are value-adding, non-value adding but necessary, or non-value adding. By determining what benefits processes offer, areas of ‘waste’ can be targeted.

Process mapping: Going into more detail about the actual design, tender, consent and contractual processes to determine what aspects are value-adding, non-value adding but necessary, or non-value adding.

Future state mapping: Realigning the procedure to avoid the processes – or parts of the processes – which have been deemed low or non-value adding.

Small and medium-sized residential building companies was the segment of focus for the initial process, though many of the productivity improvements identified will be applicable to the whole residential sector. A wide range of participants from the sector were involved in the project.

Findings

According to the research, the top three areas where house construction productivity can be improved are:

1. Early project stages, including scoping, design and site selection.
2. Consenting and tendering processes.
3. Project planning and project management, particularly whois on site and when.

Client knowledge and behaviour also have a significant impact on productivity.

Recommendations

It is recommended that the following four areas are targeted for productivity improvements in the small builder/new housing market:

1.  Client education

Improving client knowledge and understanding of the design and building process could reduce thetime taken to finalise the design stage from 25 to 10 weeks.

2.  Consenting and tendering processes

Standardising contracts, improving technology use and having an effective online consenting process could save up to 20 working days.

3.  Project planning and project management

Increasing the use of software products tailored specifically for the residential building market, in addition to increased training in building and construction-related project management, could reduce construction time from 15 to 9 weeks.

4.  Technical solutions to reduce weather delays

Cost effective and practical technical solutions for small builders in the residential market will result in considerable time savings.

Other countries affected by similar weather conditions have already developed and put in place solutions to avoid delays to the construction process and subsequent productivity constraints – New Zealand has yet to do so on a significant scale.

” Cost effective and practical technical solutions for small builders in the residential market will result in considerable time savings

Once implemented, these improvements have a potentialvalue of $113 million per annum by 2020, representing an improvement of up to 2.7% in productivity. Further savings are likely from the overall productivity gains that result whenall building activities in the processare performed more quickly.

For more information

For more detailed advice on how to use these recommendations, see the full report at: http://buildingvalue.co.nz/sites/all/themes/productivity/images/Wrap/VALUE_STREAM_MAPPING_PROJECT.pdf