White Papers

Construction Quality Assurance

February, 2005

Jon Harrison, CQE Senior Quality Engineer

White Paper Overview

The construction industry has been struggling with quality issues for many

years, and the cost to our economy is dramatic. The cost could potentially be

reduced significantly if the industry were to embrace the concept of quality

assurance that has been used with great success by many other sectors of the

economy.

Various case studies and initiatives have succeeded in successfully

introducing quality assurance to the construction industry on a small scale,

but as a whole, it has mostly been ignored by the industry. The construction

industry is unique, and therefore, the application of quality assurance

requires an approach that meets the needs of the industry.

Building owners also need to be educated as to what is quality assurance so

that they can begin using their voice to encourage adaptation of this

approach to protect their investments and reduce the cost of construction.

Construction Quality Assurance Pilot Program

In 2003, a pilot program was initiated with a large pharmaceutical and

biotechnology company to assess the current state of quality assurance in the

construction industry. The concept was developed, in large part, to address

the many cost overruns, project delays, and other cost of quality issues that

have become the norm on recent projects. The pilot program assessed 21

construction companies that were to bid on a major new biotechnology

facility.

We started out the program, asking the following questions:

Are we using contractors who do not have a quality program? For those that do, what is the current state of their quality programs?

How do the quality programs compare to industry standards?

Are their quality programs effective?

What can we do to assist contractors in improving their quality

programs?

What will be our expectations for contractors in the future?

THE RESULTS AND DATA FROM THE PILOT PROGRAM

REVEALED THE FOLLOWING:

Approximately 50% of the contractors did not have Quality Manuals.

Many contractors did not know what a Quality Manual was and

confused it with a Safety Manual, Operations Manual, or an

insurance investigation.

In general, construction contractors did not know what was expected

in a quality program.

Some quality plans and/or quality manuals were merely window

dressing and were not implemented at all.

“Cost of Quality” In Construction

The need for construction quality assurance is easy to demonstrate due to the

high cost of quality related issues in the industry. Those who are familiar

with the construction industry are most likely already aware of this. For

those who are not, think back over the last several months at lawsuits,

project delays, finger pointing, lost time, and other cost of quality issues in

newspapers and industry journals on a routine basis. More information is

provided in a separate white paper.

What Is Quality Assurance?

Quality assurance is about being “in control” of all major areas of your

business (“key processes”) so that you can assure quality. Being “in control”

also reduces variation, which improves quality. “Control” and “variation

reduction” is accomplished using various methods.

Numerical Data:

Control and variation reduction is established by statistically evaluating the

process capability and then controlling the process via process control charts

using SPC (statistical process control).

Non-Numerical Data:

Control and variation is also reduced by instituting systematic methods (i.e.

quality procedures). This is also referred to as “systematizing”,

“standardizing”, or “proceduralizing” your key business processes.

Quality

Procedures

However, systematic methods (quality procedures) have little value if

they are not properly managed by a quality system that includes:

Document Control: To ensure employees have the correct procedures

and the procedures are properly maintained.

Audits: To verify quality procedures are being followed.

Non-conformance Tracking: To monitor and track quality issues to

ensure that defects are kept from your customer.

CAPA (corrective action and preventative action): To correct flawed

processes (i.e. quality procedures) when detected via audits and non-

conformance tracking to prevent defects from reoccurring.

Management Review: Reviewing quality system data (performance)

(quality metrics) to determine if the quality system is working and if

it is not, taking the appropriate action to improve the system.

c. Deming Cycle

Quality assurance is oftentimes explained by the “Plan, Do, Check, Act”

(PDCA) Cycle seen below

Do I Have A Quality Assurance Program?

Oftentimes the phrase “quality assurance” is mis-used and mis-understood.

To avoid any confusion, the following table can be utilized as a tool to

assess if you have a quality assurance program.

Construction Industry Needs

The construction industry has unique requirements for developing a quality

assurance programs. This assessment has been validated by an exhaustive

study conducted by the European Union (EU) Construction Quality

Assurance Commission. To be effective, a quality assurance program

designed for construction must be streamlined, user-friendly, not overly-

burdensome, and geared for the intended audience. In addition, it must strike

the right balance between added cost and added value.

Unfortunately, the only quality assurance “standard” that is currently

available to the construction industry is the “ISO 9000” quality system,

which is well known due to high levels of publicity. This standard has for

the most part been completely ignored by the construction industry in the

U.S. as only 42 construction companies are certified. The reason for this is

not difficult to understand as demonstrated in the following table:

Construction Contractor Quality System Audit

Checklist

Due to the lack of a basic construction quality assurance program for the

construction industry, a construction contractor, quality system audit

checklist was developed to assess a construction contractor’s quality system.

The checklist was developed utilizing the following steps:

1) Using the ISO 9000: 1994 standard as a guide.

2) Stripping those elements from the standard that are not essential to

construction.

3) Adding quality elements that are unique to construction.

FOR BUILDING OWNERS:

The Construction Contractor Quality System Audit Checklist can be utilized

by building owners to compare the strength of a contractor’s quality

program relative to another company that is submitting bids on a new

project. The checklist can also be utilized to evaluate the quality system of

construction contractors and companies that are already being utilized.

FOR CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES:

The Construction Contractor Quality System Audit Checklist can be used by

construction contractors to assess the strength of their current quality

system.

Implementation:

The Construction Contractor Quality System Audit Checklist has already

been utilized to evaluate the strength of construction contractor quality

systems and in fact, was utilized, and played a key role in, the awarding of a

$100 million contract at a pharmaceutical company. Example results are

shown below.

Construction Quality Assurance Jobsite Audits

In general, building owners have not realized the importance of jobsite

quality audits. Audits are essential in order to keep you from “flying blind”.

Audits also protect both parties. Due to the need for construction quality

assurance jobsite audits, an appropriate checklist, including quality metrics,

was developed.

Construction Quality Assurance Job Specific

Quality Plans (JSQP)

The most critical element of all is to ensure that job specific quality plans

(JSQP) are developed for each job to ensure that quality is being managed.

To ensure that quality plans are written CORRECTLY and to assist in

mistake-proofing the process, a JSQP template was developed.

Corporate Construction Quality Assurance

Program

Due to a lack of a standard quality assurance program that meets the needs

of the construction industry, a back-to-basics and streamlined construction

quality assurance program was developed. The goal was to develop a system

that captured the essence of quality assurance, including:

Assuring quality

Adding value.

Utilizing a risk-based approach (to minimize the cost of a quality

system)

Reducing the cost of quality (and increasing profit).

Providing the tools required to successfully:

o Get the job done right the first time.

o To find & correct defects before your customer finds them.

o revent defects from re-occurring.

Note: THIS more than anything is really what a quality assurance

program is all about.

a. Quality Assurance Manual

Quality Assurance Manuals are NOT used to perform a job activity, and

therefore it is unnecessary and unproductive to spend an excessive amount

of time on this document. It should merely state your companies overall

vision with a quality policy, describe the major areas of your business (“key

processes”) that will be controlled systematically via quality procedures, and

be signed-off by senior management.

Quality Manuals in general are designed to “say what you do” and then “do

what you say”, which means, if you don’t do it, don’t say it! Quality

Manuals are not sales brochures!

b. Quality Procedures

Quality procedures were written to define each key process using a risk-

based approachto minimize complexity. To further add value and to make

the system user-friendly, a “Key Concepts” section was added to the

beginning of each procedure to explain why the procedure was necessary to

assure quality, manage risk, and enable the ability to keep defects from your

customer.

c. Quality Checklists and Forms

Quality checklists and forms were developed. Each was developed with

mistake-proofing techniques in order to allow a construction company to

begin building quality into the process. Using these techniques will allow

you to provide a better quality product to your customer and be a more

profitable company at the same time.

Overcoming Obstacles

Implementing a construction quality assurance program is not always easy.

There can be many obstacles along the way, but being aware of some of

them ahead of time can make you better prepared to overcome them. Here

are a few:

Changing the company culture to learn how to work

systematically.

Gaining executive buy-in and commitment.

Overcoming the “let’s just get it built” mentality.

Overcoming “60’s style construction” mentality, where “it’s

only wrong if we get caught”.

Getting everyone in the company involved (quality is

everyone’s responsibility)

Training project managers how to manage quality.

Getting building owners to recognize the criticality of quality

in addition to safety and lowest bid.

Achieving more accountability in the management of

government contracts.

HOW CAN CONSTRUCTION QUALITY

ASSURANCE HELP ME?

Fact: Quality assurance and quality tools add value wherever they are

applied! The key to unlocking this value is to determine what level of

investment is needed in quality assurance for your business.

BUILDING OWNERS:

Building owners can utilize construction quality assurance to assess the

capabilities of the construction companies with whom they conduct business

by ensuring that a quality system audit is conducted by a qualified quality

assurance professional (if the person is not qualified, the value of the audit

will most likely be significantly diminished).

Building owners should also ensure that jobsite quality audits are

periodically conducted to ensure that quality is indeed being managed and

that unnecessary risk is not accumulated that could jeopardize the project

delivery.

CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTORS:

Construction contractors can utilize quality assurance in many ways,

including:

Standardizing best practices to maximize productivity.

“Systematizing” work methods to ensure that the job is “done

right the first time”.

Managing quality to assure quality and to keep defects from

customers.

To reduce the cost of quality to increase profits.

To protect the business from liability risk.

To become a smarter company.

Six Sigma & Quality Assurance

Six Sigma is a popular program that has received much attention, but it

should not be confused with quality assurance. Six Sigma is essentially basic

quality engineering (applied statistical methods) that has been simplified and

re-packaged to gain broader acceptance. It involves process mapping,

statistical analysis of data, and so on in order to improve and/or correct

flawed processes. Control charts are then used from that point on (when

needed) to monitor the process and to sustain the gains.

Bechtel Engineering has published several articles about how Six Sigma

helped them. One example went like this: “Black belts undergo five

months of training … a team … studied the process for testing 49 waste

tanks for corrosion … based on statistical analysis of the data … the

process was revised to reduce unnecessary testing … saving millions

$$$.” (Note: “Five months of training” does sound like an excessive amount

of time to learn process mapping and basic statistical methods.)

This sounds good, and it is good, however, if you have a strong quality

assurance program, you should already be “mapping out” your key

processes to gain better understanding & control, and should already be

collecting & analyzing data from your quality system (quality metrics)

(statistical analysis) to improve and/or fix flawed processes, and should

already be controlling them via the quality assurance program in general

(quality procedures, document control, training, quality metrics, internal

audits, management review) and/or specifically with control charts (where

needed). Admittedly, “Six Sigma” does have a better “ring” to it.

Do I Need A Quality Consultant?

Quality assurance in and of itself is not that difficult, particularly for a

company which may have a staff of civil engineers and/or certified project

managers. Nevertheless, there is much more to quality than most people ever

realize.

The fact is, canned; right-off-the-shelf, just-add-water-and-stir, or

downloaded-off-the-internet quality systems just don’t work.

Quality assurance is a thought process as much as it is a system, which must

be learned. Quality assurance is about control, applied systematic methods,

assuring quality, applied due-diligence, risk management, keeping defects

from your customer, mistake-proofing, continuous improvement, and so on.

Therefore, it is a worthwhile investment to periodically utilize a qualified

quality professional to impart the knowledge and to assist the company in

developing and maintaining the quality system and “quality toolbox”. Stick

to the basics that add value, because the essential elements of quality

assurance and quality tools have been known for several decades, and they

are not going to change anytime soon. The result will be a much smarter

company

Summary

The value of quality assurance and quality tools has been demonstrated for

many years. The construction industry could clearly benefit from mastering

these skills. By utilizing quality assurance and quality tools in the correct

proportion these benefits can be realized with significant return on

investment for all parties.

To learn more about how construction quality assurance can benefit you,

please contact Performance Validation, LLC.

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References

The European Way to Excellence in Construction. Final report (August 1999)

http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/construction/quality/quafi1.htm

Construction Quality Assurance

http://www.toolbase.org/secondaryT.asp?TrackID=&CategoryID=679