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Jim Adrian (Adrian International) Construction Productivity Expert

Yesterday I was having lunch with a client and he said that after reading a book by Jim Adrian on construction productivity it helped him put together a claim for over $100,000 in lost productivity. I'm always interested in anyone or anything that can help improve labor productivity on a jobsite.

Dr. James Adrian
Adrian International LLC
5317 N. Woodview Ave.
Peoria, IL 61614
jadrian@insightbb.com
http://hilltop.bradley.edu/~jadrian/

Jim has written over a dozen books, speaks regularly on the subject of construction productivity, consults on major projects and authors a great newsletter. I just finished reading one newsletter article called "Five Leadership Skills for Implementing Productivity Improvement" which makes several great points that really stood out.

First of all, construction productivity is not about a one-shot, quick fix. It takes time to put the systems and culture in place. Leaders have to be aware of this and commit to a long-term plan for improvement. We often see contractors jump into a new market area and take losses of hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars and calling it all "learning curve" but that same contractor will turn around and send three people to a seminar and expect instant fixes.

Secondly Jim points to a study that showed 7% of the time spent by craftspeople is waiting for further instructions from their supervisors on what to do next. Putting this into a quantifiable perspective on a 15,000 man hour project this equates to wasting about $50,000 just waiting for instructions on what to do next. A solid project pre-planning process can help minimize this as well as using a very simple tool we call the Project Action Items list which the foreman or superintendent makes up daily and provides to everyone on the crew. If there is enough work clearly laid-out and materials are available craftspeople will all perform. Always having a plan 'B' will keep productivity high even when the inevitable unforeseen changes come along.

The third of many great points is that there are two ways of dealing with problems - one is to react to them and become a victim. The other is to proactively deal with them and keep the project on track. Rain? Reorganize the schedule. Bad plans? Get very proactive with RFI's including making your own suggestions to speed approval.

Overall there are too many positive ideas that Jim brings up to list. If he is anywhere near you speaking I highly suggest getting out to see him and at least a few of his books should be on your shelf.

Books by James J. Adrian

Construction Productivity
Construction Contracting
Construction Claims
Construction Estimating
Construction Accounting

When you are building a project you don't hesitate to bring in specialists for particular pieces of the project. Why is it any different when building your business? Often a highly specialized consultant can provide a huge impact whether it is in marketing, strategic planning help, "people processes," project management training or process documentation. This is a new category for the blog and will highlight various consultants specializing in the construciton industry.

Posted by David on February 11, 2007 07:24 AM|Permalink

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