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In the construction industry, productivity and profit are always doing a dance. They are always partners no matter whether your firm is a global giant or a local sub. Whether productivity and profit perform well enough to make it onto the professional stage or just at the local club depends on both productivity and profit doing a well-choreographed performance. If the productivity on the jobsite is good, then your profit is likely better. If your work crews are not performing and productive, then your profits are likely not performing well either.McKinsey & Company recently did a study authored by members of their team titled “Beating the low-productivity trap: How to transform construction operations” that focuses on 30 major UK infrastructure engineering and construction firms over the decade from 2005-2015 to measure their growth and to determine whether they either performed or underperformed in their markets.Even though this study was about infrastructure engineering and construction firms centered in the UK, the points made and the tips offered can apply to every company doing the productivity-profit dance, no matter what your size, should “read and heed.”
Reshaping the Construction Industry
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A construction foreman working at a jobsite next to a children’s hospital created an 8-foot “Waldo” and placed it at various locations on the site for the amusement of the patients.
July 27, 2016
A tough city ordinance in Philadelphia is so strict against employers who commit wage theft, that some have criticized it as “draconian.” Others have applauded the city’s aggressive stance.
July 26, 2016
June construction jobs grow year-over-year in 39 states; starts are mixed, Dodge saysEditor’s note: Construction Citizen is proud to partner with AGC America to bring you AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson's Data DIGest. Check back each week to get Ken's expert analysis of what's happening in our industry.Seasonally adjusted construction employment rose in 39 states from June 2015 to June 2016 and declined in 11 states and the District of Columbia, an AGC analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data released today showed. The highest percentage gains again occurred in Hawaii (16%, 5,500 jobs), Iowa (16%, 12,200), Oklahoma (8.9%, 6,900), Arizona (8.7%, 11,000) and Nevada (8.7%, 6,000). Iowa and Oklahoma set new records. California again added the most jobs (32,300 jobs, 4.5%), followed by Florida (25,500, 5.9%), Colorado (13,200, 8.9%), Washington (12,500, 8.9%), Iowa and Georgia (12,200, 7.3%). North Dakota again lost the highest percentage and number of construction jobs (-12%, -4,300), followed in percentage lost by Wyoming (-6.6%, -1,500), Maine (-6.5%, -1,700), and Kansas (-6.1%, -3,700), and followed in number of jobs lost by Kansas and Alabama (-2,100, -2.6%). From May to June, seasonally adjusted construction employment increased in 23 states and D.C., shrank in 25 states, and was unchanged in Illinois and Vermont.
July 25, 2016
As Kiley muses about the character of the two presumptive nominees in this year’s presidential election, he says proudly that “character still counts in the construction industry.”
July 22, 2016
How do we fix a problem born from the business practice where a contractor must be the lowest bidder in order to win work? C3 offers an owner-driven strategy.
July 21, 2016
The Construction Citizen team is interested to see what long-term effect the recent vote by the Brits to leave the European Union will have on the building industry in the U.K. So far, there is no doubt things will be worse at least in the short term.Via Bloomberg News:Building output fell 2.1 percent in May, almost double the decline forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed Friday. There were falls in almost every category of work, with private housing down the most in more than a year.
July 20, 2016
Hi there. The Chamberlin Man here.A project doesn’t have to be large in scale to present challenges that require attention to detail, expertise and teamwork. In fact, May’s Chamberlin News covers a project that didn’t cover a particularly large amount of square footage but still required the team at Chamberlin Roofing & Waterproofing to employ all its assets.The details made all the difference at INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City, where Chamberlin installed waterproofing to a split slab condition at the hospital entrance, leaving the area watertight and the medical equipment protected in the basement below. The project took just two weeks thanks to a little overtime and an effective phasing solution initiated by Chamberlin.
July 19, 2016
PPIs for building inputs rise in May but fall for year; industry employment stalls in JuneEditor’s note: Construction Citizen is proud to partner with AGC America to bring you AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson's Data DIGest. Check back each week to get Ken's expert analysis of what's happening in our industry.The producer price index (PPI) for final demand in June, not seasonally adjusted, increased 0.7% from May but only 0.3% year-over-year (y/y) from June 2015, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today. AGC posted tables and an explanation focusing on construction prices and costs. Final demand includes goods, services and five types of nonresidential buildings that BLS says make up 34% of total construction. The PPI for final demand construction, not seasonally adjusted, increased 0.1% for the month and 2.0% y/y. The PPI for new nonresidential building construction—a measure of the price that contractors say they would charge to build a fixed set of five categories of buildings—also rose 2.0% y/y.
July 18, 2016
Talent and leadership are alive and well in America’s youth! Last month, I attended the SkillsUSA National Championships in Louisville, Kentucky. First of all, WOW! 6,000 students competed in 100 competitions from baking to welding to graphic design to carpentry all under one roof. These students are the best of the best skilled young people that America has to offer, and they were competing for the gold medal in just about every industry sector.After seeing the competitions firsthand, I have to ask: Were you there? Did you attend your state’s SkillsUSA competition? Do you know what SkillsUSA is? As an industry, we cannot sit back and complain that we do not have enough skilled young people to fill our open positions if we are not willing to invest the time and energy into connecting with organizations that are doing it right. I am very lucky that my job allows me to travel around the country and meet the wonderful, hardworking people who make up the construction and maintenance industries. But at the same time, I am astounded at how many of them are unaware of SkillsUSA.
July 15, 2016
