We were on track to start excavation and building at the end of March. Here it’s the last day of May and we’ve only scratched the top soil and prepared the footing trenches with crushed stone. Small delays at key points in time can turn into big delays. And we’ve had a few this spring.
I had a schedule but that fell apart quickly. I lined up labor for April and May to excavate, install the foundation and get a good start on the framing before leaving on a 3 week trip that was planned long before the FHB House project landed. Excavation in late March, building permit by early April, a local construction career training class was ready to jump in with 20+ students to help with the footings, ICF foundation and framing through the second floor walls. Then my brother could keep plugging away at the frame while I was away.
The delay cost us the time slot with the excavator – though I’m lucky he lives just a few houses down the street and is willing to put in evening and weekend hours to get us started. We completely lost the CTE student help – they’ll be out of school for the summer by the time I pick up the building permit.
So my brother and I will start setting up footing forms in 3 weeks and then battle the heat and humidity of July and August framing the house – neither of us moves fast in the summer.
I’ve given up on schedules – seems each time I draft one, something comes up to trigger another delay. So I’ve resigned myself to weekly schedules – kind of like 7 day weather forecasts; perhaps not perfect but a pretty close estimation of what to expect. Long-range forecasting – I figure we’ll finish up somewhere between Christmas and Valentines Day.
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This is why the general public looks at contractors with disdain. How can Mike Guertin call himself a professional contractor? Any contractor taking on a custom project has to prepare an overall project plan, put appropriate dates and durations to the activities, and then work the plan to execute the project. Guerlin doesn't explain what all the "small" delays were that generated a "big" delay. I suspect he didn't permit enough time to actually get the design to a point where a building permit application could be made.
"Hope" is not a strategy - as a management book once said. Simply barrelling into a project without planning it, verifying the requirements, getting all the parties to agree and buy-in, ensuring that all permits and procurement is included, and using rational durations for the activities is a recipe for disaster. The result could have been predicted from day one.
As someone with 30 years of experience in the ICI construction industry, I am amazed that the public puts up with the poor performance of the homebuilding and renovation industry. If FHB wants to promote best practices in construction, how about a very serious and consistent look at construction management, planning, scheduling and project execution?