Author: Mark Federle

A 21st Century Action Plan for Electrical Contractors and Their Workforce

Electrical contractors rely on a highly skilled and motivated workforce to maintain a competitive advantage and meet market demands. Having a full understanding of workforce issues and a grasp of the future marketplace is central to successful business planning. Strategic planning provides the focus and direction for the activities and allocation of resources in any business enterprise including development of the workforce. NECA and the IBEW need to see the future similarly for the workforce to be available to meet the marketplace. Contractors must critically examine themselves to decide what their specific action plan for the future should be and where they may need to invest singularly in workforce development.

Labor and management must work together to further the electrical contracting industry to maintain their competitiveness with the non-union sector. For many NECA contractors, this means working with local union representatives to enhance the future of the electrical contracting industry by sharing their vision and expressing their needs for training. In other cases, non-union contractors face the same challenges but without the strength that unions have to train, unite and mobilize the workforce.

In a different context, the future of electrical contracting does not have to be taking away business from other electrical contractors (ECs). Rather, it will depend upon the ability of some contractors to develop new markets while expanding their current market bases. Investment and risk are inherent issues for those contractors who will be the leaders in these new markets.

The purpose of this project was to examine the future systematically and provide general guidance to ECs and a process for visioning their company’s future. Because each company is different, each action and strategic plan that is developed will also be unique. Commonalities in the process can be shared to benefit the entire industry through interaction with the IBEW. Companies can also develop a unique action plan with the model for company-specific strategic planning in this report.

 If you found this report useful, please help us continue our mission by contributing to ELECTRI:

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Design-Build Strategies

A summary of two Electrical Contracting Foundation reports: Success Factors for Electrical Contractors on Design-Build Projects – This study looks at what a design-build project really is and corresponding benefits and risks and identifies the impacts of the design-build system on electrical contractors. Conducted by Drs. Victor Sanvido and Mark Konchar and Mr. Bevan Mace, Penn State University. Design-Build Methods for the Electrical Contracting Industry – This study examines the design-build methods in the electrical industry, training needs required to increase design-build abilities, and the influence of design-build in the electrical contracting profession. This survey of contractors revealed important design-build trends and preferences among electrical contractors.

 If you found this report useful, please help us continue our mission by contributing to ELECTRI:

Click here to contribute to ELECTRI International

Establishing a Best Practices Program for Electrical Contractors

Employees at all levels of management and labor spend a great deal of time and effort finding ways to improve their performance and the company’s performance. The motivations for this improvement can vary—they can include ensuring job security, securing a bonus, beating the competition, or improving profit margins—but these motivations do have a common thread. Improvements require measurements, and measurements are based on processes. To excel in the business world, leaders strive to have the best processes to create the best performance.

There are many obstacles to overcome when striving to discover, implement, and communicate these best processes, or, as they are also known, best practices. Management often faces the obstacle of “silo thinking” among its employees, where employees are unwilling to share their best practices with their fellow employees because they want to secure rewards for themselves. General competitiveness in the contracting industry prevents open communication within the company and between companies. The chaotic and frantic pace of the contracting business may contribute to a lack of communication between departments and employees, which is another barrier to the development of best practices programs. Obstacles such as these require a management solution.

The solution is to create a culture of knowledge management in the workplace. When problems arise with safety or quality or customer service, companies are willing to instill a culture or plan to solve the problems. When a company suffers from the inability to benefit from the knowledge that its employees possess or that the industry as a whole has to offer, a culture of knowledge management is required. In simple terms, knowledge management is dedicated to capturing, preserving, and communicating knowledge throughout a company. This can be done in a variety of ways, but the most important component is that all levels of management and labor actively participate in recording and communicating the knowledge of the employees, to whoever requires it, for the benefit of the company as a whole.

This report contains a best practices format and methodology as a starting point for this process, which can be tailored to suit particular management and work styles. Additionally, a guidebook has been incorporated to assist in organizing the best practices into an easy-to-use collection that can be updated. To help standardize the collection of best practices across all industries, a copy and discussion of the American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC) process classification framework is included. This framework is a standard format into which businesses can organize their best practices studies to allow quick referencing and sharing of information. There are many potential benefits to beginning a program of best practices. Whether the goal is to achieve a breakthrough in the industry, to outpace the competition, or simply to preserve the knowledge of an effective employee for later use, a best practices program can provide the means to accomplish it. This report gives the beginning or intermediate user of a best practices program a starting point and an organizational structure to ensure success and to help create a program that can grow as the company does.

 If you found this report useful, please help us continue our mission by contributing to ELECTRI:

Click here to contribute to ELECTRI International

Managing to Ensure Fair Outcomes for Electrical Contractors for Out-of-Sequence Work & Schedule Compression

This report emphasizes the importance of time management in construction contracts, specifically stating that time should be treated as a critical factor. When contractors, both general and specialty, fail to respect the time of others, it negatively impacts productivity and profitability. For electrical contractors, issues such as out-of-sequence work and schedule compression are common challenges that lead to increased costs, extra supervision, and strained relationships among contractors. The report suggests that contractors should prepare to handle these issues by ensuring fair compensation for the disruptions caused by these inefficiencies. Managing these schedule changes proactively is crucial for maintaining project success and positive stakeholder relationships.

DOWNLOAD the Quick Reference Guide here

 If you found this report useful, please help us continue our mission by contributing to ELECTRI:

Click here to contribute to ELECTRI International

Measuring Productivity and the Impact of Prefabrication on Productivity

Field and office productivity and the use of prefabrication in the Electrical Contracting industry are intertwined.  This project explored the impact and use of prefabrication within Lean Construction and BIM and VDC.  The focus was to untangle and objectively characterize the relationship between productivity and prefabrication.  The investigation resulted in a set of best practices that can help Electrical Contractors optimize prefabrication to obtain peak productivity.

PANDEMICS AND CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTIVITY: QUANTIFYING THE IMPACT

PLEASE FIND THE FINAL VERSION OF THE REPORT HERE

A pandemic can have far reaching impacts on the U.S. economy. Companies in once successful industries across the United States have felt the immediate impact of the current pandemic in the most devastating ways.

Early measurements of the impact of this pandemic suggest that construction productivity has been impacted by nearly 20%. A rule of thumb for self-performing contractors is that a 10% impact on productivity results in a 100% impact on profitability. As such, contractors need to consider seriously the impact of this study on their profitability and seek equitable adjustments that adequately compensate them for the impact.

This study is divided into three distinct sections:

  •  Part I – Pandemic Mitigation Tracking – specifically quantifies hours associated with preventative measures such as training, health screenings, cleaning and disinfecting, job site access and administration instituted to minimize exposure.
  •  Part II – Productivity Benchmarking – specifically quantifies the reduction in direct work productivity related to social distancing rules, staggered shifts, reduced crew sizes, increased personal protective equipment requirements and related job site regulations.
  • Part III – Business and Project Impacts – specifically quantifies ancillary impacts experienced by most contractors who participated in this study.

Here are supporting documents and videos to make it easier to consume the information in the report:

 

Pandemics and Construction Productivity Report – Initial Findings
COVID-19 has had substantial impacts on many segments of construction and contractors have limited tools to measure the effects this is having on their businesses. This webinar shares the findings of a 5 week intensive ELECTRI research study that shows productivity impacts measuring pre and post pandemic results due to new safety requirements. This webinar also introduces tools to identify and quantify impacts on productivity that will serve as a starting point for negotiations.

Sign in to view webinar here
View webinar slide deck here

 

Pandemics and Construction Productivity Study Overview
This video will provide individuals with an overview of the report findings relating to productivity impacts as a result of new PPE requirements and social distancing guidelines.

Pandemic Mitigation Tracking Overview
This video will provide an overview of the report findings relating to lost hours on job sites as a result of new safety requirements.

Pandemics and Construction Productivity Study
This video will provide further details to help quantify productivity impacts by task as a result of new PPE and social distancing guidelines.

 

Pandemic Business Impacts Overview
This video provides and overview of projects specific impacts that contractors are most frequently facing around the country.

Pandemic Business Impacts Contractors Interview
This video includes interviews with contractors sharing their personal stories of how their own jobs are being impacted by COVID-19.

Pandemic Change Order Calculator
This video will help contractors quantify their own project-related impacts by using the change order calculator which can be downloaded from the link below video.

Change Order Calculator:
Download Calculator

Frequently Asked Questions

If you have questions please reach out to your local chapter executive. If they do not have an answer to your question reach out to

Ryan Courtney – ryan.courtney@necanet.org

or

Josh Bone – josh.bone@necanet.org

 

PANDEMICS AND CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTIVITY: QUANTIFYING THE IMPACT – Final Version

A pandemic can have far reaching impacts on the U.S. economy. Companies in once successful industries across the United States have felt the immediate impact of the current pandemic in the most devastating ways.

Early measurements of the impact of this pandemic suggest that construction productivity has been impacted by nearly 20%. A rule of thumb for self-performing contractors is that a 10% impact on productivity results in a 100% impact on profitability. As such, contractors need to consider seriously the impact of this study on their profitability and seek equitable adjustments that adequately compensate them for the impact.

This study is divided into three distinct sections:

  •  Part I – Pandemic Mitigation Tracking – specifically quantifies hours associated with preventative measures such as training, health screenings, cleaning and disinfecting, job site access and administration instituted to minimize exposure.
  •  Part II – Productivity Benchmarking – specifically quantifies the reduction in direct work productivity related to social distancing rules, staggered shifts, reduced crew sizes, increased personal protective equipment requirements and related job site regulations.
  • Part III – Business and Project Impacts – specifically quantifies ancillary impacts experienced by most contractors who participated in this study.

Here are supporting documents and videos to make it easier to consume the information in the report:

Pandemics and Construction Productivity Report – Initial Findings
COVID-19 has had substantial impacts on many segments of construction and contractors have limited tools to measure the effects this is having on their businesses. This webinar shares the findings of a 5 week intensive ELECTRI research study that shows productivity impacts measuring pre and post pandemic results due to new safety requirements. This webinar also introduces tools to identify and quantify impacts on productivity that will serve as a starting point for negotiations.

Sign in to view webinar here

View webinar slide deck here

 

Pandemics and Construction Productivity Study Overview
This video will provide individuals with an overview of the report findings relating to productivity impacts as a result of new PPE requirements and social distancing guidelines.

Pandemic Mitigation Tracking Overview
This video will provide an overview of the report findings relating to lost hours on job sites as a result of new safety requirements.

Pandemics and Construction Productivity Study
This video will provide further details to help quantify productivity impacts by task as a result of new PPE and social distancing guidelines.

 

Pandemic Business Impacts Overview
This video provides and overview of projects specific impacts that contractors are most frequently facing around the country.

Pandemic Business Impacts Contractors Interview
This video includes interviews with contractors sharing their personal stories of how their own jobs are being impacted by COVID-19.

Pandemic Change Order Calculator
This video will help contractors quantify their own project-related impacts by using the change order calculator which can be downloaded from the link below video.

Change Order Calculator:
Download Calculator

Frequently Asked Questions

If you have questions please reach out to your local chapter executive. If they do not have an answer to your question reach out to

Ryan Courtney – ryan.courtney@necanet.org

or

Josh Bone – josh.bone@necanet.org

 If you found this report useful, please help us continue our mission by contributing to ELECTRI:

Click here to contribute to ELECTRI International

Tool and Material Control Systems

Keeping track of tools and materials is a major problem for electrical contractors. The results of haphazard control systems are:

  • Higher costs – to replace lost equipment or tools, or to buy unneeded materials which might inly be “buried in the warehouse.
  • Personnell costs – less efficient use of staff to remedy problems that could be solved another way.

 If you found this report useful, please help us continue our mission by contributing to ELECTRI:

Click here to contribute to ELECTRI International