In my PhD research I found a lot of problems with the current practice of running subcontractor meetings.  Much of the time was spent describing what had happened in the past with other subcontractors dozing off when one was delivering his narrative.  Narratives concentrated on what the subcontractor had been doing and typically tended to ignore production problems on site before they became serious.  There was no attempt to tie the individual narratives together into a coherent story. 

Discussions about the future were similarly problematic.  Each subcontractor described what they were going to do but there were no concrete goals or commitments.

The General Contractor practiced push control by making sure that the scheduled dates were achieved.  If there were delays from the schedule, the standard response was to make the subcontractor increase the crew size or start new tasks in new locations.  Most of the decisions were made in isolation considering one subcontractor at a time.  The complex interrelated nature of construction was ignored.  This typically led to overcrowding, multiple subcontractors in the same location, consequent loss of productivity, and cascading delay chains.

There have been attempts in Lean Construction to solve these problems before.  The key idea in Lean Construction is to discuss and remove constraints of production to ensure that commitments can be achieved.  Using a location-based management system to run subcontractor meetings can provide further improvement. 

Location-based subcontractor meeting process includes the following components:

• The previous week's status is sent to participants before the meeting in the control chart format. Everyone comes prepared to the meeting and knows the status.  Discussion about the past focuses on delays and production problems.
• Numerical production data calculated using quantities, production rates, and actual crew size on site drives the discussion about problems.
• The future is discussed using the flowline forecast to identify free locations and risk of location congestion.
• Forecasts are changed according to the decisions and they form the new look-ahead plan.
• Resources and crew sizes are discussed using the resource forecast. The forecast needs to be adjusted to take into account any resource constraints.

By including the resource discussion in every subcontractor meeting and concentrating on preventing future production problems, cascading delay chains can be stopped.

Here are some additional resources that can help you better understand the topic:

~ How to use flowline alarms to resolve problems before they happen -- see Klorman Construction's demonstration of their flowline production schedule for an Amtrak Station in Southern California.

~ How to determine quantities by location when doing model-based scheduling -- see our BIM 401 Webinar.

~ How to manage a shorter schedule without adding risk to the project -- see our webinar about Scheduling Strategies in a Hard Bid.

~ If you have general questions about putting together a quantities-driven, location-based, and resource-balanced schedule -- see our Vico Control FAQs.

What are your strategies for subcontractor meetings?  How do you get everyone to participate and collaboratively solve issues as they arise?  Let me know and we'll incorporate your suggestions into best practices guides from which everyone can benefit.