It all Starts with the Plans and Documentation

One of my first managers back when I was a young draftsperson working at AV Jennings (yes Bob Smart it was you) gave me some sage advice that has stayed with me all my career and that was “How can you expect the guys onsite to build it, if you can’t build it on paper first.”

Those simple words are so true and should be the purpose behind every set of plans and documentation but lamentably today, I hear so often about the poor documentation and lack of information, understanding and knowledge associated with just about every project.

In this article I propose to show why the plans and documentation are the most important form of communication within the building industry. With all due respect to the sales consultants, the building designers and architects, the customer service people, the estimators and quantity surveyors and the senior business managers, you should be putting all your efforts into preparing and ensuring the best plans and documentation are available for the project. It is then up to the site supervisors and the project managers to construct the building in the way in which the plans and documents communicate. If the information is not shown, then how can they build correctly?

Why do you need the best plans and documentation? Because in building, you only make profits when you are constructing the building. How do you build a building? With a set of plans and documents that communicate the information required to know what and how to construct the building.

In its simplest form, the plans and documents are a form of communication. Imagine if you had to describe how to construct a building and had to tell everyone involved verbally. It would be a nightmare and of course the ‘chinese whispers’ would mean the end product would end up being nothing like the original idea from the client.

On the plans, every line means something. In the documents every word means something.

If plans and documents are the only way to communicate to the people responsible for constructing the building, shouldn’t you be ensuring these are the very best you can produce?

Don’t get me wrong. Everyone involved in the journey of creating a building or new home is equally important as the next person. The project doesn’t get off the ground if the salesperson or business development doesn’t do their job of selling the ‘dream’ or the relationship. The customer service or contract administrators become the ‘glue’ between the client and the construction team to ensure the project gets started.

The building designers and architects are the ones trained on to how to put the lines on the ‘paper’ so to speak and what codes and standards need to be met in order to complete the building. This is where the ‘seeds are sowed’ for the poor performance throughout the rest of the project.

The estimators and quantity surveyors know where to procure the materials needed and the labour to build the building however this is where it starts to fall apart if the plans and documents are poorly prepared. The assumptions are made, materials and labour missed and the ‘holes in the documentation’ are identified so the confrontation can start later.

Unbeknownst to most clients, the worse the plans and documentation are, then the higher the number of variations during the construction and this situation is exploited by many builders. And you can’t blame them. If you estimate and quote the project by including all the items that should be included or allow for the additional work required, then you never win a project. Identifying the ‘holes in the documents’ sets up a scenario where the builder knows he or she is going to request numerous variations during construction and hope to achieve better profit margins on these as a way of lifting the overall profit on the job.

The poor documentation also can mean that the estimator or quantity surveyor working for the builder makes more mistakes by leaving out important materials and labour components. He who makes the biggest mistakes wins the project leading to no profits and the downward spiral of security of payment issues for contractors and suppliers.

In the home building industry, home buyers can’t be expected to be the experts in building and design and therefore know what to receive for the plans and documentation. And nor should they. The clients rely on the professionals and experts and expect these people to deliver the right amount of information needed to build their new home. Unfortunately, many clients choose the cheapest proposal for preparing the plans and are none the wiser when it comes to knowing if the plans and documents are good enough to build the home.

The home owner, in effect, becomes the ‘documentation co-ordinator’ and unless the client does this as their usual profession then the client will have no idea what needs to be co-ordinated and what to look for. They rely on the various professionals to do their job and provide the right information. What ends up happening is that the builder has to attempt to bring the information together for the client at his cost or the builder exploits the situation and requests numerous variations because of the inconsistencies in the documentation.

For builders that employ their own design teams and estimators, poor documentation finds them out very quickly with extra cost overruns on the construction and the erosion of expected profit margins. If these builders are not tracking their extra costs, then more fool them because they will have no idea what their profit margin is until the end of the year when the accountant looks back over the financials. Even then it is far too late and may not be able to recover. I fear in this current climate in 2021, this will be the case for many builders, and they will not be able to recover in time. However, it is not too late to start measuring and understanding how to improve your business.

Once the poor documentation reaches the construction team, it is too late. The site supervisors and project managers and the contractors are then expected to understand what has been ‘communicated’ to them. If the plans and documentation are incomplete, wrong or poorly executed then someone has to’ make the call’. All too often I hear, “Oh the guys can sort it out onsite’. WHY do they have to sort it out because the designer or architect or estimator doesn’t know what is required and expects the site team to fill in for their lack of skills, knowledge or experience or is the level of service lacking because the fees are too low? I think many times, a site supervisor or project manager gets so frustrated with the poor standard of plans and documentation and decides- 'Oh well, no one else cares about the documents then I don’t have to care about what happens onsite'. I see it numerous times onsite where the poor quality, the dirty sites, the lack of attention to detail is accompanied by poor documentation.

“Shouldn’t you be making sure that your construction team has the best information available to deliver the final product.”

So far, I’ve only scratched the surface on the areas that can contribute to poor plans and documentation but the biggest complaint I hear around the industry is the complete lack of document co-ordination. It’s all well and good preparing working drawings but there are usually many other documents and plans that need to be prepared by professionals such as structural engineers, energy efficiency consultants, hydraulic, electrical, mechanical and acoustic consultants to name a few.

To the ‘lay person’ or someone in the journey who is not a technical or professional person, they would expect that each person involved in preparing plans and documents would just know what to do. In essence, they should, however in practice, plans are changed, clients change their mind and want changes to the plans and the specifications. Unless the client goes off to each individual person involved in the chain, how can any changes be communicated unless someone takes the role of co-ordinating the documents?

Many good builders understand the need for creating or requiring a set of ‘Construction Issue’ plans and documents. This generally has come about because of the experience gained from the mistakes made in the past. Unfortunately, the construction industry is one where you gain experience by making mistakes. Some make bigger ones than others. Believe me, I’ve made numerous and seen numerous mistakes made that have taught me lessons and delivered the experience I have gained over many years. However, this culture doesn’t have to be the way it is.

“My call is that there should a ‘minimum standard of documentation’ for various type of projects.” “The market can decide in a competitive manner how much to pay for the services and the minimum standards of documentation.”

The national discussion going on at the moment about poor quality and the practices leading to this poor quality is raising many points from various perspectives. One discussion is calling for the ‘minimum scale of fees to be re-introduced’ since there is a view that since the removal of the ‘minimum scale of fees’ some forty years ago, there has been a ‘race to the bottom’ in terms of fees and the level of services provided for those fees. The original removal of a ‘minimum scale of fees’ was on the basis, generally, that it did not provide for competition in the marketplace.

Over those past forty or so years, the property market has become accustomed to low fees and the expectation that the plans and documents prepared by the professionals and associated practitioners will still be suitable to ‘do the job’. What has transpired over the past forty or so years, is that younger generations are operating in the market and these people know no different, so it is not the ‘fault’ of the new generation.

My call is that there should a ‘minimum standard of documentation’ for various type of projects. By defining the standard of documentation, the level of communication should improve and allow the various stakeholders on the journey to construct a building to improve their service and ultimately provide a better outcome for the client. The market can decide in a competitive manner how much to pay for the services and minimum standards of documentation.

There are some great examples of good documentation out there and these businesses have either been shown how to do it by someone who is much older now or they have learnt badly by their mistakes and have put in place procedures, standards and expectations of the way in which plans and documents are communicated throughout the business.

A recent post on LinkedIn by Multiplex confirms that the very good builders understand the need for ‘full’ documentation. They have published a National Construction Handbook that details all the areas of construction that need clear communication of the workmanship and construction methods required to complete high quality building. In a previous career with Lend Lease, we went to great lengths to document the key construction details that we required builders to use in the projects because we knew we couldn’t rely on the builders and subcontractors to play ‘Russian Roulette’ with the quality.

If you are not an architect, a building designer or draftsperson, then you would not be expected to understand the level of detail and amount of ‘communication’ needed to construct a building. That’s fine, but don’t denigrate or underestimate how important this communication is within your business. Cutting back on the standard of documentation is only asking for trouble and will cost you money in the end, guaranteed. So, I implore anyone involved in the journey to construct a building to ensure that the best possible effort is enabled and allowed to prepare and deliver the best standard of plans and documentation possible to the construction team. As I mentioned earlier, in a building business, you only make money and profits when you start building. Shouldn’t you be making sure that your construction team has the best information available to deliver the final product.

The documentation is not just the plans and specification. It also covers the colour selections, the specification of the materials and workmanship, the variations, the scopes of work for the trade contractors, the construction details, the WHS documentation, the consultants’ documents, the co-ordination of all of these documents into a set of ‘Construction issue’ documents and all the other documents needed to communicate between the client.

It could also be said that the drop in the quality of workmanship by trade contractors is also related to the reduction in the quality of documentation. Too much reliance is placed upon the trade contractors to make a decision about which detail is to be used during the construction.

Another thought is that the breaking up of the traditional trades into smaller components means that more emphasis is required on the level of documentation. If the new generation of trade contractors don’t understand what is required for the following trades then they can’t be expected to make a decision about how the detailing is applied and whether the following contractor can complete a quality job. The more breaking up of the trade packages then the higher level of documentation needed.

“If you get your system setup to handle hundreds of jobs each year then your business will be able to grow.”

What do I believe should be included in a ‘minimum standard of documentation’ for construction of a new home? The documentation is made up of more than just plans. As I mentioned previously, the plans and documentation are simply a form of communication and this can take the form of plans, specifications, scopes of work, standard details and colour selections. Many of these documents and checklists for plans are available on our Builder’s Business Resource Centre

• Construction working drawings that include site plans with finished earthworks, floor plans, elevations, sections, electrical plans, slab plan, air conditioning layout (if applicable), internal elevations, floor framing plans (if applicable) and landscape plan (if applicable), roof plan. These plans will have been updated to include any post contract variations prior to site start.

• Consultants’ designs and reports (plans must be updated to co-ordinate with the consultants’ reports)

• Specification of works that include details of the materials selections, fixtures and fittings, any changes to a ‘standard list of inclusions’

• Energy efficiency inclusions that are not shown on the plans

• Colour selection schedule that specifies manufacturer, type, finish and colour of all fittings, fixtures, materials, coatings, appliances, tiles, floor coverings and external elements

• A schedule of items that are not included to avoid assumptions

• Specific construction details (this can include manufacturer’s details for materials)

• Scope of works for each trade contractor and some suppliers (these are used to communicate the expected workmanship and extent of work for each trade)

This list may seem like a lot of work however, from my experience each of these are required to ensure the information is communicated to the site team, trade contractors and suppliers. You may be able to communicate the information by word of mouth or emails for one job but imagine if you had to ensure the information was correct for hundreds of jobs each year. If you get your system setup to handle hundreds of jobs each year then your business will be able to grow. If you are communicating this information in an adhoc manner then the only way you can handle any growth in your business is by adding more staff to communicate. I know which is easier and more consistent.

To highlight some of the issues with plans and documentation, the following are some examples I have seen over the years that indicate we have a long way to go to improve the quality. The only way in my personal view is to introduce mandatory continuing education for the various parts of the industry. Construction methods change, materials evolve and regulations change constantly. The last time most people in the industry did some research or study was when they did their apprenticeship or their Cert IV for building and in some cases neither of those were done back in the ‘old days’. But that’s a topic for another discussion.

There was one project I was involved in recently where the building designer specified in the ‘Notes’ on the plans that “All construction to be in accordance with the Australian Domestic Construction Manual and the BCA”. The ADCM hasn’t been in print since the mid-1990s and the BCA has become the NCC. These plans were drawn in 2019. These plans also noted that the stairs, handrails, WC doors, wet areas, lighting, ventilation, smoke alarms and termite protection comply with BCA 2009. Only 10 years behind the times.

Another ‘pet hate’ of mine is when the plans constantly refer to the various Australian Standards and the specific clauses. The building designer or architect has gone to the trouble of seeking out the Standard and the specific clause. Why not include the wording of that clause or diagram in the documents because it is almost 100% guaranteed that the builder and the trade contractors will not have a copy of the Standard with them onsite. It’s all about communication and in this case, duplication of effort. Forcing trade contractors to have to read an Australian Standard, in my view is lazy. But, the fees proposed for the plans do not allow for this extra effort, however someone has to take the time to read the Standard. The cost and responsibility is continually pushed down to the builder and trade contractors.

Also on this project, which was located about 5 metres from the water’s edge of the bay, no mention was made of any upgrades to the metal cladding, fasteners or timbers. The expectation would have been that the builder would realize this. The plans were approved by a private certifier also, yet nothing mentioned in the approval permit. I could go on about the numerous inconsistencies throughout the plans that would have caused time wasting in sorting out what information took precedence.

A few years ago, I was involved in completing a large townhouse project. When preparing the tender, numerous inconsistencies were noticed in the plans and documentation. When asked to provide a set of ‘Construction Issue’ plans and documents, the project manager’s response was ‘We’re not paying to have all the documents co-ordinated. That will cost a fortune.’ The slab designs from the engineers showed flat level sites yet there was a large difference in height between each pair of townhouses that required retaining walls. As the builder, I was expected to work out how the construction of the slabs was meant to be completed. These plans and documents had been approved by a private certifier with little notation. In the end I managed to convince the engineer to provide some sketches on his letterhead for the retaining walls and slab step downs.

These are only a few examples of bad documentation and I know from talking with my peers in the industry that the standards of documentation are getting worse each year. What is it going to take to realise that this environment is unsustainable and is costing builders and client’s money every day?

I'd be happy to hear your comments on standards of documentation and examples of poor documentation.

The 3C Mentor can help your business with improving the standards and quality of the plans and documentation. We have been involved in thousands of new homes and other building projects and have managed design offices that have produced the documentation for these projects. Our Builder’s Business Resource Centre has hundreds of documents that will help improve your standards of documentation.

The whole purpose of The 3C Mentor is to help create really great businesses in the residential building industry and delivered by our unique ‘Three Pillars to Your Success’ – Business Coaching, Business Consulting and Business Resources.