Construction Claims E.O.T.المختصر المفيد فى مطالبات التمديد

Description

Common Causes of Lost Productivity

1- Absenteeism and the missing man syndrome.

The absence of any member of the crew may impact the crew production rate because the crew will typically be unable to accomplish the same production rate with fewer resources or, perhaps, a different mix of skill and experience levels.

2- Acceleration (directed or constructive).

The deliberate or unintentional speeding up of a project may result in lengthy periods of mandatory overtime, the addition of second shifts, or the addition of more labor beyond the saturation point of the site or that can be effectively managed or coordinated, all of which may have distinct impacts on productivity.

3- Adverse or unusually severe weather.

Some bad weather is to be expected on almost every project. But, pushing weather sensitive work from good weather periods into periods of bad weather, or encountering unusually severe weather, may impact productivity (e.g., earth backfill and compaction operations pushed into wet weather periods).

4- Availability of skilled labor.

A contractor must have sufficient skilled labor in the field.

To the extent that skilled labor is unavailable and a contractor is required to construct a project with less skilled labor it is probable that productivity will be impacted.

5- Changes.

All projects encounter some change during construction, changes outside the scope of work, multiple changes, or the cumulative impact of changes may all impact productivity.

6- Competition for Craft Labor.

productivity may be adversely impacted by competition for skilled labor ensues, Financial incentives, work rule changes and other issues may result in labor leaving one site for another, resulting in lower productivity and increased costs for the first contactor. Further, the replacement labor may be more costly and less skilled.

7- Craft turnover.

If a crew suffers from continual craft turnover, it is unlikely that they will achieve good productivity simply because one or more members of the crew may be on the learning curve, and thus decrease the overall productivity of the entire crew.

8- Crowding of labor or stacking of trades.

To achieve good productivity each member of a crew must have sufficient working space to perform their work without being interfered with by other craftsmen, when more labor is assigned to work in a fixed amount of space it is probable that interference may occur, thus decreasing productivity. Additionally, when multiple trades are assigned to work in the same area, the probability of interference rises and productivity may decline.

9- Defective engineering, engineering recycle and/or rework.

When drawings or specifications are erroneous, ambiguous, unclear, etc., productivity is likely to decline because crews in the field are uncertain as to what needs to be done. As a consequence, crews may slow down or pace their work, or have to stop all together while they wait for clear instruction.

10- Dilution of supervision.

When crews are split up to perform base scope work and the changed work in multiple locations, field supervision is often unable to effectively perform their primary task to see that crews work productively.

11- Excessive overtime.

Productivity typically declines as overtime work continues. The most commonly stated reasons for this result include fatigue, decreased morale, r, poor workmanship resulting in higher than normal rework, increased accidents.

12- Failure to coordinate trade contractors, subcontractors and/or vendors.

If the project management team fails to get subcontractors, material or equipment to the right place at the right time, then productivity may decline as crews will not have the necessary resources to accomplish their work.

13- The Fatigue.

Craftsmen who are tired tend to slow down work, make more mistakes than normal, and suffer more accidents and injuries, thus productivity may decrease for the entire crew.

14- Labor relations and labor management factors.

When there are union jurisdictional issues, industrial relations issues, unsafe working conditions or other safety issues, multiple evacuation alarms in existing facilities, untimely issuance of permits, access issues, etc. labor productivity may be adversely impacted in multiples ways.

15- Learning Curve.

At the outset of any project, there is a typical learning curve while the labor crews become familiar with the project, its location, the quality standards imposed, laydown area locations,

This is to be expected and is typically included in as-bid costs. However, if the work of the project is shut down for some period of time and labor crews laid off, then when work recommences the labor crews brought back to the project may have to go through another learning curve.

This is probably an unanticipated impact to labor productivity. If this happens more than once, then each time a work stoppage occurs another learning curve productivity loss impact may occur.

16- Material, tools and equipment shortages.

If material, tools or construction equipment are not available to a crew at the right location and time, then the crew’s productivity will probably suffer as they may be unable to proceed in an orderly, consistent manner. Similarly, if the wrong tools or improperly sized equipment is provided, productivity may also suffer.

17- Over manning.

Productivity losses may occur when a contractor is required to or otherwise utilizes more personnel than originally planned or can be effectively managed. In these situations, productivity losses may occur because the contractor may be forced to use unproductive labor due to a shortage of skilled labor; there may be a shortage of materials, tools, or equipment to support the additional labor; or the contractor may not be able to effectively manage the labor due to a dilution of supervision.

18- Poor morale of craft labor.

When work is constantly changed or has to be torn out and redone, the morale (i.e., enthusiasm for their work) is likely to suffer. When this occurs, productivity may decline.

19- Project management factors.

Work that is not properly scheduled, may result in decreased productivity because crews may not be able to work as efficiently as they would otherwise do.

For example, mobilizing labor prior to having access to site electrical power or prior to having adequate site parking can both impact early on labor productivity? Additionally, poor site layout can contribute to loss of productivity. If, for example, crews have to walk a long way to lunch rooms, tool cribs, laydown areas, washrooms, entrances and exits, then productivity may suffer as a result. In design / build or EPC projects, mobilizing to the filed prematurely before engineering is sufficiently complete to support efficient work schedules may lead to rework and inefficiencies.

20- Out of sequence work.

When work does not proceed in a logical, productivity is likely to be negatively impacted as crews are moved around the site haphazardly.

21- Rework and errors.

When work in the field must be done more than once in order to get it right, productivity may suffer as a result.

22- Schedule Compression.

It may result in over manning of the work by the contractor due to the shortening of the overall duration allowing the contractor to complete the total remaining work. This is known as schedule compression. Schedule compression, when associated with over manning often results in significant productivity losses due to dilution of supervision, shortages of materials, tools or equipment to support the additional labor, increased difficulty in planning and coordinating the work and shortages of skilled labor.

23- Site or work area access restrictions.

If a work site is remote, difficult to get to, or has inefficient or limited access then productivity may suffer because labor, equipment and materials may not be on site when and as needed. In addition, productivity losses may occur when access to work areas are delayed or late and the contractor is required to do more work in a shorter period of time, which may result in over manning, dilution of supervision and lack of coordination of the trades.

24- Site conditions.

Physical conditions (such as saturated soils); logistical conditions such as low hanging power lines); environmental conditions (such as permit requirements prohibiting construction in certain areas during certain times of the year); legal conditions such as noise ordinances precluding work prior to 7 AM or after 6 PM may all negatively impact productivity on a project.

25- Untimely approvals or responses.

When project owners, designers and/or construction managers fail to respond to contractually required submittals or requests for information in a timely manner, productivity on a project may decline as crews may not have authority or sufficient knowledge to proceed with their work.

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