3 Steps for Improving Construction Quality Processes

Quality management on a construction project may involve two separate processes: quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC). Autodesk BIM 360 tools can help you manage both.

Because of extra expense required, quality assurance is used more often on larger projects that have the budget for this extra layer of quality management. QA is process oriented. It’s used to review the plans and activities a company undertakes during the job to make sure the project’s quality requirements are going to be met. 

 

 

Quality control, on the other hand, is mandatory on every job to ensure the project meets safety standards and other requirements spelled out in the construction contract. QC is product oriented. The ultimate concern of QC is the final outcome of a project. The QC process considers whether a job is completed correctly in compliance with contractual requirements. It measures the quality aspects of a completed job compared to the standards that were agreed upon at the beginning. Differences are scrutinized to decide if corrective action must be taken.

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Measuring QA

For QA, testing and audits during the project are carried out primarily by owners and owner-reps. Every owner has their distinctive style for commissioning, examining and measuring QA, ranging from strict to relaxed.

Measuring QC

QC is a mandatory process with articles spelled out in the project contract requirements. The QC process might include reviewing subcontractor qualifications, bid and submittal reviews, and supervision on the job. Contractors use QC measurements to make sure their finished work meets the standards and specifications of the project model/designs.

Improving Quality

Following are three things you can do improve your company’s quality processes:

1. Workflows – Establish quality workflows early in the project. This includes defining the rules for transferring information from team to team for action or assigning tasks to accomplish. Someone must be responsible for quality management tasks and accountable for getting them done on time and successfully. Without this safeguard, a punchlist doesn’t carry much punch. Cloud-based software tools like Autodesk Build can keep all the stakeholders in the loop about assignments, deadlines and progress tracking.
2. Risk assessment – Risk assessment on every project should be ongoing and potentially can involve anyone involved in the project. Threats, concerns and potential liabilities need to be identified, and these issues can range from personnel, training, zoning and cash flow to transfer of ownership, legalities, and other problems that might affect progress or project handoff.
3. Comparisons – You should have way to keep track of risk findings from past projects so you can forecast risk on future projects. Standards for collecting and documenting information on risk help improve the quality of your projects in the future. You may want to look into adopting technology, like Autodesk Construction IQ, that can help predict, prevent and manage risk on every job.

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If you need a technology partner to help you improve your quality processes, contact Applied Software today.