“Money saved is money earned” goes the old saying. After spending just 5 minutes in the construction trailer, Kristine Ann Barnes from Niras averted an additional invoice of DKK 85,000 for the project from a trade contractor by having her location-based schedule and site documentation 100% in order. Accurate recordings reduce conflicts on the construction site, paving the way for good collaboration where everyone can meet their targets.
Kristine Ann Barnes is a first mover with location-based scheduling and something of a scheduling heavyweight. She was a first mover in the use of location-based scheduling on a construction project back in 2006, but really started in 2008 when she, together with a few colleagues, introduced and implemented the method at MT Højgaard. Since then, she has continued working on planning and optimising construction processes with several major contractors, and now works as a process consultant with a focus on location-based scheduling at Niras.
Over the years, Kristine’s work has taken her to hundreds of Danish construction sites. The most important tool in her digital toolbox is location-based scheduling and the new app Tactplan Control from Exigo for site documentation.
On her LinkedIn profile, Kristine describes some of the advantages of location-based scheduling: “Location-based scheduling results in better mutual understanding and thus fewer conflicts during the execution phase. It provides a much better overview of the construction process than any other tool.”
Kristine continues: “We achieve better workflows, eliminate wasted time and find optimisation opportunities. There’s no project where it can’t be applied! It fits naturally with residential construction, but it also works with complex commercial construction projects with only a few repetitions, and usually beyond expectations!”
In recent months, Kristine has conducted site registrations at the Hans Knudsens Plads construction site in Copenhagen for Gefion Group using the new app Tactplan Control. The registrations are sent from the app back to Kristine’s location-based schedule in the Schedule Planner software (replaced by Tactplan Schedule).
“I used the follow-up form from Schedule Planner (replaced by Tactplan Schedule and Tactplan Control) for site registration and construction meetings. Red = behind. Green = finished. I printed it all out and took it with me along with a floor plan where I noted my registrations. In the evening, when I entered my new data on my PC back at the office, I have to admit that I often sat there and thought, ‘Oops… Did I actually check the ventilation on the fifth floor?’ And then I would either take a calculated guess or drive back to the construction site to check again. With the new app, I enter site progress while I’m on site.”
During another construction project, Kristine experienced a trade contractor rushing in with an additional invoice for DKK 85,000. He claimed to have lost the money because the electrician before him had not finished on time, so he and his crew had to go home.
Kristine laughs: “A construction site can be like the Wild West sometimes. Individual trade contractors want to invoice as much as possible – and as quickly as possible. And that’s OK; that’s how the game goes. If it works, it works.”
“I retrieved my schedule and site registrations. He claimed it related to the first floor in block A the week before. However, I was able to document for him that the electrician had actually finished five days earlier, so there was plenty of time and space for him and his crew to carry out their work. But he didn’t give up easily, and continued to argue. So, it was the second floor in block B instead. But again, I could document that the previous contractor had finished on time, again leaving him with enough time and space to do his work. I confronted him with the ‘gaps’ where he should have been on the construction site, and it turned out that the contractor and his crew had been on another construction site on those occasions.”
Accurate recordings and documentation put me in a very strong position. “The time I make my registration is automatically recorded in the app. This means that when the painter, for example, comes and says he’s behind because the carpenter didn’t finish on time, I can look at the app and tell him that the carpenter finished on time last Wednesday when I made my site registration at 11:05. I can show him pictures of the finished floor and at the same time show him the consequences of his delay for the move-in date. That type of documentation puts me in a very strong position as a process manager. And when the documentation is clear, there are far fewer discussions about site progress, which helps to promote good collaboration on site.”
Kristine talks about an episode with a carpenter on another construction project. He was everywhere at once, and he showed a complete lack of regard for Kristine’s location-based schedule. He had workers in all 30 apartments at the same time, which had significant consequences for the bricklayers and house painters who came after him.
“The carpenter thought he was being wildly efficient; he had workers spread across the entire construction site. But in the big picture, he was not being efficient at all. On the contrary. Any sense of rhythm, flow and collaboration between the different trades was being ruined. Both the bricklayer and the house painter tried their best to adjust their work to the carpenter, but they were extremely frustrated because he was everywhere, and all his work was only half-finished.” Kristine explains.
“When working with location-based scheduling, everyone has to get on the same train. And when everyone does so, it’s incredibly effective. With location-based scheduling and the Tactplan Control app from Exigo, there’s less room for discussion. I have my documentation 100% in order, and if anyone is in doubt about anything, they can log in and see what’s happening, which provides complete transparency with regard to progress.”
“And that’s great! Then we can focus on doing a good job together and something we can all be proud of, in a good working environment on site where everyone can meet their targets. I highly recommend location-based scheduling and Tactplan Control. The investment in software and the app quickly pays off. I ‘earned’ DKK 85,000 for the project in just 5 minutes during my meeting with the trade contractor in the construction trailer, and that’s just one of many examples, ” slutter Kristine Ann Barnes af.
