Good morning, Reader.
On this snow-covered morning (at least here in Central PA), it seems like a good morning to gather around a fireplace and hear a story told by yours truly.
Imagine me sitting in a comfy chair in my robe and slippers. A bubble pipe hanging from my mouth and a big storybook in my lap. I open it up and start to read - and you're transported to the magical world of new home construction.
The Three Superintendents
Once upon a time, there was a Home Builder who just wanted to provide housing to customers far and wide. And she worked hard every day to make that happen.
Oh it was a great time, and customers would come one-by-one to buy new homes. The Home Builder was so happy to have the work, but she had a problem.
She couldn't really control how her homes got built. Not the order. Not the timing. Not even the consistent quality.
Oh boo hoo! What a dilemma!
Because she had so much work, she had her construction management overseen by three different Superintendents:
Ronnie was the "old soul." He had been around homebuilding for his entire looooooong life. And he "just knew" how to get a job done. No need for fancy computers and no one needed to tell him what to do. He could build a good house, but the job was done when he said it was done.
Bonnie has been a Superintendent for some time, too. Not nearly as long as Ronnie, but she had a schedule that she had finetuned over the years. It wasn't perfect, but it was reliable enough. And Bonnie's jobs were completed in almost identical times. She was ultra-competitive, though, and wanted to make sure HER jobs were the consistent ones - so much that she would "steal" Trades from the other Superintendents to keep her schedules going.
Tyler was the "new kid on the block." He used to help out cleaning up jobs and doing odd jobs, but the work was so plentiful that a new Superintendent was needed. Instead of worrying about finding and training someone new, the Home Builder promoted Tyler and figured he could learn on-the-job. Tyler was learning - but - leaned on both Ronnie and Bonnie for advice as his jobs progressed. His jobs would finish...eventually.
The Home Builder knew there had to be a better way to run her business. But how could she get three very different personalities to work together in fairy-tale harmony?!?
She remembered reading an email from that very wise and funny-to-himself homebuilding consultant, Brad Haubert, that a unified construction template is essential. She understood that it would provide a baseline to measure against - and - it would help speed all work along (resulting in a nicer bottom line).
"But, how do I get there with three very different Superintendents?" the Home Builder wondered...
She continued her thoughts. "I can't ask Ronnie to use a schedule template. He's so valuable with his knowledge and wisdom. He might leave if he's forced into using something that is so foreign to him. Gulp!"
"Bonnie has a good start to a schedule template, but she won't share it with anyone for fear that they might be able to match her efficiency and she won't stand out anymore," the Home Builder worried.
"Tyler is eager to learn - but - doesn't offer much more than that right now. He's got the right spirit and is consistently talking about making the schedule more efficient by things he's observed from his time cleaning jobsites and doing odd jobs (and hearing what the Trades are talking about when the Superintendent wasn't around). He just doesn't know how to put it all together. And I can't afford the time nor money to find someone new and start from scratch."
Oh what a dilemma!! The Home Builder sat in her office and tried to think "what would Brad say?" [side note: I'm really not that full of myself....hahaha]
All of a sudden, she saw a cheesy floating representation of Brad (probably wearing a goofy genie costume). He floated in and said in a loud booming voice: "Dear Home Builder...you are worrying about things unnecessarily. Remember: this is YOUR business and your Superintendents look to you for guidance (and a paycheck)."
The floating Genie Brad head continued, "Bring them all together in one room and tell them you need a consistent schedule that ALL can use to build your homes."
When they are all together in a room, tell them: "We are not leaving this room until we come out with one primary schedule template. It'll take give-and-take, but you all have some strengths that will make this a template we can all use."
"Then," continued the floating Genie Brad, "wait it out."
The Home Builder was skeptical - but - she knew Genie Brad was wise and knew a thing or two about homebuilding. So, she heeded his wise words.
It was a loooooooooong day. A lot of arguing and swearing was heard from that room.
But...in the end...the Three Superintendents learned how to use their collective wisdom to build something beautiful together. The more they listened to each other, the more they gained respect of each other.
And a single construction schedule template was presented to the Home Builder.
A ticker tape parade was thrown in honor of thi..... OK - too far.
Anyway, now that a single construction schedule template was created, the Home Builder had to figure out how to actually implement it (and not let things go back as they were before that fateful day).
Since I've taken up enough of your time today with this silly little (but oh-so-common true-ish) story, I'll hold off on telling you those steps until the next email.
Until then - happy building!
-Brad