Quality-Control Versus Bugs

            Another aspect of reoccurring construction problems is found in confusing design and construction bugs with quality-control. 

            Debugging and quality-control, although closely related, are different.

            Craftsmanship can be defined in quantitative and qualitative terms: how plumb and straight are walls, how flat are floors free of humps and valleys, how many coats of paint achieve full coverage, etc. 

            These qualifications can be defined in fractions of inches or degrees of judgment, and can be controlled by making the adjustments of taking more time to do a better job or spending more money for better performing materials.

            Quality is therefore directly affected by effort, care, motivation, judgment, and intentional resolve.

            Bugs, on the other hand, occur regardless of best intentions or performance levels simply because they surface by surprise.

            Foreknowledge of mass-production assembly-line type construction bugs is pure informational knowledge and has little to do with attitudes or motivation.

            When company owners and managers talk broadly about improving construction efficiency and quality, they miss the point entirely.  Technical issues cannot be resolved using a broad-brush management approach, at least not in manufacturing industries like building construction.

            Real debugging and quality-control starts at the nuts-and-bolts level, then goes up through the organization.  To be effective, the discussion must move from the general to the specific.

            Preventive problem-solving and debugging provides the housing development company owners and managers an opportunity to impact the efficiency and quality of the construction without themselves being construction experts. 

            They can collect, process, organize, manage, and disseminate the debugging information so that the knowledge acquired, of lessons-learned on past jobs can be applied to present and future jobs.

            Housing development company owners and managers must initiate housing construction quality and efficiency for it to evolve beneficially. 

            As previously stated, they are the only individuals in a position to gather and maintain the required information…and budget the necessary time to analyze it.