The best step in creating a culture that supports customer satisfaction is to
have an expectation management strategy. This requires having a good
understanding of who your customers are and what they expect and creating
systems and processes to meet and/or exceed their needs.
This is best dealt with by understanding and managing their expectations. It
is important to ensure that the expectations are realistic, measurable, and
achievable.
Quality Specified
The construction project delivery process has three major teams of players:
the owner, design, and construction teams. The owner team expects the project
to meet the level of quality specified. The design team provides the project
specifications that establish the standards for the quality of the project. The
construction team is responsible for meeting the specified quality of the
project.
In construction, the specifications generally spell out the quality
standards for the project. The specifications usually reference some standard.
In some cases, the specifications may define standards as "normal and
customary" or "function for its intended use." Such terms are
not specific or clearly measurable and, therefore, are open to
interpretation.
Quality standards should be reviewed for definition, clarity, and
specificity, as well as measurability. In other words, the project team must be
able to definitely prove that it has met the quality requirements of the
specifications. This means that terms like "normal and customary"
should be clearly defined and agreed upon by the designer, builder, and owner
teams. The outcome of this effort may require something in writing as well as
possible samples, models, mockups, etc.
Construction Quality Requirements
All constructors (contractors or construction managers and subcontractors)
in some shape or form try to control the quality of the work. But many of them
may not have a robust and effective quality management process in place, and
some may not even have a written quality management program. Traditionally, it
is the project superintendent who is responsible for overseeing the different
subcontractor's work to ensure that they meet the project requirements.
Each subcontractor's foreman, in turn, is responsible for overseeing craft
workers to ensure that they follow normal and customary industry practice to
ensure that the work goes in place in line with the project specifications.
There are a few elements of the work, such as soil compaction, concrete
strength, welding, etc., that are tested by third parties to verify compliance
with the required project standards. The quality of the rest of the work is
checked by the architect or consultant personnel during their occasional site
visits.
The quality of the whole project is reviewed by the architect when the work
is virtually completed. Some of the consultants may assist the architect in
this endeavor. This inspection of the work usually generates a punch list of
items that needs to be corrected in order for the work to be certified that it,
in fact, meets the quality established by the project documents. Also, there
may be a review of the paperwork to make sure that everything has been
submitted and defects corrected.
Some project owners or their representatives may walk around the project
during construction and voice their opinion based on their (visual) observation
and perception of the quality of the work. Ultimately, the owner may make that
determination after taking possession of the completed facility.
The Disconnect
Problems may arise due to the different perceptions of what constitutes
acceptability in the level of quality of the completed project. This may lead
to frustration, disagreement, and possibly conflict. The
problem may stem from the contractor's understanding of what the level of
quality ought to be, based on the defined level by the specifications. It may
also result from an internal participant understanding or misunderstanding
goals or objectives, such as the following.
- Lack of clear goals and objectives
- Confusion about appropriate means and methods
- Misguided priorities
- The unclear measure of goal attainment
- Lack of cooperation
- Poor communication
- Trust issues
Put another way: it may hinge on how the contractor perceives their
performance as opposed to how the owner perceives it. It is most likely that
there is a discrepancy between these two perceptions, and the greater the
difference, the more effort it will take to impact or change this.
Understanding the Customer
The project owner is influenced not only by the quality of the final product
but also by its experience with the process by which it was achieved. The owner
is expecting the contractor to deliver a certain level of quality at the
completion of the final product. The owner expects the final product to
function properly, meet its needs, perform problem-free for a long time, be
easy to maintain, etc. The owner will more than likely be dissatisfied if these
factors are not met. This highlights the need for the contactor to actively
manage the owner's perception of the construction efforts and the quality
of the completed project.
The owners' impressions matter: are they listened to, taken seriously,
treated with respect, or offered explanations/options, as well as kept
informed, shown follow-through, attention to detail, etc. It is important to
understand that, even if the contractor is doing everything possible to achieve
the level of specified quality, if the owner perceives it to be insufficient,
then, in reality, the resulting quality is "going to be deemed
deficient."
Effectively Managing Stakeholder Expectations
The owners' opinion is influenced by their experience associated with
the construction process. This involves their interaction with the project
personnel, the contractor's management, and their interaction with other
stakeholders directly involved, such as the subcontractors, and to maybe a
lesser degree with the designer or consultants. Even if the constructors are
doing everything correctly and at their very best, if the owner is dissatisfied
for any reason, then the work effectively will be deemed deficient.
So, managing the owners' expectations is an important aspect of quality.
Most people are reasonable and realistic if they are kept informed and
unexpected situations are explained. This hinges on having a "good"
understanding of the personalities of the owner team as well as effectively
communicating with them.
Project Inception
It is not uncommon for stakeholders in the project to start out with
unrealistic expectations in terms of key performance steps as well as resulting
outcomes. Therefore, it is important to address this to have some common
understanding so as to avoid disappointment or conflict during the life of the
project and beyond. This will create a realistic alignment between the promises
made by one party to the understanding of the other party as it relates to the
execution of the work and the delivery of the final product.
Project Execution
It is also important to have preconstruction meetings with key stakeholders
to discuss plans, processes, practices, procedures, and expectations to
establish accepted means and methods. This will also establish a common basis
for dealing with execution issues as well as address risks associated with
project delivery. This process should also clarify the roles and
responsibilities of the parties involved, schedule and task dependencies, plot
resource tracking and management, and control the flow of information and its
timeliness. By effectively dealing with such risk, the timely resolution of
issues can occur.
Communicate Regularly
Manage expectations by communicating regularly with the owner. Have regular
status meetings. Discuss potential issues, why they are happening, what is
being done to remedy them, and what the possible outlook may be.
Some things need to be communicated in writing in order to have a record.
This could be in a letter, memo, or text depending on which best serves the
purpose. If something important is discussed, then it should be confirmed in
writing. If a number of things are discussed, then a confirming memo would be
appropriate. All meetings need to have an agenda, an indication of who is going
to do what, by when. Regular communication is the key to the whole process of
managing expectations.
Commitment Management
When trying to maintain good relations, it is sometimes easy to over-promise
and expect that this will somehow eventually be achieved by the field. This
leads to unrealistic expectations. If a promise is made, the degree of its
certainty should be clearly conveyed and confirmed in writing. If needed, ask
for some time to research the issues so as to provide a realistic promise.
Anticipate Problems
In every construction project, there are some likely areas where potential
problems may arise. It is a good idea to have some possible solutions ready to
go in case something goes awry. This approach enables field staff to respond to
issues quickly, resolve it more effectively, and turn a potentially negative
into a positive customer reaction. Make it a company practice to ask customers
how the product, service, process, etc., could have been done differently to
improve the outcome and exceed expectations. Also, make it a point to get back
to customers who have had good suggestions on how this created a change at the
company and share the results garnered after implementation. Everyone
appreciates recognition.
Watch for Owner Changes
Monitor the owner's level of satisfaction with the project. If there is
a perceived change in the owner's level of satisfaction, it is important to
identify it and respond accordingly. If it is going up, that is great, but
finding out the cause can provide useful information in order to sustain it.
Exceeding the owners' expectations at one particular point can lead to
dissatisfaction if it cannot be sustained for whatever reason.
When the change in owner satisfaction declines, it is even more important to
identify the cause. In many cases, it may not be just one cause resulting in
dissatisfaction. So, it is important to keep looking for other or underlying
causes that may adversely affect owner satisfaction with the project's
overall performance. Depending on the situation, this assessment may be done
informally or formally.
Conclusion
Even the best-laid plans sometimes fail. Keep all players—the owner, design
team, and the construction teams—aware of the issues involved. Most people are
reasonable if they understand what the issues are and know what to expect. The
goal of any expectation management effort is to have a seamless, quick, and
friendly process. All project operational systems should be managed through the
quality management system, which should be constantly reevaluated to find ways
to improve the process.