Poor communication in the construction industry costs at least £20 billion per year in defects. Effective communication is important for reducing defects. Key aspects of good communication on construction projects include: clearly defining communication roles and methods; carefully managing drawing distribution, updates and storage; holding pre-start meetings to establish contact details and communication protocols; and providing technical support and guidance to site workers. Formal meetings and using new technologies can also help facilitate communication.

1. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
helpdesk@construction-productivity.co.uk
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2. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE-BRE GUIDE
Every year defects in the UK construction
industry cost at least £20 billion to repair
or rebuild
Some of the defects are as the result issues
such as:
 Poor communication;
 Poorly detailed drawing;
 Incorrect instructions or technical information
not being available on time;

3. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
 Meeting types and frequencies;
 Method's of drawing transfer;
 Use and control of revised drawings, or
unconfirmed drawings;
 Reporting and tracking of defects;
 Lack of knowledge in detecting defects on
time.

4. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE-DEFERNT PHASES
Phase-1 Communication on site
 Who should accept and check deliveries of materials
to the site.
 Employment of a site engineers, clerk of work,
supervisors or securities.
 Setting their communication responsibilities and
methods.
 Setting the authority of the Clerk of Works to instruct
operatives.
 Communication with, and supervision of sub-
contractors.

5. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
Drawing provision and distribution
 The role of accurate drawings in producing
good quality work.
 Careful attention must be paid as to:
 how drawings are going to be produced;
 Checked;
 distributed.

6. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
The following points must be considered:
 provide drawings as complete as possible;
 at all relevant stages;
 with high accuracy;
 remove older version drawing immediately;
 make sure everyone involved with the project
knows about the new version.

7. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
 ensure drawings are adequately detailed,
 and mistakes are all picked up before site
work starts.
 The drawings with high presentation-could
be produced to help building work
progress smoothly. Drawings such as:
 colour coded
 by trade or element
 laminated
 small or large sized.

8. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
 The correct level of information is needed on
any drawing, for it to be successfully built
from.
 Where the drawings to be kept? It is going to
be in the site office?
 How to prepare and return amended
drawings back to site as quickly as possible.
 Is there a role for the manufacturers to help
prepare drawings?

9. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
Single points of contact
 Consideration should be given to appointing
defined, single points of contact at suppliers,
design offices and contractors.
 This should help to avoid delays, confusion
and duplication of effort.

10. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
Trade supervisors
 Assuming that the size of the project requires
a supervisor on site for each trade.
 This often brings benefits to the project
communication and the quality of build.
 Ensure that the role of the supervisor links
with the project requirements.
 Is the supervisor required only to schedule
work for the operatives?

11. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
 Or is he/she directly involved with "setting
out", examination of drawings and quality of
build.
 To be effective, the trade supervisor must
have authoritarian style of management.
 May be a problem as the position can be
considered as not bering "operative" or
"management".

12. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
Phase 2: Pre-start meeting
 The project manager should ensure that a pre-start or
"kick off" meeting is held.
 There are several benefits to site communication
which may arise from such a meeting,
Including the following:
 It allows people to get to know each other;
 This is likely to lead to better communication and less
confrontational attitudes as the work progresses.

13. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
 It provides the opportunity to decide on how
communication will operate through out the
organization.
 It provides the opportunity to define points of contact
at each level.
 It can be used to ensure that all people have the
contact details for every person working on the
project.
 Ensuring all relevant people attend the kick off
meeting.
This may include:
 project management team;
 major suppliers.

14. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
Technical literature and advice
 Large numbers of best practice information
and documents are accessible on the
internet on:
 Design
 material selection
 Construction

15. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
 They are also available from a variety of
sources including the following:
 Manufacturers
 Construction site communication-guidance
 British Standards Institution
 BRE
 MCIOB
 RICS
 ETC

16. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
Building regulatory authorities such
as:
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister,
Scottish Executive;
Trade associations;
Insurance companies (e.g. Housing
Association Property Mutual
(HAPM).

17. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
National House Building Council
(NHBC));
Consultants and research
organisations (e.g. Building
Research Establishment;
(BRE), Construction Industry
Research and Information
Association (CIRIA)).

18. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
Provision of technical advice
 Arrangements should be made to provide
technical advice to site operatives. In
circumstances such as:
 If there is a complex detailing to be built
 Operatives are inexperienced;
 New materials/products are in use;
 Providing the best practice information
including the following:

19. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
 Introducing technical issues into the standard
induction procedures.
 Sample panels and mock-ups.
 Best practice posters on display (e.g. in the site
canteen, head office).
 Manufacturers visit the site to demonstrate best
practice or new products.
 Manufacturers visit design team to introduce new
products.
 Supply operatives with relevant parts of good practice
guidance.

20. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
Upwards feedback
 Establish means by which
information can be effectively fed
back up through the formal
management structure.
 Two key areas where this can be
particularly important are as
follows:

21. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
1. operatives to site office (e.g.
reporting on an incorrect drawing);
2. Site office to head office (e.g.
where an incorrect detail is
discovered;
3. this should be reported back to the
design office and the drawings
corrected).

22. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
Project Meetings
 The success of formal meetings (e.g. the
monthly progress meeting) is helped by being
structured, including the following:
 Chairperson
 Agenda
 Set start and finish times
 Minutes recorded.

23. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
Keep people informed at all time.
Advice all people involved across
the whole construction project.
Take care and time with
communication.
Communication must be
"supported" (i.e. ensure that
someone given an instruction).

24. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
Has the back up, resources and
knowledge to complete the task
properly.
Make sure the method of
communication used is the most
appropriate.

25. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
 Make sure the message is clear and all
people who need to know are informed.
 Provide instructions as early as possible,
 Do not assume that actions identified in a
memo, fax or e-mail will always have been
carried out.
 Always follow up to see if the message is
received and followed,
 Find a productive way to check if any one has
been forgotten to get the message,

26. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
 Some sort of follow up or checking may
still be necessary.
 Learn from previous projects that you
have been involved with where the
communication was either particularly
good or bad.
 Learn from mistakes.
 Suggest improvement and follow up.

27. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
New communication technology
 The use of new technology to help
communication should be considered.
Consider full benefits of items such as:
1. mobile phones
2. two way radios
3. digital cameras
4. on site internet- on site and at the head office
intranet
5. e-mail

28. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
 For example, drawings can be e-mailed
between the site office and the architect, as
can digital photographs of defects and
progress.
 The internet can be used to access
information such as:
 Building Standards
 good practice guidance
 documentation.

29. COMMUNICATION
ON SITE
 On large scale construction projects the use
of project "intranet" systems has been shown
to be valuable.
 These systems are based on project wide
access via a network of personal computers
to electronic ("virtual") project documents
such as:
 Drawings
 Specifications
 correspondence.