Whether it is masonry, installations, exterior carpentry company… there are certain things that I demand of all of you to be on my Top companies list!
Safety and Health
Before entering work on a construction site, any company or self-employed worker must notify the Health and Safety Coordinator (CSS, who is almost always the Quantity Surveyor). The CSS ensures safety on the construction site and demand that companies also do so.
Among other things, before entering the work, we require documentation from companies that, by law, must provide us.
First of all, is the Health and Safety Plan (PSS). This document includes all the hazards on the site and how workers will avoid/minimize them. This is mandatory since a Royal Decree of 1997 for ALL contracting companies.
It is difficult for the workers of a company to comply with the safety regulations on a construction site when not even the company can provide the documentation required by law.
Have all the documentation on site
The PSS above must also be on site. And if an electrician doesn’t know whether or not to put on the helmet, you can check it out. In the Installations: Electricity section, your company has already exposed a series of risks and how to avoid/minimize them.
For example, the helmet minimizes damage in the event of an object hitting the head of an operator.
Programming of the works
I have dedicated half of my working life to work as a Construction Manager in different construction companies. If I have been paid to coordinate, organize, and plan works, and still my companies ended up making money from it, it is because this is very important. Also, all workers in this organization must be involved. I explain. If I ask a bricklayer what he is going to do in 3 days when he finishes partitioning, he cannot answer me: “I still don’t know. I don’t even know if I’ll be in this work or another. ”
Quality Control
The Quantity Surveyors are in charge of controlling the quality, execution, and materials that become part of the work. These must-have CE Marking, mandatory for all products that are marketed in Europe.
To justify the CE marking, construction materials have a Declaration of Performance. This assures us that they are placing “hare” and not “cat” and their characteristics, which must be at least those specified in the Project.
Communication
It seems that many companies work “on the sly.” They arrive at the construction site, do their job (better or worse), and leave. And a few days later, they send the invoice.
Wrong!
Lack of communication. If you know that I, as a Surveyor, am the “Execution Director” and I am paid to “direct the execution,” what less than to notify me when you are going to enter the work.
I also like to be notified when they are going to measure the work to invoice. If not, when the owners ask me if there are 400 m2 of brick, I will not know. And if I measure by myself, the quantities will not coincide. So yes, I like to measure together with the construction company. Or count plugs, it doesn’t matter.
