Mike Hernandez, Technical Director
The Voice Newsletter May 2025
Several weeks while attending the Annual Conference of the Design & Construction Excellence Exchange (The DCX) it hit me that ASCC Contractors should strive for a Culture of Quality like the Culture of Safety has been developed for the last few decades.
Why? Let’s start with safety. Surprisingly, two ENR top 20 contractors in the DCX reported that their craft workers are 3x to 14x more likely to be injured performing quality rework than on first time base contract scope. They intently plan the base contract scope and all too often the craft are left to figure out rework. Beyond safety, quality issues also cost extra money, impact company reputation and often schedule, a quadruple whammy.
One of the best tools are company and project specific Quality Plans & scope specific Work Plans. Kiewit & Archer Western in the transportation sector, PCL & Mortenson in buildings have work plans for specific elements of self-performed concrete work or they ask the concrete specialty contractor to generate them. Work plans break each scope, for example tilt panels, into a step-by-step procedure which ideally is one or two 11x17 pages with multiple appendix references for everything from construction chemicals to lifting equipment product data. Many contractors print them in English on one side, in Spanish on the other side.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has the gold standard for training quality personnel on setting up and executing a quality plan. They focus on “distinguishable elements of work”. Those could be shear walls & columns, elevated decks. Or more general like placing & finishing.
A 2019 survey of ASCC Members stated that quality challenges with drawing quality is among the biggest concerns among the membership. This is in part because experienced engineers are retiring, designers have less time and fee to put into proper coordination. BIM / VDC continues to gain market share as a solution to poor drawing quality. ASCC Members Pinnacle Infotech, Zenith BIM Services & MB Solutions, a subsidiary of GH Phipps can provide BIM/VDC support services. See websites: https://pinnacleinfotech.com/ , https://zenithbim.com/ , https://www.mbbimsolutions.com/
Many members have reported that sustainably has increased the level of difficulty of concrete operations. It is easier for engineers to skinny a structure by introducing more column sizes and more beam sizes because the software can handle it. Form work quantities and labor increase to save a few cubic feet of concrete. Lower clinker content can make placing & finishing more challenging. Simultaneously multiple companies market AI as a tool to lower over design in ready mixed concrete. Testing labs may exclude initial curing tanks causing low breaks to be more frequent. Solutions? The ACI Pro Constructability Blueprint has been developed to help designers make their projects more productive. Establish a relationship with local cement and ready mixed technical staff. ASCC can help you figure out who that is. Purchase ready mixed concrete on quality & consistency instead of only on lowest price. Last month we highlighted the CRMCA CTAC program to help with testing lab consistency and meeting ASTM C31 initial curing standards.
Placing concrete has a lot of inherent variability. Look for opportunities to create consistency for finishers by using the same mix proportions project to projects. Ask for feedback from finishers about what can be improved in those mixes. Give the place and finish team FF/FL feedback with your own E1155 device to increase consistency and reduce the risk of follow-on trade complaints.
Formwork standard operating procedures will continue to increase in importance because of a shortage of skilled labor with highly experienced craft retiring. BIM coupled with virtual reality is one way to train on form work systems. ASCC Members Doka & Meva have libraries of BIM formwork components. Can go all in with virtual reality such as the “Build the Future” VR tech highlighted by ASCC in our 2025 World of Concrete booth.
The potential to save money, improve reputation, and work safer is all there in shifting to a culture that focuses on quality. Any company that makes this transition has a bright future.