Quality: The Greatest Contributor to Your Firm’s Profitability

Despite volatile market conditions, the construction industry remains competitive, and firms are always looking for the best way to win more work.

 When considering the 3 most important factors, cost, time, and quality, in this time of budget and schedule fluctuation due to external causes like supply chain or economic issues, quality may be the only factor that construction firms can control.

What is quality in the construction industry? In commercial construction, delivering quality means being able to anticipate your client’s needs before they contact you, offering tangible solutions to problems that arise. According to a recent Dodge Data & Analytics report, 78% of owners report that “the ability to work with other team members to solve issues and not escalate to the owner” ranks as the top metric for measuring the performance of a construction team. With an extremely high value associated with teamwork and collaboration, it makes sense to challenge your team to refocus their effort on quality as their main differentiator.

Demonstrating high quality at your construction firm, while there is no set formula for every client, starts with some best practices to highlight this powerful differentiator:

Research market trends – although basic methodologies have not significantly changed, construction is still receptive to market trends. But the best information may come straight from the owner’s mouth, so encourage your business development and job site teams to continually check in and talk to clients, asking questions like “What factors are keeping you from moving forward on your next project?” and “what can we do better on the next job?”.

Focus on your people – As previously referenced, the number one contributor to construction quality for owners is the ability of your team members to work together to problem-solve. Assembling the right team can mitigate issues in the field and help build a quality reputation, which also allows you to hire more quality people.

Create mutually beneficial relationships – the main focus of your business development team should be to build these relationships with your clients by finding ways to help them outside of contractual work. When you help solve particular problems or help them through difficult times, you set a foundation for trust, which is the highest caliber of quality.

While cost and timing certainly play important roles in your company’s success, the ability to focus on solving problems, building a collaborative team, and setting the foundation for trust can truly become your firm’s greatest differentiator.