Scenario

Two large building projects.  The first project is carried out in a fairly typical manner and the results are titled ‘Before E-SAFE 100’.  The second project follows a successful introduction of E-SAFE 100 and a quality management approach.

In both examples snagging inspections are carried out by the main contractor at each stage of the build.

The ‘before’ graph represents the number of snags raised by week of the project and the number of outstanding snags at any time during the project.  For example if 10 snags were raised in week one and 40% were sorted out in the same week the number of outstanding snags at the end of week one will be 6.  At present some snags take up to 4 weeks to rectify hence the number of outstanding snags is normally above the number being raised each week.

E-SAFE 100 provides an agreed checklist of snags which all parties understand; also photographic evidence can easily be attached to the 'snagging list'; the clearer communication results in a speeding up of the rectification process.  Additionally the snagging control process provided by E-SAFE 100 sequences the rectification requirements and introduces immediate communication with the responsible parties which again speeds up the rectification process.

Inspections are carried out at all key stages of the construction process saving costly and time-consuming rectification delays at the end of each build.  E-SAFE 100 monitors contractor and sub-contractor performance thereby giving sub-contractor a powerful incentive to attend to any snags identified.  For these reasons, contractor performance is improved, the level of outstanding snags at any stage is reduced, the overall quality of the final construction is improved and handover takes place earlier.

The differences observed in the 'after' graph are that more inspections are carried out during the first 24 weeks and therefore more snags are identified however the outstanding snags at any time during the project are significantly reduced since they are rectified sooner.

E-SAFE 100 Main Benefits

• The building is ready for handover two to three weeks earlier.
• The average number of outstanding snags is less than 50% of the previous level.
• The snagging KPI (ratio of average outstanding snags to snags raised over the project duration) reduces from 1.84 to 0.77.
• It is far less likely that snags will be missed/forgotten during the entire build process reducing the risk of very expensive client snags such as 'unacceptable brickwork'
• The snags can be analysed to identify root causes in support of the introduction of a continuous improvement culture.
• Improved sub-contractor control with improved communication and a more controllable number of outstanding snags.