PRESIDENT’S LETTER Martin Howard The summer construction sea- son is fully upon us. Let’s take hold of our schedules and not fall into the trap of allowing the tyranny of the urgent to keep us from properly planning all our jobs for execution in the field. Best in Class contractors make it a habit of pre-job planning every project because they know that without this critical tool, they will underperform in one or more aspects. Often the final quality suffers as well as the final profit when this step is overlooked. Pre-job planning is a simple process with many steps that need attention prior to starting every project. The purpose is to ensure that the entire team is fully informed of the project specifi- cations, site limitations, owner expectations, labor budgets, and material delivery dates. This is the time to uncover and work to resolve any issues. Here is a good start on what to include in planning to make this meeting with your project team a success. • Specific scope review should include everything about the installation your field supervi- sor and crew need to know, including the specific expecta- tions of the end user and all the installation methods, materials, patterns and details. Make sure the superintendent, foreman and crew leader understand all spe- cific details and have a copy of drawings, details, product data, and SDS. This can be on paper or digital; whatever works best for your team. • List of equipment, along with a schedule for getting it to the job site. • List of materials including quan- tity ordered, identifying any delayed or backordered items. • Contact information for all the people involved on the project, including cell phone numbers and email addresses. • Job labor budgets and produc- tion goals for each unique area. This usually creates some good conversation about feasibility and practicality and helps cre- ate buy-in from the team. • The overall project schedule Pre-job planning ensures peak performance 18 TileLetter | May 2018