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Tracking Performance Helps Achieve Business Goals
Establishing performance measures can be a powerful catalyst for achieving business goals and help pinpoint areas of inefficiency, according to Quality Matters, the e-newsletter of the National Housing Quality Program, but well under 50% of trade contracting companies in business today have implemented them.
The newsletter says that companies should identify a manageable number of performance measures, usually at least two and no more than five, and set annual goals for each. When setting the goals, it is important to give some thought to identifying trade-specific performance measures that will be effective for your company.
Sources that can be used to provide raw data illustrating the progress that is being made on the chosen performance measures can include monthly inspection reports, satisfaction surveys and letters to builders, Quality Matters advises, and monthly or quarterly tracking can be used to devise a strategy to improve performance.
Typical examples of useful job-site performance statistics include:
- Percentage of code inspections passed the first time
- Average number of trips required to complete each home
- Average number of builder punch items per home
- Average number of inspection items per home found by the trade supervisor
- Average number of warranty items per home
- Percentage of homes with zero hotspot items found
“It’s equally important to have the proper means in place to effectively track these statistics,” says Quality Matters. “Companies with sophisticated data bases can input data from inspection forms and track all data, while smaller companies without such data bases may need to sample data by reviewing 10%-20% of data manually. Sample data should be representative of all of the work that a company does to ensure statistics that are 90% accurate or better.”
“Overall, performance measurement helps to ensure that a company’s efforts are focused on improving in the most important areas and keeps the company on target to meet or exceed the expectations of builder customers and consumers. By establishing a standard that can be measured, it also leads to greater accountability at all levels as well as increased awareness of company successes and setbacks,” according to Quality Matters.
For more information on tracking performance statistics and improving quality management systems, click here; or e-mail Jeff Taggart, NHQ Certified Trade Contractor program manager.
To subscribe to Quality Matters, click here.
 Evaluate and Assess Your Business Managerial and Operational Systems
“Benchmark Your Business,” available through BuilderBooks.com, helps home builders, developers and trade contractors evaluate and assess business management and operational systems. This resource guide directs the reader to a wealth of resources to improve benchmarks for each system.
To view or purchase this publication online, click here, or call 800-223-2665.
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