In house building, scopes of work are not commonly used and there is a heavy reliance on quotes to establish the extent of the work. Good contractors (and suppliers) will include a list of exclusions with the quote and rely on terms of trade to carry the legal aspects of a contract. This is lazy and always leads to arguments when work or goods are not executed to the expected standard.
A good Scope of Works document will reinforce to your contractors that your company is also a professional business and clearly understands its quality standards. It will also ensure there is consistency across multiple contractors carrying out the same work. It serves as a formal document that describes the work to be done, any excluded work, referenced standards, materials, workmanship and standards of quality to be used that will apply on all your building sites and covers items that are not usually covered by the Standing or Period Agreements and WH&S obligations documents.
It assists in bridging the gap between procurement and the site team so there is no misunderstanding about what is expected of the contractor on the job. It also helps ensure important aspects are not missed on quotes or misunderstood by both parties.
Once completed, a scope of works reduces the amount of time spent by estimators explaining the extent of work required when chasing quotes from multiple contractors. It also assists when disputes arise with contractors regarding workmanship, extent of the work and variations to the contract.
“Engaging any sub-contractor without a scope of works is like jumping in a cab and then not telling the driver where you want to go. He can choose whatever he wants.”
Of course, producing a Scope of Works assumes that the builder’s team (estimators, contract administrators, site supervisors) have gone over the plans and documentation to understand exactly what is required and how the construction needs to be carried out. The plans and documentation also need to be complete with all details and information necessary to estimate and build the building. A good Scope of Works can overcome some shortfalls in the documentation by setting out the expected extent of work, the standards of workmanship and the quality standards.
There have been so many times over the years where I have seen site supervisors (and also have been one as well) who are expected to sort out what needs to be done on the job. An estimator and in most cases, an architect or building designer have already delved into the plans and specifications and know what is needed to build the job (or they should do). Expecting a site supervisor to also spend considerable time working through the plans to decide what is needed to build the building is a massive waste of time and resources, not to mention the opportunity to make further mistakes and even decide it will be built differently to what the estimator had assessed.
A site supervisor who doesn’t have a properly developed Scope of Works has to explain the extent of work multiple times to trades which adds to the additional stress and time spent not doing what a site supervisor is paid to do, project manage.
The 3C Mentor Builders Business Resource Centre has scopes of work available for almost every trade and consultant involved in residential building. These scopes of work will save you hours of time trying to work out how to develop one and research all the standards and references needed to create a comprehensive scope of works for the trades. They are ready to purchase and download now.
The whole purpose of The 3C Mentor and Alpha Edge is to help create really great businesses in the residential building industry and delivered by our unique ‘Four Pillars to Your Success’ – Business Coaching, Business Consulting, Business Resources and Construction Software.
For an overview of these four pillars go to Alpha Edge here. To find out more about our Business Coaching go to The 3C Mentor here, for further information about the services Alpha Edge can provide go directly to Alpha Edge here and to access the many documents and resources you need as a residential builder, go to our Builder’s Business Resource Centre here. For more information on the construction software and how to ‘Be a Better Builder’, click here
Bruce Robb | The 3C Mentor | I Build the Business behind the Builder
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