As a contractor, your business model thrives with a stellar reputation. The best way to build that reputation is by delivering exceptional projects that are backed by strict construction quality management practices.
Construction quality management for contractors is a best practice that helps you implement diligent quality control on every construction project. By implementing quality control in construction projects, your deliverables will align with client expectations, thereby cementing your reputation as a contractor worth his or her contractor fee.
What is Construction Quality Management?
Construction quality management and quality control are implemented to ensure each construction job is done right and done well. Most construction quality management decisions are made during the design and planning phases of a project, which makes the final review process smoother and more efficient.
Why Quality Management Matters
Quality management is a strategic business practice that contractors use to avoid defects or faults in the final delivered project. Without a proper quality management plan (QMP), these defects or faults could lead to replacements in construction materials or result in safety issues on the job site—all of which cost more money and negatively impact your reputation as a construction contractor.
When creating a construction management plan, your QMP is an essential component of the master plan. A QMP is a structured document that outlines processes, standards, and responsibilities for a proposed construction project. It should outline your goals, procedures, metrics, and reporting protocols. This establishes a structured construction quality management process, ensuring the final project is up to code.
Popular Construction Quality Management Certifications
Construction quality management for contractors (CQM-C) are certifications that are administered by organizations like USACE or NAVFAC, which are required certifications to complete federal projects. Earning these certifications requires you to undergo training programs and complete written exams. Once you have your CQM-C, you may experience notable career advancements or other benefits that improve your reputation as a contractor.
US-based contractors may also earn the manager of quality/organizational excellence certification (CMQ/OE). This certification is supplied by the American Society for Quality, and it’s applicable for construction projects in virtually all sectors across the United States.
There’s also the Quality in Construction certification from the Chartered Quality Institute. It introduces contractors to practical tools and best practices to fulfill a standard construction mandate of “right first time.”
In addition to maintaining quality construction standards, CQM certifications help enforce workplace safety standards so that construction crews are protected while developing new projects. These standards are comprehensive protocols established by organizations like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
How to Choose the Right Certification
The right construction quality management certification depends on several factors. Namely, you’ll want to consider:
- Your career goals → what you hope to accomplish as a construction contractor
- Favorite parts of the job → do you actually enjoy project or design management?
- Industry requirements → federal projects, for example, require CQM-Cs
- Time and cost factors → consider the duration, prerequisites, and costs of any certification you plan to acquire
Another factor to consider is the role of construction management software and other technologies in your future projects. With certain CQM certifications and experience managing construction management platforms, you may increase your reputation when approaching potential clients or when you hire subcontractors for future jobs.
Best Tool to Support Construction Quality Management
Speaking of construction management software, it’s become an increasingly integral part of modern construction processes. The technology is designed to streamline standard construction workflows and complement certifications, creating more efficiencies that help enforce quality control across the entire phase of a project.
Solutions like Contractor Foreman come with integrated quality control and quality assurance parameters. You can access templates of inspection reports to evaluate the development of every construction project under your belt. The platform comes with a whole host of documentation forms and checklists that help you keep your construction projects up to code.
Best of all is that construction management software is designed to modernize record keeping. One of the most tedious parts of construction management is maintaining accurate records about the construction process. Using platforms like Contractor Foreman, that entire process is revolutionized, enabling you to operate more efficiently while maintaining accuracy, transparency, and accountability.
How Quality Management Enhances Construction Projects
Construction quality management is designed to improve the overall quality of a construction project. Construction quality management certifications demonstrate your commitment to quality control, increasing your reputation as a trusted and reliable contractor.
Quality management helps maintain compliance with all safety, legal, and regulatory construction standards. It helps control costs and manages time spent on construction by preventing errors or gaps in deliverables that would otherwise require more time and money to resolve those problems. Fundamentally, construction quality management helps you deliver high-quality projects that are up to code, increasing client satisfaction and solidifying your reputation as a contractor.
Why QA and QC are Critical in Construction
Quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) are similar yet distinct elements of responsible construction quality management. QA is a proactive process to establish standards, procedures, and systems that enforce quality management throughout a construction project. QC is the execution of QA, involving numerous inspections, tests, and monitoring to meet QA standards.
You can use construction management software like Contractor Foreman to assist with both QA and QC quality management. Contractor Foreman helps you automate compliance tracking while enforcing QA and QC protocols. This makes the scope of construction quality management faster, more efficient, and more accountable to regulatory construction standards.
Conclusion
Construction quality management certifications and processes advance project outcomes and also help you further your career as a construction contractor. By applying for certifications that best align with your current and future contractor business models, you’ll be in prime position to earn the construction projects you hope to tackle as you advance in your career.
Additionally, by leveraging construction management software like Contractor Foreman, you can make the entire QA and QC process more efficient and more effective. Start your Contractor Foreman free trial today, and elevate your construction quality management to new levels.
