The construction industry is a major catalyst in the growth of any nation. Globally, the construction industry contributes 6% to 9% of any country's GDP and GNP. Since it has the largest workforce compared to any sector, this industry can also be seen as a mechanism for providing jobs for millions of skilled and semi-skilled workers.

Time, money, and quality are the three prime components of any construction project. When enough time and money are invested in a construction project, the project's quality can be guaranteed.

Did you know that 6% to 15% of construction cost is lost due to the rework of defective components discovered late in the construction process, and 5% of construction cost is lost due to the rework of defective components discovered during maintenance?

By maintaining prescribed quality standards, the safety, services, maintenance costs, and functional requirements of the construction project are also directly impacted.

In fact, the importance of quality control in construction has been the focus of several studies in recent years. 

In this article, we will discuss quality control in construction, explore the various aspects of quality control in construction and more. 

What are the various stages in a construction project?

Here are some of the stages of modern construction projects:

Planning or conception

The first stage of any major project involves formulating and defining its objectives as well as assessing its viability. 

The planning phase gives the owner, architect, and construction manager a chance to have preliminary discussions about what will be built, whether it will receive regulatory approval, and other elements like scope and quality assumptions.

Design

The design phase assumes that all plausible options have been studied and that a single project has been chosen that satisfies the set economic, financial, and environmental requirements.

The design phase involves determining whether the primary objectives are met by the suggested solutions. The owner, architect, and construction manager start the design phase after the project is conceived. This provides a roadmap that emphasizes the project's goal and potential obstacles.

Construction

At this point, the project is under the overall control of the principal contractor. He oversees the management of resources, keeps track of paperwork, and shares project updates. The design team, on the other hand, is in charge of quality control to make sure the project follows the approved plans. The design team also looks over submissions, change orders, and substitution requests.

Quality control and monitoring

This is one of the most important stages in a construction project and is also an ongoing process that happens throughout the project. Quality control, as the name suggests, is inspecting the features of the structures as per the building specifications, legal compliance, and client requirements. This phase can cause a lot of issues for the owner if it is not given the proper attention. 

We will discuss this stage in detail in the next sections. 

Handover

This is the final stage of the project where the teams finally hand over the completed project to the client.

What is quality control in construction?

The goal of quality control is to create a finished building or renovated space that is durable and features finishes that will endure the test of time. Achieving quality in construction involves more than just the employees of a construction company; it also involves the contractors and their subcontractors who will be carrying out the work. 

Even though most businesses establish some sort of quality control standards, some only go beyond the bare minimum.

How to make a construction quality control plan?

A proper quality control plan ensures that processes associated with quality control are systematically implemented. We have listed here some important points that one needs to consider while preparing a quality control plan.

Communication plan

One cannot emphasize enough how important communication is for maintaining quality in a construction project. Quality control is an endless process without a strategy that effectively communicates policy, compliance, safety standards, and building expectations.

All communications and discussions about the project specifications should include quality control, and all contractors, sub-contractors, and other involved parties should be aware of their responsibilities. The reports, test results, and any inspection data you provide to your client should include quality control.

A communications policy must be included in the construction quality control plan to specify how and how frequently this communication will take place.

Project quality specifications

This entails gathering client requirements and standards for the quality of the finished structure. However, one must consider requirements from building codes and industry standards in addition to their own needs.

Contingency plan

Construction projects often have a lot of deviations, and plans have to be modified as per the conditions. A contingency plan (or backup plan) ensures that work efficiency isn’t severely hampered and continues at a workable rate.

Monitoring and inspection

Observing the plan vs. actual vs. baseline will give you a clear understanding of the progress of the project. Subsequently, one can also perform a gap analysis based on these to arrive at conclusive recommendations.

As part of the overall construction project management of your project, inspect each stage of the construction. You can test the material's quality or the effectiveness of the quality management systems.

Dedicated personnel

Hiring a dedicated quality control manager will aid in streamlining quality control processes in day-to-day surveillance and management processes. 

The job responsibilities of the quality control manager and how they interact with their team must be specified clearly in the construction quality control plan. 

Why quality control is important in construction

The experts in the construction industry realize the value and necessity of quality control in construction projects. The lifespan and life cycle of a construction project are directly impacted by its quality.

Everything that goes into a construction project is dependent on the quality plan. Quality should always be towards the top of the agenda in every team meeting. 

Poor quality can lead to a variety of problems, such as instability, cracks, structures that won’t last, confusion between the stakeholders, and most importantly, safety issues for the users of the structure. 

Takeaway

Quality means different things to different individuals, which is why construction quality control is important. It's a quality management system that lets you define quality, track it, and make modifications as needed to guarantee certain benchmarks are satisfied.

Poor quality work has consequences that extend beyond safety and communication, as well as wasted time, money, and materials. Adequate quality control methods increase the productivity of building projects and can even produce a ripple effect of high expectations throughout an organization.