Sprinkler Age A Publication of the American Fire Sprinkler Association
BRINGING A PROJECT IN UNDER BUDGET
What is project management? I like to consider things in their simplest form, especially with fire sprinkler work and especially for new construction projects. Individually, each step is relatively simple, whether bidding work on the open market or pricing work for a negotiated project with a trusted owner or general contractor. Let’s break it down.
First, we get a set of plans and project specifications (in most cases, otherwise it’s survey time). Next, lay out a rough system sketch, or we factor a takeoff in favor of a scientific wild guess at a good number. Factoring means we look at the type of work and the geographic location, and we (hopefully) use empirical data from similar projects we’ve completed in the past to use the completed cost per sprinkler, per square foot, or some other measurable and applicable analytic I’ve not yet heard of. Assuming we’ve done a layout and gotten a comfortable headcount, it’s time to get water supply data for the site from the local water district and maybe do some rough hydraulics to give us a feel for pipe sizes and structural concerns. One very simple approach here is to calculate the starting pressure of a remote sprinkler:
(A x D = Q) then P = (Q/K)²
Add the starting pressure to your elevation loss (.433 x height) and add the fixed loss from a backflow preventer plus 10% to the total. If your flow test residual pressure isn’t greater than the residual pressure, you’ll want to get more specific about pipe sizes and additional labor costs for the larger pipes.
Now that we have a decent sprinkler count, we can start considering labor. There are many factors that impact labor, including site location, parking requirements and costs, warehouse building height, and the number of floors in high-rise buildings. Challenges in material deliveries and lay-down areas. Talk to your project manager, field labor superintendent, or experienced foreman to get perspectives on special needs, such as tools or man-lift equipment, or on problems you may have had with a specific GC. Is this a prevailing wage project? Center of tile sprinkler locations? Have we read the project specifications, Buy American Act requirements, that sort of thing? Remember, estimators got to be in this role because they were usually designers who couldn’t make things fit.
If you’re still reading this, you may be wondering why the previous paragraphs discuss the estimating process rather than managing the work. Well, everything starts with a good estimate, which serves as the basis for the job cost report and provides the game plan for the work. It establishes the goals we need to achieve to meet our expectations for a profitable outcome.
Once we get a price together and land the job, the fun begins. We pass the project along to the layout technician (aka designer) and hope they work quickly, since the job is already underway and is progressing on schedule without us. Next, we submit plans for approval, stock list materials, and send them off for fabrication. Depending on your AHJ’s policy, you start installing and hope no changes will be required when the delayed plan review comes back. Otherwise, you wait to install until plans are approved, while the construction continues without you. If all of this sounds familiar, welcome to Project Management 101.
Managing projects is like coordinating with other trades; we need a single point of contact who can take all the individual pieces and put them together with a purpose. That is to say, one single purpose: which is to complete the work having spent fewer dollars than the original estimated cost. No matter what. It doesn’t matter if we got the job late, or the design isn’t perfect, or if we’re missing branch line #47 when the truck shows up. How can we plan the work and monitor its progress to keep us on track with field labor, material, and related job costs?
We call it project management. Frankly, we can run the job or let the job run us and see how it turns out in the end. I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying, “When we aim at nothing, we usually hit it.” How about the one where the squeaky wheel gets grease? In other words, we focus on the worst problems until jobs that were going well suddenly aren’t. Worse yet, projects that were doing well are suddenly trending in the wrong direction because we didn’t stay engaged. We need a plan for when and how we’re going to get started, how we’ll distribute materials, and who our foreman will be. Can we get the plans into the foreman’s hands before the day we deliver materials, and maybe have a meeting with the project designer, who just spent months working on this and might have some ideas or comments to share that may not be conveyed by looking at the shop drawings?
Speaking of which, a great start includes having the layout technician visit the site and field-verify details like where the lead-in (spigot) is and whether the mains are below the structural members we planned to hang from. Trapeze hangers take a lot more time to install than hanging the main piping in the right place.
Depending on the size of your company, the project manager might be the designer, the estimator, the owner, or an actual project manager responsible for multiple projects at various stages of progress. In some cases, your field labor manager may be the only person visiting jobs in progress to verify that the hours and dollars spent to date match the percent of work completed and to project the cost to complete the remaining work. For most fire sprinkler contractors, field labor accounts for about 30% of the direct cost of the work and is the only phase of the project that we can really improve to achieve better outcomes. We’re never going to save 10% on materials, design, or rental equipment. But consider that if we are doing $5 million worth of work (direct cost) and 30% of that is about that, that’s about $1.5 million in direct labor cost, and if we could find ways to improve that by 10%, we would add $150,000 to our annual bottom line. That means we could do $1.5 million less work to make the same profit, or better yet, we could buy more trucks and more tools, give people incentive bonuses, raises, and better benefits, all of which would make your company the destination employer in your market. Good people would be knocking on your doors for work instead of you having to look for them, which means you can book more work. Sounds good?
Project management is the key to all of this and more! Planning projects in finite detail, like the head coach of a professional team. Having and sharing a game plan and executing it reduces stress and allows your team to accomplish predetermined goals. This engenders team spirit and team building. Everyone will be proud of their work and their affiliation with your team. A solid game plan identifies weaknesses and problems earlier in a project’s timeline, allowing you to pivot when circumstances dictate. Understanding that every $100 bill matters, no matter what the decision. Tracking the work daily and weekly and comparing results to the job cost reports, with no excuses, no witch hunts, no blame game. Reviewing projects after their completion to discuss what could have gone better on the last one, so we can apply what we learned to the next one. Even when a project was successful and made good money, it could have been better. There is always something to learn.
AFSA offers programs to help improve your team. Seminars, webinars, and live events are available to share tried-and-true processes and procedures that can help your leaders improve. Remember, even Tiger Woods was taking golf lessons with a swing coach between all those tournament wins! Leaders and managers need coaching, too. Visit firesprinkler.org/education to learn more.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Bob Caputo, CFPS, is president of the American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA). He is the chair of the NFPA 24 and NFPA 291 technical committees and a member of multiple NFPA technical committees, including NFPA 13 and NFPA 25. Caputo has contributed to the NFPA 13 and NFPA 25 Handbooks, the NFPA Inspection Manual, and the 21st edition of the Fire Protection Handbook. Caputo has written and presented seminars worldwide on fire protection and life safety systems and is a regular speaker at AFSA and NFPA conventions. Caputo is an instructor at the National Fire Academy and is a member of the Oklahoma State University School of Fire Protection Engineering & Safety Industry Advisory Board. Caputo’s industry distinctions include “Fire Prevention Officer of the Year” from San Diego County in 1994, “Man of the Year” from Fire Protection Contractor magazine in 1997, and the Henry S. Parmelee award from AFSA in 2017. Caputo attended the University of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is a U.S. Navy veteran and former volunteer firefighter.