Avoiding on-site disruption – Decking deliveries

When it comes to construction it’s no secret that good time keeping can make all the difference to programme and cost. But what can you do to keep disruptions and budget-busting mistakes to a minimum?

 

At SMD, we’ve always been able to adapt if an unforeseen circumstance crops up, and we’ll always try to find the best solution, but there are things that our clients can do to make sure that their construction site runs as smoothly as possible. Over the years we’ve seen deliveries become one of the main sources of disruption. Whether it’s additional loads not specified on the delivery schedule, or late loads that cause standing time, we’ve developed our own solutions to help ease the problem.

Schedule all deliveries.

Trades working on site can only make allowances in the schedule for deliveries that have been pre-agreed, even as early as the tender stage. If there are restrictions such as limited lay down areas on site, or there is a difficult site entrance then it would be great to know this right from the start. This sort of thing would be mean that deliveries might need to be split into smaller trailers and phased over a period of time, rather than all in one go.

This can have a real impact on the schedule and could mean that on-site staff are waiting for the next load before they can pick up tools again.

 

Let us know about the project phases.

It’s important that we’re kept up-to-date with any phasing within your erection sequence so that we can make sure that our deliveries are carried out as efficiently as possible. For example, if we are given a contract for 1500m2 of material then this would usually arrive on site in two loads (as an artic lorry can carry 1000m2), during the tender stage there is no news from the client to say otherwise so we plan these in.

If during the final design stage we receive word that there is a 3-phase erection sequence and they require 500m2 across three deliveries then we will need to either alter the price, which would not have been included in the original budget, or deliver two of the loads together which would mean that there is surplus material on-site that could cause disruptions of its own.

 

Help us to help you.

With over 30 years’ experience we’ve pretty much seen it all, so we have the experience and know-how to be able to adapt to last minute changes in the most cost-effective way for our clients. Making sure we have all the information right from the tender stage means that we can account for specialist delivery instructions or requirement to avoid inconvenient site disruptions.

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