Site Operations: Where Programs Become Reality
High-performing sites run on rhythm: pre-starts, planned deliveries, predictable inspections, and tight quality gates. Chaos is expensive.
1. Logistics Is a Construction System
- Delivery windows: stop uncontrolled deliveries that block access and create safety risk.
- Laydown plans: where materials live and how they move to the workface.
- Vertical transport: crane time, hoists, forklifts—book and protect them.
2. Permits and High-Risk Work Controls
Permits and controls vary by jurisdiction and project, but common examples include hot works, confined space, lifting plans, excavation, working at heights, and temporary works approvals.
3. Quality Gates (ITPs)
Inspection and Test Plans should be tied directly to program milestones. If a task can’t be inspected before it’s concealed, it needs a better process.
4. Workface Planning
Work doesn’t start when a trade turns up. Work starts when the workface is ready: access is clear, prior trade is complete, materials are staged, and inspections are booked. Sites that enforce workface readiness have fewer defects and fewer delays.
5. Site Rhythm (A Simple Operating System)
- Daily: pre-start, deliveries plan, safety/quality checks, end-of-day tidy.
- Weekly: trade meeting, look-ahead release, procurement review, defects sweep.
- Monthly: cost forecast, claims/variations review, programme health check.
6. Site Setup: Get the First Week Right
Early site setup decisions affect every day that follows. Good setup reduces double-handling and improves safety.
- Access and traffic: delivery routes, pedestrian paths, exclusion zones, and reversing controls.
- Temporary services: power, water, lighting, and drainage arranged early and maintained.
- Storage and protection: allocate dry storage and protection for moisture-sensitive materials.
- Neighbour interface: hoarding, signage, dust/noise controls, and complaint handling.
7. The Anti-Patterns (What “Bad Ops” Looks Like)
- Uncontrolled deliveries: materials arriving with no laydown plan, blocking access and creating hazards.
- Trades arriving to a non-ready workface: causes abortive visits, claims, and defects.
- Hidden quality: closing up without inspection and then “hoping it’s fine”.
- Document chaos: old drawings on site, unclear instructions, and no RFI discipline.
Practical takeaway: Site operations is a system. When the system is predictable, productivity climbs and disputes drop.