How do you deal with a foreman/crew that completely ignores the drawings without the conversation turning into a fight?
A little background because I think it matters here.
I started my career in the field welding in the oil and gas industry. After getting laid off, I went to work for a water/wastewater contractor. I ended up getting injured and was put on light duty, which gave me an opportunity to learn estimating.
From there, I started estimating smaller projects and, because we were short on PMs, I also started managing the projects I won. I ended up doing the estimator/PM role for about 15 years with just under 10 years with a union GC in California and another 5 years with a union water/wastewater GC based out of Utah.
Eventually I moved back to California looking for an estimating position but got an opportunity to be a Superintendent/PM for another union GC on a smaller, $15M water project. It was a relatively high-profile project in the local water/wastewater market. We finished it successfully, I received an award from the municipality, and afterward my phone started ringing pretty regularly with job opportunities.
I ended up taking an SPM position with another union GC on a large wastewater project. Once that project wrapped up, I decided I wanted to leave California again.
I toured the Southeast and interviewed with several water/wastewater contractors but ultimately accepted a contract Owner’s Rep position on a large industrial project in Georgia where I oversaw the water/wastewater systems. It was originally supposed to be six months but was extended to ten. It gave me a chance to figure out whether I actually liked Georgia before making a permanent move.
I decided to stay and about six months ago joined a local nonunion water/wastewater GC.
That’s where things have gotten interesting.
Most of my career has been spent with union contractors. Obviously, union doesn’t automatically mean someone is good at their job, but generally speaking, I was accustomed to working with trained craft workers who knew their trade. The PM wasn’t normally explaining basic means and methods to someone who was supposed to be a foreman.
The project I inherited here is relatively small and already losing money. When I arrived, we had a General Superintendent and Superintendent onsite daily, plus a foreman and roughly nine operators/laborers.
Since then, both supers have been fired. We were having serious sequencing and workmanship problems, and we’ve had to rework multiple portions of the project.
The foreman was eventually moved to another project after going to HR and saying I didn’t listen to him and that he felt like I didn’t trust him to complete the work. The truth is, I didn’t trust the work because I’d already seen enough problems that I felt I had to verify everything.
So at this point I’m basically wearing the PM/Superintendent/Foreman hats. The upside is that I have a pretty good crew of operators and laborers now.
Then yesterday we had a new concrete crew start.
They’re supposed to be a jam-up concrete crew, but there were red flags almost immediately. The foreman came in combative and seemed unhappy about everything from the start.
The scope isn’t particularly complicated, form and pour a six-tread concrete stair and approximately 40’ x 4’ x 4” of sidewalk/slab. It’s change order work, and we had rebar shop drawings prepared for it. The shops aren’t complicated, and the crew had the drawings/details.
They left more than an hour early today. After they left, I walked the work.
I couldn’t believe what I was looking at.
They basically ignored the drawings.
Among other things:
● Exposed reinforcing steel was driven directly into the ground.
● The stair reinforcing didn’t have the required bends.
● Lap lengths were nowhere close to what was detailed/required.
● The epoxy-doweled bars into the existing structure were installed short.
● The overall reinforcing layout simply didn’t match the shop drawings.
This isn’t a situation where I’m nitpicking an inch here or there or arguing over somebody’s preferred means and methods. What they installed has to come out and be redone.
My VP asked me for pictures, so I sent them to him, and understandably he’s now on me about what happened.
Tomorrow morning I have to sit down with this foreman and tell him that essentially everything they installed needs to be ripped out and installed according to the drawings.
After dealing with the previous foreman and supers, I’m trying to handle this conversation differently. I don’t want it turning into another personality contest or argument about whether I “trust” somebody. At the same time, I’m not going to accept work that doesn’t match the drawings just to avoid hurting someone’s feelings.
For the PMs, supers, and foremen here: how do you handle this conversation with an experienced foreman?
Do you simply walk the work with him, drawings in hand, identify each deficiency, and tell him what needs to be corrected? Do you give him an opportunity to explain what he was trying to do first? And how do you keep the conversation focused on the work instead of letting it turn into “you don’t trust me” or “I’ve been doing concrete for 25 years”?
I’m especially interested in hearing from guys who’ve made the transition between union and nonunion contractors, because the amount of field supervision I’m having to provide now compared with what I’ve been accustomed to has been a major adjustment.