Housekeeping in Construction and Why It’s Important

Ever walked a construction site and it’s a complete mess, housekeeping is lacking? We all have, and it’s easy for workers to get caught up in the hecticness of a scheduled date and forget about cleaning their areas. But why is keeping your jobsite clean so important? Today we’re going to answer a few reasons why for you.

First off, let’s define what housekeeping is. Housekeeping is the act of keeping your jobsite clean and tiday. It means garbage is put where it needs to be, material is stacked and organized in an oganized fashion. And access and egress points are kept clear of debris and material.

Housekeeping Reason One – Safety

This should be an obvious one but for some people it isn’t. Safety is an important aspect of any construction project and trip and falls are a leading cause of incidents in our industry. If a slab has material lying all over it chances are it’s more dangerous. If there is material everywhere there’s a very good chance that someone could trip and fall over something or rub on a sharp object and cause an incident for your project site.

Housekeeping Reason Two – Productivity

Picture this – you’re a worker who has a skid of material to deliver to a jobsite. You want to pull the material on a skid steer to a location a hundred feet away. Unfortunately the jobsite is a mess. You can’t get the skid there. So now you have to carry each component on the skid back and forth to it’s intended location.

That workers time could have been reduced for material movement and they could have spent that doing actual work if the jobsite was clean. Keeping material organized not only allows workers to move their material better but it also allows people to find things quicker therefore improving productivity on your jobsite.

Housekeeping Reason Three – Attitude

Messiness can affect your attitude – if a jobsite is messy the workers may think that the leadership doesn’t care. A lack of caring can lead to poor quality and people trying to take short cuts. A clean and organized jobsite indicates that the leadership team cares and is looking out for the worjers and their work space. Morale and happiness can improve!

Housekeeping Reason Four – Perception

I can’t count the number of projects I’ve walked through that are four months from occupancy, are a mess and look like a disaster. Typically everyone is in doubt that the project will finish on time.

One of the first recommendations I make to them is to do a clean. Once the clean is complete people’s perception changes and all of a sudden people start seeing the job as nearly done. Just because we create mess with our work doesn’t mean it needs to be that way.

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Housekeeping is critical in construction and maintaining a clean jobsite can increase productivity and improve perception of your overall jobsite. How do you manage housekeeping on your project?