Why Your Project Needs A Project Startup Checklist

Organize your project by checking off all the things you need to do at the start of it.
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Have you ever been part of a project where noone seemed to understand where they fit or what their role was? Did it feel a bit like chaos?

How would you feel if you could eliminate the chaos? If you could ensure that the people on your team know who is responsible for what and when? A great way of achieving this is through the implementation of a job start checklist.

What is a job start checklist?

A job start checklist is a to do list for your construction project. It includes a list of all the tasks that will need to be performed on your project. You use it to track when items need to be completed and who will be responsible for completing them.

Benefits to your project.

Below are just a few of the benefits that you will realize by implementing a job start checklist:

👷 Organize your team – by running through each activity that needs to be performed at the start of the project each member will clearly understand their responsibilities.

Avoid Misses – you aren’t perfect and neither is your team. Having an established list of the activities that needs to be performed ensure that you won’t miss implementing something crucial on your job.

⏱️ Reduce stress levels – are you ever overwhelmed and feel like everything needs to be done yesterday? Setting deadlines and roles and responsibilities at the start of the project gives you the opportunity to prioritize activities so you’ll always know what’s important.

❤️ Build trust – by establishing responsibilities for each member of your team, you will build trust amongst your team members and give them the opportunity to take on more work if they want to volunteer for new tasks.

📢 Clear Communication – with roles clearly defined it will help to avoid your team mis-communicating. People can be directed to the right personnel for any given task on your team.

What to include in your job start checklist?

There are a few main components that every job start checklist should have in it, those include:

  • List of tasks
  • Person responsible for performing the task
  • Date the task will be required
  • Recurrence (if applicable)
  • Comments / applicable policies

Who should be involved in the process?

While the implementation of a job start checklist might seem like a trivial exercise, it’s important to include all members of the project team. Below is a brief description of the various roles on a team during this process.

Senior Management – support the project team in implementing the process and reinforce that it’s an important part of the project.

Project manager – lead the process to implement the job start checklist in partnership with the lead superintendent.

Superintendent – lead the process in partnership with the superintendent. Take the lead on all field related items.

Field Staff / Office Staff – administer the job start checklist and help to complete the assigned tasks included within.
Is a job start checklist right for my project?

Ultimately, that’s up to you but if you’re halfway through a project it may be too late to implement one. With that said, if you have plans to start a new project anytime in your future, implementing a job start checklist is a great way to organize your team around a common set of goals and tasks.

Where can I get access to a job start checklist template?

Your membership to Essential Construction provides you with instant access to a jobsite checklist. This allows you to implement this in minutes, rather than take weeks to develop one yourself:

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