To many, the day-to-day activities of a construction project can seem overwhelming. General Contractors and Sub-contractors alike have many different responsibilities overlapping on a daily basis. But despite all of this hustle and bustle, the quality of the project must stay consistent and is of the utmost importance. As an industry-leading general contractor, The Douglas Company values its commitments to building state-of-the-art communities, and therefore we have created our Quality Assurance Program to ensure the quality our clients have come to expect.

Our Quality Assurance Program begins when the project is designed and budgeted and continues through the lifespan of the project. Systems within the program, such as inspections, are essential to the long-term quality of the project and go hand-in-hand with our commitment to proactive attention-to-detail and execution.

In an effort to be as proactive as possible, quality inspections are completed with each task in order to catch small issues before they turn into a much larger one. An example of this would be the installation of items that have long lead times. When these items arrive, the opening provided for them must be the correct size for installation. Often, these openings are created much earlier in the construction timeline and reworking them later on down the line creates a larger hassle when it could’ve been caught initially with a quality inspection. With extended lead times becoming a bigger factor in recent years, we’ve begun to double and triple-check opening to ensure proper sizing since more and more products are being ordered prior to construction starting. This is just one of the things that our tried-and-true quality checklist process catches in order to prevent re-working re-ordering of materials – both of which could delay the project timeline or impact the budget.

Our quality checklist hosts many more important items, including making sure that MEP trades have a visual so outlets and other items line up as intended in the drawings. This detail, as well as documenting where outlets and switches are located on walls go a long way toward avoiding rework – especially patches in the drywall that won’t blend into the wall as a whole. Further, all window and door rough openings are double-checked to ensure a proper fit when installed. Next to water intrusion inspections (which are completed once the roofing and exterior finishes are completed), these are some of the most important inspections. There are plenty of other quality inspections that are performed during every phase of the construction project. Since a significant amount of the work performed by sub-contractors ends up being covered up in the final product, we stress to make sure every aspect of work is inspected on multiple occasions and then documented for the owner’s peace of mind.

The fine finishes – including flooring, drywall finish, and painting – are trades that we utilize a detailed punch-out phase in order to perfect. These fine finishes are reviewed as if they were in our own home, and we ask ourselves if we’d be willing to accept them as-is. All of this is completed before the owner’s final walk-through and the punch-out lists are presented to the owner at the start of that walk-through.

                These touch-points are just a few ways that The Douglas Company works hard behind-the-scenes to provide the best product to our clients. This and all of the other different systems we have in place, from pre-construction to construction, combine to create our Integri-D Process that sets us apart from other General Contractors in the market. We believe that our process allows us to continue to be a trusted partner to our clients by delivering quality they can trust. Quality Assurance, along with safety, is one of our top priorities on any jobsite.

 

 

Matt Bergfeld

Project Manager

The Douglas Company

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