Implementing LEAN in Construction: 10 Ways to Improve Margins and Control Costs
April 24, 2025
The construction industry is notorious for razor-thin margins, unpredictable timelines, and pressure from all directions — clients, vendors, subcontractors, and internal teams. In this environment, successfully implementing LEAN principles isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s essential.
The goal? Drive out waste. Streamline processes. Elevate execution. Improve margins.
As QORVAL CEO & Managing Partner Paul Fioravanti puts it:
“It’s often not what you sell it for, but what it costs you, that matters. In construction, infrastructure, even manufacturing, it’s controlling costs that ensures stronger margins. There is often little you can do about price to your customer — there’s a time and place to raise price — but sometimes, with your customer, money isn’t their problem. Deadlines, schedules, quality, delivery are. That, they are often willing to pay for. But nonetheless, you need to control costs and migrate the pain you feel as a supplier or provider, downward.”
This is the heart of LEAN thinking in construction — focusing on what you can control: costs, time, quality, and coordination.
Why LEAN in Construction?
Applying LEAN methodology to field operations helps construction firms:
- Identify and eliminate non-value-added activities
- Improve communication between field and office
- Reduce delays, rework, and idle time
- Strengthen coordination with subcontractors and vendors
- Deliver projects on time, on budget — with better quality
Whether you’re a general contractor, subcontractor, or specialty trade business, LEAN provides a framework to do more with less.
10 LEAN Tips to Transform Field Operations and Protect Margins
1. Standardize Workflows Across Crews
Create clear, repeatable work processes for your most common tasks. This reduces training time, minimizes variation, and ensures crews operate at consistent efficiency levels.
2. Implement Daily Huddles
Short daily field meetings keep everyone aligned on goals, obstacles, and safety. They’re a LEAN staple for real-time communication, accountability, and agility.
3. Use the Last Planner® System
This scheduling method brings field crews into the planning process, improving accuracy and commitment to timelines. It turns top-down scheduling into a collaborative, field-driven process.
4. Reduce WIP (Work in Progress)
Too many open jobs can overwhelm teams and dilute focus. Limit WIP to avoid bottlenecks, reduce stress, and improve jobsite flow and predictability.
5. Create Visual Jobsite Boards
Use visual management (like kanban or color-coded schedules) to help teams see work status at a glance. This improves coordination and reduces communication delays.
6. Simplify Material Handling
Wasted time locating, moving, or waiting on materials is a silent margin killer. Pre-stage materials. Use delivery checklists. Plan how and where materials arrive, not just when.
7. Track Labor Productivity Daily
Measure crew output against expected rates. Even small variances, if unchecked, add up fast. Field foremen should be equipped and empowered to monitor and adjust in real time.
8. Work with Vendors on Just-in-Time Deliveries
Too much inventory on site causes clutter and risk. Not enough stalls production. Partner with vendors for LEAN delivery schedules that sync with your real work pace.
9. Score and Rate Subcontractors
Treat subcontractors like strategic partners — not commodities. Create scoring systems based on safety, timeliness, quality, and responsiveness. Share results and set expectations.
10. Train Superintendents as LEAN Champions
Field leadership is the key to sustained LEAN success. Your supers, PMs, and foremen need ongoing training in problem-solving, root cause analysis, and continuous improvement.
Cost Control = Margin Protection
In construction, it’s easy to get fixated on the revenue side — bid prices, change orders, and client negotiations. But as we always say, “the lever that’s often most within your control is cost.”
By implementing LEAN thinking and pushing accountability into the field:
- Waste is reduced
- Workflows improve
- Vendor and sub relationships become strategic
- Profitability improves — without depending on higher pricing
And when you execute consistently well — on time, on spec, and with fewer surprises — clients don’t just pay; they return.
Ready to Go LEAN?
Whether you’re just starting your LEAN journey or looking to take it further, the time to build a high-performance, high-margin culture is now.
Have you implemented LEAN in your construction or field operations? What worked for you? What didn’t? I’d love to hear your insights — drop them in the comments or reach out directly.
Let’s keep building — smarter, faster, and better. And, LEANER.
#qorval #qorvalpartners #Leadership #OrganizationalCulture #WorkplacePerformance #Accountability #CultureChange #PeopleStrategy #transformation #LEAN #leanconstruction #construction
Paul Fioravanti, MBA, MPA, CTP, is the CEO & Managing Partner of QORVAL Partners, LLC, a FL-based advisory firm (founded 1996 by Jim Malone, six-time Fortune 100/500 CEO) Qorval is a US-based turnaround, restructuring, business optimization and interim management firm. Fioravanti is a proven turnaround CEO with experience in more than 90 situations in more than 40 industries. He earned his MBA and MPA from the University of Rhode Island and completed advanced post-master’s research in finance and marketing at Bryant University. He is a Certified Turnaround Professional and member of the Turnaround Management Association, the Private Directors Association, Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), Association of Merger & Acquisition Advisors (AM&MA), the American Bankruptcy Institute, and IMCUSA. Copyright 2025, Qorval Partners LLC and/or Paul Fioravanti, MBA, MPA, CTP. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution without permission.
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