Efficient Management of Construction Defects
How general contractor the HABAU GROUP keeps an eye on defect management when working with 60 subcontractors
The Habau Group, headquartered in Perg, is one of the top four construction companies in Austria and works internationally as a full-service supplier. It implemented PlanRadar to improve efficiency and productivity in construction projects. Since it was introduced to Habau’s workflow, PlanRadar has helped Habau’s team to streamline project management processes, improve communication and collaboration among team members, and improve visibility into projects. As a result, Habau is now 100% on schedule.
The challenge: difficulties communicating about construction defects
The HABAU GROUP uses lean construction management in its projects. When the sequence of all work steps is scheduled, the details of which trade undertakes which task and when are carefully stipulated. Why? Because individual smaller delays or problems caused by construction defects can have a disastrous effect on the plans for the overall process. This is why Construction Manager Klaus Zacherl needs to ensure that he is up to date and informed of everything, including all the construction defects.
The solution: recording, sharing and managing construction defects with PlanRadar
The HABAU GROUP has been using PlanRadar for defect management since 2017. Workers record any defects that are identified on digital construction plans or on BIM models with the software. To do this, they create a separate ticket for each case, which is located in the right place on the plan, together with comments, images and audio recordings. With PlanRadar, the building site team can automate communication related to construction defects. The project workers send information to the responsible subcontractor in real time and Klaus Zacherl ensures that errors and construction defects do not reoccur in a number of construction units. One decisive factor in choosing PlanRadar was how intuitive the software is to use. “We can introduce new team members or subcontractors to the tool in just a couple of minutes. After a brief explanation, they can quickly use PlanRadar themselves,” said Klaus Zacherl.
The result: efficient communication of construction defects and less follow-up work
The results speak for themselves — with PlanRadar, Klaus Zacherl and his team can ensure that construction defects identified in the first finished unit do not occur in the following units too:: “Before we used PlanRadar, following up in the office was a very difficult and time-consuming process. Data had to be transferred from paper to Excel lists, photos had to be sorted and assigned to a case and then all the information had to be communicated to the right person. Faced with the tight timescales of lean construction management, this was always a problem for us. With PlanRadar, everything is done within seconds.” The company also enjoyed the software’s benefits on another project: working on the House of Social Security (Haus der sozialen Sicherheit), the umbrella organisation of Austrian social insurance institutions. The 16-storey office tower from the 1970s was revitalised in less than two years for 35 million euros according to the passive house standard. The HABAU GROUP used PlanRadar to ensure that defects were efficiently recorded and processed so that the project remained on schedule. PlanRadar is also being used for construction quality assurance at the new Atzgersdorf Education Campus in Vienna. An educational institution is being built on behalf of the City of Vienna to care for babies and children aged 0 to 14 and is due to be finished in 2022.
