There is a big market for articles, studies, and how-tos about communication in the construction business. The reason is obvious: miscommunication is extremely costly to our industry. Fifty-two percent of construction business rework is caused by miscommunication. In 2018, that cost our industry $31.3 billion.
We’ve all felt the pain of miscommunication in the field and know that it’s led to rework, lost productivity, and coordination stress. –Core
Statistics: Construction Business Issues in Communication
More than 30% of construction business professionals say the breakdown is not the failure to communicate but a failure to respond to communications.
What you need to know:
- 22% – Emails read-rate
- 82% – Text messages read within five minutes
- 98% – SMS messages read-rate
Sending texts and SMS messages increases the likelihood your communication will be read. But what can you do to minimize the lack of response?
Ask for feedback, says Procore, and follow-up when your messages and other forms of communication are ignored. You may want to consider adding a “Please respond by…” to all texts and emails.
Onsite Meeting Information Processing Problems
As a contractor, watch for signs your workers are actually processing the information during onsite meetings. Lack of eye connection is the biggest giveaway. They “connect” with you at the beginning and the end of the meeting but disengage during the information-sharing portion. Project communication problems leading to reworks can be reduced if you know what to look for.
Here are six reasons why workers aren’t paying attention during onsite meetings:
- There is a personal problem.
- They are confused but don’t want to ask questions.
- They are preoccupied with pressure to quickly complete a task.
- They aren’t comfortable speaking about jobsite issues in front of others.
- They can’t hear over the jobsite background noise and are embarrassed to admit it.
- You don’t give them a chance to ask questions.
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