The impact of quality management on home builders is dramatic. For example of builders that used the National Housing Quality Award criteria to help drive their business performance and went on to win NHQA recognition, 94% are still in business despite the recession.
The use of Quality Management Systems (QMS) has also shown significant impact. A study conducted by Duncan Prahl of IBACOS, Serge Ogranovitch of The Potomack Group and Denis Leonard of Business Excellence Consulting, focused on the impact of QMS and its impact.
For more industry studies and data visit IBACOS at www.IBACOS.com
From the total population of 59 NHQA winning builders (from 1993-2008) a sample of 14 builders or 36% were studied.
Two builder groups were compared.
- 14 Energy Star/Green Standard ‘High Performing’ Builders
- 7 Non Energy Star/Non Green ‘Traditional’ Builders
The builders performance was evaluated using NHQA scoring results from in-depth expert desk and site visit reviews. 19 of the builders in the study had won NHQA Gold, Silver or Honorable Mention. The other 2 (one in each group) were considered future winners if they reapplied. The builders were a mix of small, medium and large builders.
14 Energy Star/Green Standard ‘High Performance’ Builders
- 9 were certified to NAHBRC 3rd party audited QMS
- 1 had a 2nd party implemented QMS
- 4 had no QMS
7 Non Energy Star/Non Green ‘Traditional’ Builders
- 3 were certified to NAHBRC 3rd party audited QMS
- 1 had its corporate office certified to ISO9001 3rd party audited
- 2 had no QMS
The study found that organizational size had no impact in the results. In both HP and Traditional groups the lowest performing builders were those that did not have a certified QMS.
The 2 builders with a 2nd party (not independently) audited QMS (not certified) also performed poorly.
Those builders that had a 3rd party independently audited and certified QMS had the best performance.
The Traditional Uncertified Builders were weakest in
- Construction Quality
- Trade Relationships
- Business Results
The HP Uncertified Builders were also weaker in those areas BUT had two additional low performing areas
- Performance Management
- Human Resources
The HP Uncertified Builders were specifically weakest in
- Performance Management
- How you develop, manage, measure and improve your key processes
- Human Resources
- How you support superior work performance
- How you ensure organizational alignment
- Construction Quality
- Education and reinforcement of quality standards
- Trade Relationships
- Integration of trades in building a better company
- Business Results
- Business Operating Results
- Employee satisfaction and turnover rates
- Supplier and Trade satisfaction
It was found that performance levels significantly drop when builders without a certified QMS move from building traditional homes to HP homes
The additional design and construction complexity in High Performance Homes highlights their weakness in
- Process management
- Work performance
- Organizational alignment
- Reinforcement of quality standards
- Integration of trades
- Measures and metrics
This resulted in poorer business results.
Summary
This study shows that the use of a Certified QMS will improve performance and make High Performance Home building easier since the focus of a Certified QMS are the following:
- Process management
- Work performance
- Organizational alignment
- Reinforcement of quality standards
- Integration of trades
- Measures and metrics
http://www.theresearchalliance.org/quality-mgmt-bps-recap.aspx