Construction Site Logistics

Logistics at construction sites over the years has become increasingly complicated, not only because of the sheer volume of work to complete and less hours to do it in (well it certainly feels like that's the case), there is only one way in which construction logistics and planning can be successful and that's through developing professional strategies, for example the in-house team may require dispatching a few vehicles over the course of a day, which could be doable and successful, however if many more vehicles are needed will end in disaster - the whole construction operations would suffer as a consequence.

Not only does this apply to the despatching of vehicles and so forth, but also applies to waste management aspects, at each and every construction site; certain rules and regulations must be met in accordance with the law and companies should keep up-to-date or be informed of changes in rules and regulations and adhere to them properly, otherwise could be heavily fined and liable for suing the construction company if anything was to go wrong on site with employees and the public.

Choosing to Hire a Construction Site Logistic Specialist

Those reasons alone are reason enough to hire a construction logistics company or professional to implement a purposeful and successful strategy on site. There are many aspects to consider and sometimes you just can't think of them all - this happens regularly with businesses and not just construction businesses. But any business that requires any type of logistics as part of their company, must understand rules and regulations, implement a plan and carry the plan out on a daily basis (sometimes for months on end - especially with the bigger projects).

Any person(s) in charge of planning the logistics on a construction site also has the responsibility of co-ordinating any procedures by themselves, which believe you me is by no means easy and sometimes the more delegators you have, the harder it is to communicate effectively throughout the different work departments. You have the responsibility of telling who can use what at what time, i.e. two people need to carry out two completely separate tasks before the day is over - one will have to wait until the next day, but both could do with being finished, who would you choose to use the one and only fork lift truck left available, in other words which task is most important for finishing first and which can wait till the following day? These are the certain questions you have to ask yourself on a daily basis.

And therefore, you must be very well organised and know exactly what and when certain tasks need to be done and by whom. Not only that, but there is the other aspect of things going wrong and the plan being wrong in the first instance; no matter how well you delegate and get tasks right, if they're not done in the correct order whilst having to make difficult decisions, you could find yourself wasting precious time and in the construction industry this can be a fatal floor as more often than not there are certain elements within your contract that states you have a certain time frame to complete the construction project by; if not penalties will start to cost you and more importantly, the company.

Due to all of the elements that need to be handled and difficult aspects that can potentially occur on construction sites across the UK, in my experience and my opinion, I think any construction company that struggles to make deadlines or with day to day operations, you may be in-need of hiring an expert in the area - yes it's more expense. However, it could save thousands in the long term and also give your company a much better reputation for getting things done.

Ross is the owner of Hardhat logistics, who specialise in supplying professional construction logistics and construction catering.