How to find a reliable construction team (foreman)?

I see many Sumitomo friends asking, how to find a reliable foreman?

Qiao Mu dug out the answer he wrote on Zhihu 4-5 years ago, modified it and reposted it, hoping to help everyone. (PS: The production relations and productivity of the decoration industry have not changed substantially in the past four or five years.)

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From 2015 to 2019, I have been in the Internet decoration industry, worked in construction operations for a period of time, and participated in recruitment, training, quality supervision, customer service and other processes, so I am familiar with the construction team and foreman.

At present, the decoration industry is still carried out by a large number of construction teams, so the industry says that it is better to find a reliable construction team than a company that looks good.

But what this sentence emphasizes is the importance of the construction team's final completion quality and overall service satisfaction, rather than that the decoration should be directly approached by the construction team.

1. Where can I find a good construction team?

There are three main ways for traditional construction teams to receive orders:

1. Rely on word-of-mouth referrals from old customers;

2. Accept orders from decoration companies;

3. Rely on personal promotion to receive orders on some platforms.

So there are three corresponding ways to find a good construction team.

1) Ask relatives and friends around you: If you have relatives and friends who have decorated themselves, there will always be a construction team that is pleasant to cooperate with. But it’s not enough to just listen to recommendations from relatives and friends. You also need to observe and communicate face-to-face. Please see Part 2 for specific methods.

2) Sign a contract with a decoration company: Competition in the decoration industry is fierce at present, and many companies will also push outstanding construction teams to the front to create case libraries and personal construction experience introductions for foremen. Customers can choose in advance construction team and communicate. If there is no introduction from the construction team, the customer can often ask to see the model house first and then communicate with the foreman in advance.

3) Find on the platform:

1? In recent years, some platforms for promoting foreman have emerged, such as Sina Grab Foreman (based on Sina, covering multiple cities), Kaola Xiaojiang (limited to Shanghai, has been around for a long time), mainly promotes the foremen model. The platform provides value-added services such as management and endorsement, and you can still get in touch with some outstanding foremen. Dear Sumitomo, you can search online for keywords such as: decoration, foreman, area, etc. to find it.

I checked on their official website. It should cover major first- and second-tier cities, so you can refer to it.

This model has done very well in recent years, but the essence of the model is uncertainty and low profit margins. Of course, if you choose this model, the platform will still earn part of the price difference or service fee, which is understandable.

2? In addition, there have been some foremen with ideas who have been promoting it on some social platforms. A few years ago, I met a Zhihu friend on Zhihu who claimed to be a construction team leader. I also saw the construction team doing publicity on Momo and Maimai. Dear fellow residents, you can search on such platforms if necessary. (PS: I am relatively familiar with the Shanghai and Suzhou areas, so I can give more detailed suggestions.)

On the online platform, you can always see that there are many independent designers operating, and as for the educational level It is indeed a trend for relatively low construction teams to try in this regard.

2. How to judge the quality of a construction team?

Personally, I think it is divided into three parts: the foreman’s communication ability and service willingness, the foreman’s management ability, and the construction quality of the construction team (usually speaking, decoration is in contact with the foreman, and it is rare to have contact with it. Worker).

1) Communication skills and attitude: Why put this in the first place? Because home decoration is more complicated than complex, which leads to countless trivial matters in the entire decoration process, and these All require the construction team leader to communicate with customers and designers.

Only good communication can ensure the satisfaction of the decoration results.

Therefore, if a construction team that appears to have good construction quality on the surface refuses to communicate, no matter how good it is, it cannot guarantee that it will meet the homeowner's expectations.

A construction team leader who is careful, easy to communicate with and has a sincere attitude will definitely be a boon to the later construction process. Competence and attitude are the first step. Only with it can we ensure unlimited possibilities for subsequent results.

How to judge?

1? Communication attitude, needless to say, everyone can easily judge whether the attitude is sincere, whether the work is serious and meticulous, and whether the speech is kind.

2. Communication ability depends on the foreman’s understanding and expression ability, problem-solving ability, feasibility suggestions for design, etc. You can learn about this during the docking process and ask for more suggestions on the design and construction process.

2) Management ability: Of course, just good communication is not enough. There are panacea-type people in any industry. After workers have communicated with customers, they need to convey the details to workers and supervise workers to ensure quality and quantity. This is the second step from conception to execution.

The decoration industry is still relatively traditional and backward, so don’t expect workers to complete the work without laziness. This requires strong management.

Personally, I think an excellent construction team leader should have a competency system similar to that of a project manager. The key to control ability is the way the foreman deploys workers, the degree of worker cooperation, and the degree of construction site control.

1? For example, you can make an appointment to see a model house at a certain construction site, ask the foreman in advance about the progress of the construction site, construction personnel and some details, and then compare it on site to understand the degree of control of the foreman. .

2. In addition, you can pay attention to the site protection, sanitary environment, worker quality, etc. at the construction site, which can tell the management level of the construction team. Note that you can arrive at the venue 1 hour in advance, or go there after get off work hours. You are more likely to see the real conditions on site, such as the sanitary environment, worker clothing, placement of materials and tools, etc. There will definitely be some mess during construction on a real construction site, but it must be cleaned up before leaving get off work.

The protection of finished products on the construction site is very important. ?

It is also very important to keep the construction site tidy and clean it daily. ?

3. You can also try to communicate with the workers and the owner of the model house (if you are there) to understand the foreman's capabilities.

3) Construction quality of the construction team: This is the final result.

Decoration is a handicraft and cannot be standardized like factory products. Therefore, the work done by different masters has different quality, which requires detailed inspection.

The main requirement is to look at the model houses that the construction team has already built, and the overall effect of the completion. It also depends on the construction site under construction, such as the quality of hidden projects such as water, electricity, and waterproofing, as well as the finished surfaces of ceramic tiles and paints. situation. This part is too detailed and professional, so I won’t expand on it.

Finally, I would like to talk about my understanding of the construction team leader (foreman).

As a whole, the construction captains are relatively traditional, and their overall cultural quality is relatively low. Personally, I don’t recommend hiring relatively older construction captains for decoration. Firstly, there may be problems with communication and docking. Secondly, they have been immersed in the traditional profiteering environment for many years and are not easy to change. Of course, it's not completely discriminatory, but the proportion that is reliable is relatively small.

After the impact of the Internet decoration in the past four or five years, this group's living environment has become more difficult than before, so it is also actively seeking changes. At the same time, some young fresh blood has joined this group. In the past few years, I have come into contact with some young people who have graduated from undergraduate degrees and are working as construction captains. This is also the hope for the upgrading of this group.

In general, I personally believe that the role of foreman cannot be replaced in the short term for the responsibilities he undertakes in decoration, but the overall standards and technology need to be continuously improved, and he may even become a project manager similar to that in the construction industry in the future. PM has professional assessment and certification.

What kind of foreman do you want in your home decoration? Or come and praise or complain about the foreman of your home decoration!

Author introduction: Qiao Mu, a post-90s engineering operations man who loves the Internet home furnishing industry. He likes everything related to the home. He studies the industry when he has nothing to do. You are welcome to follow me and communicate more.

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