To uninformed observers, a new home-construction site might appear to be chaotic, but nearly every move is strategically orchestrated. Experience and common sense allow Bruce Lee, HGTV Dream Home builder, to know exactly where material deliveries should be placed, when they should arrive, who needs them and how this knowledge contributes to a successful project.
Careful planning dictates where materials should be and when they should be there. "When a material is being delivered, they tell me that the material's on its way, and then I have a site available for them," Lee says. "And I always think about how the subcontractor's going to use that material and what's best for him, and where we're going to put it so it's close to where he's going to be working. This way he doesn't have to move it around a lot."]
The list of materials needed for the HGTV Dream Home was created from the plans, Lee says. "I used the plans, and I created the material list, and I ordered all the materials for the whole house. Fortunately, we have a space where we can offload it on site. And we had, within two days, every piece of lumber for this house, minus the trusses, sitting over there, and it was ready to go when we started."
A well-run job site is the result of more than simply knowing when and where materials will be delivered. Lee likes to keep his job sites clean and orderly, for many reasons, including pride in his work. "And it shows when somebody shows up on the job site, when they can walk around and they're not tripping over anything. And so it's really a safety issue, too, but also it shows the workers that we take pride in what we do. And if we keep the job site clean, it will reflect in the work that they do," he explains.
Another benefit of a clean and organized job site is knowing where things are. "When you're moving quickly and you have a lot of materials coming and going, you can keep track of where they are [when you have an organized job site]. So we have a staging area where we keep materials so I can keep up with the inventory," Lee says.
What happens as work progresses and the crew is left with unused material? Lee and his team make it a practice to clean up the site each workday. "We have a dump truck on site, which really is beneficial because then we can back it up to a pile of debris and load it up. And then when it's full, we take it to the dumps," Lee says.
