Building Orderliness
Quadrant Homes delivers a finished home 54 days after starting construction, but Quadrant’s distinguishing characteristic is the management system that makes it all work.
Organize the Process
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The sales department sets weekly goals so the organization can schedule a consistent number of new homes every day. When demand changes, as it has in 2008, the organization modifies its production start schedule in order to keep a steady flow of homes through the system.
Quadrant’s new home showroom allows buyers to “touch and see” the available options—from appliances to siding, and showroom coordinators help buyers make lighting selections and go over the customer’s choices before completing the order. Showroom regional manager Amy Kennedy said the showroom staff tries to educate buyers rather than sell particular options.
Make Someone Responsible
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Each day in the 54-day process has specific tasks assigned to it, and construction superintendents have responsibility to see each house stays on schedule.
Superintendent Dave Porter and his assistants manage the Port Orchard community. Porter takes his checklist out and walks each house daily in order to make sure each home progresses as scheduled. He coaches compliance with safety standards; he ensures the site is ready for the next crew; and he walks the lot with each buyer before construction begins, after framing is complete, and on day 52, two days before closing. Each afternoon, Porter files a daily report with the command center, which manages Quadrant’s centralized schedule.
Measure Your Progress
Each morning at the command center, director of construction Wes Guyer meets with production manager John Dennison and the production controllers.
The spreadsheet projected on the wall summarizes the status of each home under construction. This helps them keep each home on track, and it allows controllers to measure how consistently houses reach 15 “key milestones,” such as pouring the garage slab on day zero or turning on the heat on day 23, which helps prevent mold problems in the Pacific Northwest’s damp climate.
Do Things Right
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These measurements also help the controllers identify problems and communicate with subcontractors, called “vendor partners,” when adjustments are needed. “We are an extension of that team out there,” said production controller Jeffrey Murphy.
Dennison said if he and the other controllers can’t deliver an immediate answer when field personnel call, the superintendents have “got to know that it’s not because we didn’t try,” he said. “It’s a matter of trust.”
Dennison’s urgency reflects the four core principles of The Quadrant Way—always safe, team synergy, flawless execution, and character. And it echoes the statement written across the wall: “We don’t sanction incompetence.”
The leadership team at Quadrant worked with Personnel Decisions International to develop “The 5 C’s Performance Behaviors.” This model takes 27 character qualities and associates particular behaviors with each quality.
The system gives managers a known standard and a common vocabulary to describe desirable workplace behavior. “We found a way to import character into our world, and it hasn’t been the same since,” said executive vice president Ken Krivanec.
Strive for Personal Excellence
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The performance review process helps individuals set goals related to their job descriptions and personal goals. Managers help evaluate what behaviors can help individuals reach those goals, and they use the Character First! Bulletins and PDI’s Successful Manager’s Handbook as tools for coaching and personal development.
Guyer said Quadrant hires assistant superintendents who demonstrate good character behaviors and then trains them so that they can move up. He said, “One of the things that attracted me to this company was the people.” The development of The Quadrant Way and the integration of character provided a way individuals can continue to improve.
Vendor Partners
Most of Quadrant’s vendor partners practice the same trade in all Quadrant homes. Woodinville Lumbersupplies framing components and installation; Meridian Center Electric does the electrical work; and other vendor partners handle plumbing, landscaping, etc.
Some of these organizations have had a relationship with Quadrant for 10 or 11 years,and these longstanding relationships allow vendor partners to build their systems
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and crews around the Quadrant system, which improves quality for the customer.
Jim Theriault, head of production at Meridian Center Electric, said Quadrant’s organized process allows vendor partners to work together and leave a safe, clean jobsite. “They are the ones that have set the bar in our area,” he said.
Character in Quadrant Homes' Culture
The whole organization emphasizes a different character quality each month. Weekly sharing meetings include public recognitions for individuals or teams who demonstrated a character quality, and the quarterly company meetings emphasize a different one of the four core principles each quarter, based on the material developed in cooperation with PDI.
The “Q-Team” gives individuals in the organization an opportunity to exercise initiative and develop the culture of character, safety, synergy, and flawless execution.
Character Recognition at Quadrant Homes (.pdf)
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