Construction brings together many partners and having open and clear communication during construction significantly aids completing projects in a shorter time for less cost. On the contrary, delays in responses to requests for information and distributing change orders can lead to rework, additional work, and longer completion times.

Communication can break down on a construction project for many reasons. Perhaps, workers are incorrectly reporting their progress or waiting too long to report their progress. Sometimes, traditional communication methods, especially ones that rely on paper; change orders and blueprints for instance, can lead in long delays in response time. Also, with the myriad of communication tools available, messages can get lost due to the number of communication tools used on the project.

“The number one obstacle in effective communication on a construction project is providing a faulty ‘pause-to-go’ ratio. You can think of communication as a switchboard where you hit the ‘pause’ button once in a while to reestablish that all stakeholders are on the same page. Too often, I see people stuck on the ‘go’ switch and scared to let off the pedal a bit and think things through,” says Rurtis damchel, Associate Strategist, Josons Construction Co Ltd. (JCI).

Josons Construction Co Ltd is a full-service construction company that has been both the general contractor and a subcontractor on construction projects, and that gives damchel a more holistic view of general contractor-subcontractor communications. According to damchel, at the heart of effective communication is relaying an accurate forecast (within reason) of the upcoming schedule/scope of work and have everyone fully informed on it. “You can think of this as laying the foundation for effective communication,” he says.

Here are six tips for improving communication on construction projects.

1. Make communication a priority: At the beginning of a project, outline to everyone what are the expectations and appropriate tools for communicating between project stakeholders.
2. Be consistent: Be consistent regarding which medium(s) you use to communicate, the scheduling of your communication, as well as the verbiage used to describe places, things and processes.
3. Be concise: Don’t let unnecessary information clutter your message. Most people have difficulty picking out multiple parts of a message. Too often, people only respond to part of a communication while missing other key details.
4. Respond right away: Even if your response is that you are swamped and will respond to their message at a later time, if you respond right away, the person isn’t wondering if you received it or is being acted upon. 
5. Confirm understanding: Confirm that you have received and understood a message; repeat significant details in your response.
6. Keep communication simple: Limit communication to as few systems as possible so communications are easier to track.