New Research Reveals Multiskilled Crews Can Reduce Construction Completion Time by 30%

Ahead of Careers in Construction Month, Associated Builders and Contractors highlighted new research showing that multiskilled construction crews can reduce completion time by about 30% and increase production by 37% to 50% on construction scopes where multiple trades must work in tight sequence. The findings come from controlled field trials detailed in the Simplar Foundation’s Improving Productivity in Multi-Trade Construction Workflows, the second report from the first-ever national multiskilling dataset.

View pictures of multiskilled workers.

“These findings show that multiskilling is more than a workforce strategy. It can also be a project-delivery strategy,” said Tiffany Robinson, ABC vice president of workforce and safety policy. “Careers in Construction Month is an opportunity to underscore the value of building broader skills that bolster productivity on jobsites. Multiskilling can expand workers’ capabilities and career opportunities while giving the industry a practical strategy to address persistent labor shortages and increase America’s capacity to build.”

This study examines the time reduction and production gain of multiskilled workflows compared to traditional single-trade workflows for construction scopes and assemblies that require frequent trade-to-trade handoffs to be coordinated in sequence. The analysis was based on controlled field trials across 11 construction activities with 10 trade-to-trade handoffs at the Cianbro Institute in Pittsfield, Maine.

“This is compelling evidence that multiskilling can significantly enhance productivity, efficiency and competitiveness across the industry,” said Michael Bennett, senior executive vice president and chief administrative officer of The Cianbro Cos., Pittsfield, Maine. “Specifically, in this report we see that work productivity is accelerated when the work moves efficiently from one trade to the next. By combining rigorous research with real-world field applications, this study demonstrates how innovation in workforce development and investment in competency-based education can create a more agile workforce—one that delivers greater value to clients while expanding career opportunities for craft professionals. Cianbro is honored to contribute to this invaluable research.”

View videos of multiskilling in action and multiskilled workers speaking to the benefits.

Examples of handoffs affecting multiskilled work:

• Phased school renovation: Work is often limited to nights, weekends, breaks or summer windows. Repeated handoffs among demolition, structural systems (formwork, reinforcing steel, concrete, masonry), mechanical, electrical, plumbing, finishes, inspections and turnover activities can affect reopening dates.
• Transit station or airport terminal renovation: Work occurs around public access, security, operations, inspections and phased turnover. Trade-to-trade delays can disrupt passenger-facing areas and downstream activities.
• Bridge or roadway closure work: Multiple trades and crews must complete work within limited closure windows. Handoff delays can affect lane reopening, public access and traffic.
• Water or wastewater treatment plants: Equipment installation, rigging, setting, piping, electrical, controls, insulation, flushing, testing and startup often must be sequenced tightly to enable plant operations.

“Multiskilling increases productivity by reducing waiting, setup, reorientation, coordination and restart between crews,” said Brian Lines, Ph.D., P.E., principal investigator and associate professor, Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering, University of Kansas. “We saw firsthand that qualified multiskilled crews enable reduced-handoff workflows, which in turn reduces unnecessary crew changes, improves workflow continuity and makes production more predictable. For owners, contractors, policymakers and project teams, multiskilling is the ideal strategy where repeated handoffs are likely to create measurable delays.”

Highlights in this second of three releases of the data series include:

• Multiskilled workers did not have to complete individual tasks faster to improve efficiency. By reducing handoffs between trades, projects were completed about 30% faster, while traditional single-trade workflows increased completion time by roughly 40%.
• Fewer trade handoffs allowed crews to accomplish more work in the same production window. Workflows with fewer handoffs completed 37% to 50% more installed work in the same amount of time.
• The multiskilled team increased scope coverage and capability. Two multiskilled workers completed a scope spanning seven trade functions without repeatedly handing off the work to separate crews. The one-trade workflow used 12 workers across the same sequence and transferred the work from one trade to another 10 times. Both crews held credentials for each trade performed.
• Multiskilling was most effective when frequent handoffs were concentrated within closely sequenced work activities. The size of the benefit was up to 92% less elapsed time, depending on how frequent and disruptive the handoffs were. Across 12 scenarios and 120,000 simulation runs, reducing repeated handoffs shortened the time required for the defined work scope.

This new research series, which launched Sept. 2, was conducted by the Simplar Foundation and three university research partners: Arizona State University, the University of Kansas and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The third and final installment of research will be released later this year.

To explore the full dataset, visit simplarfoundation.org/multiskilling/. To learn more, visit abc.org/multiskilling.