Importance of a Clean Construction Site

Construction sites are inherently messy, but it is important to keep the job site clean and orderly throughout the life of the project. While there are some obvious reasons for this, there are also many added benefits of a clean job site that contractors and customers may not see. The most important reason to maintain a clean job site is for the safety of all those that enter the site.

Construction sites generally create a lot of construction debris such as scrap wood, metal, excess building materials, nails, and screws. Additionally, tools can be left scattered around and dirt piles and general garbage can accumulate, all of which are potential trip and fall hazards. By implementing a policy of the ongoing organization and site cleanliness, you will minimize these potential safety hazards. These policies will help you comply with OSHA and local workplace safety standards. Furthermore, your clients and customers will notice the attention to detail and personalized care for their home, project, and/or investment. Clean construction sites exude professionalism and quality workmanship, which will greatly strengthen your reputation. While a messy job site may cause a client to question the quality of your work, a clean job site will instill client confidence.

In addition, the condition of your job site will act as a company advertisement for anyone passing by or entering the site that may become a future client. A person who is impressed by the cleanliness will oftentimes associate that cleanliness to quality workmanship and will be more likely to choose your company for their next construction project. In addition to safety, another benefit is increased efficiency. An organized, clean job site means that employees will know where tools and materials are stored. Efficiency and productivity will greatly increase as each trade performs their respective scope of work. Subcontractors will also take more pride in their execution and provide higher quality to live up to the expectation that has been set. Site cleanliness can decrease the number of wasted materials and workers will be more productive not having to navigate through scattered debris and materials.

Simple steps can be taken to ensure your construction site is clean, but it will require that you institute a policy and make sure everyone is accountable on a daily basis. Although there is a lot of work up front to set the expectation, you will receive increased dividends from your subcontractors and clients.

Here at AFT Construction, we institute a job site code of conduct that sets forth “rules” that all trades must follow while working on our sites. We also perform additional tasks such as using a large magnetic sweeper to collect loose nails, screws, and other metal objects that may be laying around the construction site. One can never take enough measures to ensure job site cleanliness.