Methods and apparata for highly automated quality assurance of building construction projects

• US 6,842,760 B1
• Filed: 05/03/2001
• Issued: 01/11/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Chad Barry Dorgan, Charles Edward Dorgan
• Original Assignee: Chad Barry Dorgan, Charles Edward Dorgan
• Inventors: Dorgan, Charles Edward, Dorgan, Chad Barry
• Primary Examiner(s): Channavajjala, Srirama
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pham, Khanh B.
• Application Number:
  US09/848,110
• Time in Patent Office: 1,349 Days
• Field of Search: 707/109.1, 700/100, 705/7, 705/8, 705/9, 705/11
• US Class Current: N/A
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06395 Quality analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

Tracking forms allow tracking of the completion status and implemented quality standards of a building construction project. A tracking form is prepared for one or more tasks requiring completion at the construction site. Each task is assigned two components on its tracking form: a quality control indicator form, which contains one or more quality control indicators indicating whether certain quality standards are met; and a completion indicator, which indicates the completion status of a task. The completion status may be a discrete binary value, or may instead be a continuous value. Preferably, the workers performing the tasks complete each task'"'"'s quality control indicator form and completion indicator during design and construction as milestones relating to the task are completed, or at the end of some predetermined time period. The completion indicators relating to the tasks are logged so that the completion status of the project may be monitored, and the information recorded on the quality control indicator forms may be sampled and checked to verify that construction quality standards are being met.

Claims

1. A method of tracking building construction timing and quality comprising:

a. determining tasks requiring completion during a building construction project;

b. constructing at least one tacking form for the tasks, wherein each tracking form includes;

i. at least one quality control indicator form wherein quality standards for one of the tasks are listed, the quality standards being optional for completion of the task but affecting the quality of the task'"'"'s completion, and

ii. at least one completion indicator allowing recordation of the completion status of one of the tasks, each completion indicator corresponding to one quality control indicator form;

c. while completing each task, completing the tracking form by;

i. verifying whether the quality standards listed on the task'"'"'s quality control indicator form are met, and

ii. recording the completion status of the task using the task'"'"'s completion indicator;

d. at least periodically;

i. compiling the completion status for the tasks, thereby obtaining a measure of the degree of completion of the building construction project; and

ii. reviewing at least some of the tasks'"'"' quality cool indicator forms versus the building construction project, thereby obtaining a measure of the degree of adherence to the quality standards listed thereon.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of verifying whether the quality standards listed on task'"'"'s quality control indicator form are met includes:

a. recording adherence to the task'"'"'s listed quality control standards as a binary value on the tasks quality control indicator form, with the value reflecting adherence or non-adherence; and

b. recording reasons for non-adherence to the task'"'"'s listed quality control standards on the task'"'"'s quality control indicator form.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of reviewing at least some of the task'"'"'s quality control indicator forms verses the building construction project includes:

a. sampling only some of the quality control indicator forms; and

b. statistically analyzing the sampled quality control indicator forms for adherence and reasons for non-adherence to listed quality control standards.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the completion indicators include:

a. binary completion indicators wherein the completion status of the corresponding task is recorded as incomplete or complete; and

b. continous completion indicators wherein the completion status of the corresponding task is recorded as a value ranging between incomplete and complete.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein at least some tasks have corresponding completion indicators which include machine-readable indicia, and wherein the recordation of the completion status of each of the tasks is performed by mechanically reading the machine-readable indicia of its completion indicator once the task is completed.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the machine readable indicia encode information designating the completion of their corresponding tasks.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the completion indicators which include machine-readable indicia are provided on the quality control indicator forms to which these completion indicators correspond.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein the completion indicators which include machine-readable indicia are adhesively attachable to the quality control indicator forms to which these completion indicators correspond.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein the completion indicators which include machine-readable indicia are provided on cards separate from the quality control indicator forms to which these completion indicators correspond, and wherein each card is associated with its corresponding quality control indicator form in a container.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the quality control indicator forms are assembled from a library of stock quality control indicator forms.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the binding construction project includes design, construction, and start-up phases, and wherein tracking forms are completed during each phase.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein completion status is recorded after verifying whether the quality standards listed on the task'"'"'s quality control indictor form are met.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the quality standards are not each associated with a respective completion indicator.

10. The method of clam wherein the completion indicators are provided on their corresponding quality control indicator forms.

15. A method of tracking building construction timing and quality comprising:

a. determining tasks requiring completion during a building construction project;

b. constructing at least one tracking form for the tasks, wherein each tracing form includes for each task;

i. at least one quality control indicator form listing quality standards for the completion of the task, the quality standards being optional for completion of the task but affecting the quality of the task'"'"'s completion;

ii. at least one completion indicator for the task, wherein the completion indicator bears machine-readable indicia encoding the completion status of the, task;

wherein the quality standards are not each associated with their own respective completion indicators;

c. while completing each task;

i. recording on the task'"'"'s quality control indicator form whether the quality standards listed thereon are met;

ii. if the quality standards listed thereon are not met, recording the task'"'"'s quality control indicator form the reasons why;

iii. recording the completion status of the task using the task'"'"'s completion indicator;

d. at least periodically;

i. compiling the tasks'"'"' completion status, thereby obtaining a measure of the degree of completion of the building construction project; and

ii. reviewing at least some of the tasks'"'"' quality control indicator forms versus the corresponding completed tasks within the building construction project, thereby obtaining a measure of the degree of adherence to the quality standards listed on the quality control indicator forms,

wherein the building construction project includes a construction phase wherein building components are installed, and wherein at least some of the building components have tracking forms physically attached prior to their installation, with these tracking forms including quality control indicator forms and completion indicators relating to tasks performed during installation.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein one or more completion indicators are provided on their corresponding quality control indicator forms.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein:

a. one or more completion indicators are provided as adhesive stickers whereupon their machine-readable indicia are provided, and

b. the completion indicators provided as adhesive stickers are adhered to their corresponding quality control indicator forms prior to recording the completion status of their corresponding tasks.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the quality control indicator forms am assembled from a library of stock quality control indicator forms.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein the step of recording the completion status of the task is performed after recording on the task'"'"'s quality control indicator form whether the quality standards listed thereon are met.

20. A method of tracking building construction timing and quality comprising:

a. determining the tasks requiring completion during a building construction project;

b. constructing a tracking form for each task, wherein each tracking form includes at least one quality control indicator form having thereon;

i. one or more completion indicators for the task, wherein the completion indicator bears machine-readable indica encoding the completion status of the task;

ii. one or more steps required for proper completion of the task;

iii. quality standards for each step, wherein the quality standards do not each have associated completion indicators;

c. while completing each task,

i. recording on the task'"'"'s quality control indicator form whether the quality standards listed thereon are met;

iii. subsequently recording the completion status of the task using the task'"'"'s completion indicator;

d. at least periodically;

i. compiling the tasks'"'"' completion status, thereby obtaining a measure of the degree of completion of the building construction project; and

ii. reviewing at least some of the tasks'"'"' quality control indicator forms versus the corresponding completed tasks within the building construction project, thereby obtaining a measure of the degree of adherence to the quality standards listed on the quality indicator forms,

wherein the building construction project includes a construction phase wherein building components are installed, and wherein at least some of the building components have tracking forms physically attached prior to their installation, with these tracking forms including quality control indicator forms and completion indicators relating to tasks performed during installation.