How To Set Up Your New Construction Job Sites

Home How To Set Up Your New Construction Job Sites

Safe, Clean, & Secure. These attributes for a construction site don’t happen by accident. Here’s the steps that I take in some greater depth than I had time to get into from the video.

#1 Safety

I mostly do infill construction so a job perimeter fence is critical for me. I generally rent these fences from a local fence contractor and pass this along to my clients as a job cost. These bring a great level of security, but they are mainly to block the view from the street. Remember that prospects are checking out your job sites and can easily assume a messy view means a shoddy construction job. When I started my careen with a production builder, they regularly had days when the big bosses would drive all the job sites and perform a “shiny face” inspection. Basically, they were looking for messy job sites and told us that our reputation as a builder hinged up nothing more than organization & cleanliness. I still adhere to this policy 20 years later. Take a minute today and view your construction site from the lens of a prospect who knows nothing about our business. You’ll be shocked at what you’ve overlooked!

Remember to get all your silt fencing up at this job start time too. Any area that might wash mud off your lot into a street or neighbor’s yard need silt fence erected.

Perimeter fence with a screen is important for both security & appearance to the neighborhood.

This infill remodel shows our typical fence & job site sign. Address, Architect, & our Risinger Homes logo on one sign.

#2 Tree Protection

This is the time to take some care in protecting your trees around the building site. Use 2×4’s and baling wire to make a shield around trunks near your construction zone. Larger trees that are near the zone need a perimeter fence & a deep bed of mulch to help protect the roots. The perimeter fence should ideally be located at the drip line of the tree. Tree roots can be impacted severely by driving over them so the fence keeps traffic away. Sometimes traffic can’t be avoided so the deep mulch bed (6-10″) can held cushion the impact of a truck driving through this zone. If you have trees your clients are especially sensitive about it’s worth hiring a licensed arborist to give you a protection plan. I have two guys I use and they generally charge $125 for a site visit and a plan. Cheap insurance.

Generally we want to fence trees at the dripline with a fence & a deep mulch bed.

Another great example of wrapped 2×4’s around a tree with fencing & mulch.

Job signage is important, but you also want to review these rules often with your subs.

#3 Organization:

I’m throwing a few items into this umbrella, but let’s start with a job office. Not every job will require a job office, but when you have complicated or longer jobs these are vital. I rent mine monthly and find them invaluable to managing jobs efficiently. We also often rent a shipping container to use for secure storage.

A small/dry area near our job office makes a great spot for supplies, first aid kits, fire extinguisher, hand sanitizer, etc.

These small job site offices are affordable to rent and come with an air conditioner.

This trash contractor I use makes their own 8×8′ plywood boxes for my sites.

I hope this is helpful to see what we use on our job sites. Please comment below if I have missed anything here that you’ve found helpful on your construction sites.

Best,

Matt Risinger

Risinger Homes in Austin, TX