Doing Versus Knowing How
by Jonathan McGaha | 7 June 2015 12:00 am
There is a great scene in the James Michener novel “Chesapeake” that serves as a model for the metal construction industry. A Chesapeake Bay waterman piloting a skipjack comes across some day trippers out of Annapolis who have run their sailboat aground. He offers to get them back on their way, but they’re dubious that his little sloop will be able to get their large sailboat unstuck.
The captain offers to do it for $50, and the day trippers finally agree. He then directs a young crew member to take one end of a line, swim to the other boat and tie it to the very top of the mast. The agile crew member completes the task quickly and the captain secures the other end of the line to the skipjack. Then, he sails out perpendicular to the sailboat, pulling the mast down toward the water. Just as the gunwale is about to touch water, the boat pops free and the task is completed. Simple.
In fact, the day trippers feel it was too simple and are reluctant to cough up the $50. The captain replied with words that every person in our industry should memorize. “It’s not in the doin’. It’s in the knowin’ how.” The day trippers paid up.
All of our construction pricing is based on the amount of time it takes to complete a project. We project our costs for installation almost entirely on how long it takes to erect the steel, install the roofing, pour the concrete, and hang and tape the drywall. Every project is broken down into discreet tasks that have an effort-related element to it. Additional services, such as engineering, are based on time involved in the work, so even the obviously “knowin’ how” part of the work is priced on the “doin.”
In short, we get paid for doing the work, not for knowing how to do the work.
Another quick anecdote. When I was a carpenter back in the day, we often joked that after eight or 10 years we’d be adept and know everything we needed to know about carpentry and could truly call ourselves carpenters. But, if we spent the same amount of time in college and medical school, we would be able to call ourselves “doctors.” Doctors get paid for knowing how, carpenters get paid for doing. Granted, there is a bit of difference in technicality and responsibility between a doctor and a carpenter, but the main point is to show how much we undervalue trades people. So, how do you get paid for knowing how? For most in the construction industry it’s by finding a better, more efficient way of doing the task. You discover a shortcut and you can still charge the rate at the traditional time. That only holds, though, for as long as it takes the industry to catch up with your best practice.
Another way is through the design-build process. By getting involved in the design and engineering stage of a project, contractors and trades can see their knowledge get rewarded. It’s essential to be able to articulate how that involvement betters the entire construction process, and contractors should be adept at explaining what they bring to the table.
Can you do that? Can you explain in a clear way the value of the knowledge you bring so that you can be paid for it? If not, you’ll only ever get paid for your effort, not your brain.
Source URL: https://www.metalconstructionnews.com/articles/doing-versus-knowing-how/