Quality control is not quality assurance

The two are often used as if they meant the same thing. Quality assurance is the system — the QC plan, the inspection and test plan, who is responsible for what, how nonconformances are handled. Quality control is the part done with a tape and a level on the job: checking that a particular wall, slab or duct run is what the documents call for.

This form is the quality control half. It works best when there is a plan behind it that says which activities are inspected, at what point and against what — but it is just as useful on a small job without one, because it makes you write down what you checked against.

Inspect at the moments that matter

Many contractor QC programs, including the three-phase system common on US federal work, inspect each definable feature of work at set points rather than at random. The phase question at the top of the form records which one this is.

• Preparatory — before the work starts: submittals approved, materials on site and correct, drawings current, the crew briefed on the requirements.
• Initial — as soon as the first representative piece of work is in place: is it being built the way the documents say, before the mistake is repeated across a whole floor?
• Follow-up — regularly while the work continues, to make sure the standard set at the initial inspection is holding.
• Completion — before the work is covered up or handed over, when it can still be seen and still be fixed cheaply.

Write every check against a reference

"Drywall looks good" is not a quality record. "Level 3, rooms 301–308, partitions per A-501 type 4: joints taped and finished to level 4, flatness within 1/8 in over 10 ft, measured 1/16 in at 304" is. The list here asks for the drawing or spec reference, what was checked, and what was measured or seen, so anyone reading the report later knows what conforms actually meant.

Keep each check to one location and one requirement. That way one can fail and be fixed without dragging the rest of the floor with it, and the re-inspection knows exactly where to go.

Nonconforming work: cause, disposition, re-inspection

When a check does not conform, the form asks four more things. What exactly is wrong and by how much. The likely cause — workmanship, material, the drawings, equipment, the weather, damage by a later trade — because the cause decides whether the fix is one wall or a change to how every wall is built. The disposition: rework, repair, replace, or use as is with the designer's written acceptance. And whether it has been re-inspected.

Anything that needs someone to come back goes in the corrective actions list with an owner, a date and the nonconformance report number if your project issues them. On the phone, Start a re-inspection turns every failed check into its own card — fixed, partly fixed, not fixed — with an after photo, and the follow-up report puts each one beside what you found the first time. Speak while you walk, and the document writes itself: say "east stair, handrail height thirty-two inches, spec says thirty-four" and the check fills in.

Tests and hold points

Some quality can only be proved by a test — compaction, concrete strength, weld examination, pressure tests, duct leakage — and some work must not continue until a named person has looked at it. The tests section logs each one with the requirement, the result and the report number, and treats a result that is still at the lab as pending rather than as a pass.

A hold point that was released before the work moved on is a pass. One the work went straight past without release is a failure, whatever the later test shows, because the chance to look has gone.

Common questions