A precast maker casts beams, columns, slabs, compound walls and drains in a yard, lifts them by crane and erects them on site. Lifting risk, rebar skill and project dates make the crew harder to run than a block yard.
Not sure what you need? Tell us about your business in six short steps and we will come to the first meeting prepared.
Share your requirementsA precast concrete maker produces beams, columns, hollow-core or solid slabs, compound walls, drains and cover slabs. Work runs from drawing to mould or shuttering set-up, reinforcement cage tying, concreting and vibration, curing, de-moulding, lifting to the stack yard and dispatch. Gantry or mobile cranes lift the heavy pieces, trailers carry them out, and an erection crew places and grouts them on site. Orders are project based, tied to a builder's programme, and every element has its own drawing. Bar benders, shuttering carpenters and crane riggers hold most of the skill. A wrong drawing revision or thin rebar cover shows only when the element is lifted or fitted, and a remake is costly. Related reading: HR for construction and real estate.
These are the places the people side of this kind of business tends to give way. The rest of this page works through them.
HR here has to work for each of these groups, not only the office. The set-up below is written with all of them in mind.
Heavy elements hang from slings and shackles, and one wrong hitch or an untrained signaller can cause a serious accident.
A revised drawing reaches the yard late, and bar spacing or cover turns out wrong on elements already cast.
These skills take years, a handful of people carry the yard, and offers from site contractors are always on the table.
With the builder's deadline close, crews are tempted to de-mould and lift before the concrete has gained strength.
Team leaders manage helpers among other trades, with little supervision from the plant.
Paying per cage rewards speed, and wrong spacing or cover is found only at the checking stage.
Start with the topics that matter most here: Health, Safety and Wellbeing; Organisation Design; Compensation, Payroll and Benefits. Then work through the rest. Each topic is written for construction and real estate, not in general.
Induction, records, incident reporting and follow-through.
Structure, reporting lines and who is allowed to decide what.
Salary structure, payroll inputs and a month that closes on time.
How many people, in which roles, by when — and what they will cost.
Requisition to joining, the same way every time.
A first day that is the same for the fifth joiner as the first.
Records, attendance, leave and the day-to-day HR that must simply work.
Goals, reviews and ratings that hold up in a conversation.
Training planned from need rather than from the calendar.
Named backups for the roles that cannot be vacant.
Communication, recognition and the conditions people actually work in.
Two routes — one for complaints, one for conduct — kept separate.
Policies a manager can apply, and obligations with owners and dates.
Who leaves, when, why — and which of them mattered.
Resignation to relieving letter, in a defined order.
Records that survive people, and approvals that do not queue.
A short monthly pack management actually reads.
An HR function that runs the same way every month.
The pieces a precast concrete makers business puts in place, in an order that makes each easier. Open any card for the detail.
Named, trained riggers and signallers, a periodic assessment and a daily check of slings and gear.
What this coversHideNamed, trained riggers and signallers, a periodic assessment and a daily check of slings and gear. See health, safety and wellbeing.
One person issues each revision with its date, and the yard marks the old sheet withdrawn.
What this coversHideOne person issues each revision with its date, and the yard marks the old sheet withdrawn. The role design and job descriptions work defines that role.
A skill scale with tests, pay bands and a route to supervisor.
What this coversHideA skill scale with tests, pay bands and a route to supervisor. See compensation benchmarking.
A signed check before de-moulding and lifting, tied to the casting date and the curing log, which the project lead cannot override alone.
What this coversHideA signed check before de-moulding and lifting, tied to the casting date and the curing log, which the project lead cannot override alone.
A team leader briefing on site safety, dealing with the builder's staff and handover sign-off.
What this coversHideA team leader briefing on site safety, dealing with the builder's staff and handover sign-off. The manager development programme helps leaders.
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These checks take an afternoon and tell you which of the topics above to start with.
Share your requirementsConfirm with a qualified professional. What applies to you depends on your business, your state and your arrangements, and it changes. This page describes practice. It does not state a legal position.
The services below fit this kind of business best. Each starts by recording where you stand, and every later report compares against that. We do not promise outcomes.
Authorisation, gear checks and incident routines for lifting and erection work.
Clear ownership of drawing release and ready-to-strip sign-off.
Skill grades and pay for bar benders and shuttering hands against nearby yards and sites.
Practical training for erection team leaders and yard supervisors.
Start with a free conversation, or see the paid HR Diagnostic.
Understand the business, its workforce, current processes and HR challenges.
Find the missing, weak, inconsistent or person-dependent processes.
Create the structure, processes, policies, SOPs, dashboards and systems needed.
Help HR and department managers actually adopt the new system.
Digitise repetitive and approval-based workflows where it is worth doing.
Track hiring, attendance, employee cost, performance, training and attrition.
Strengthen the people-management system continuously, not once.
From the GullyHR blog: one on HR in construction and real estate, and one on each of the topics this page points to.
Site engineers, supervisors, crews and sales teams leave for different reasons. How to ask what shaped their decision and act on it between projects.
8 min readRead article
A laminated notice, an annual drill, and an incident register with three entries in two years. What workplace health and safety looks like when it is real.
7 min readRead article
A flat structure works until the founder becomes the only route to a decision. How to tell when you have passed that point, and how to redesign without a reorganisation.
8 min readRead article
Most salary structures grew one negotiation at a time. How to build grades and bands from what you already pay, without repricing everybody at once.
8 min readRead articleMore on the GullyHR blog.
Authorise named riggers and signallers, check slings daily and let anyone stop the lift if unsure. Log near misses and discuss them in short briefings.
Give them their own grade, fair pay and a path to supervisor, and ask their view on method. Compare pay with nearby precast yards and site contractors.
Name one person to issue each revision with a date and have the yard pull the old copy. Crews then work from the current sheet only.
Use a signed ready-to-strip check tied to the casting date and curing log, and make the plant manager, not only the project lead, answerable for the sign-off.
Brief them before each project, give team leaders a site safety and handover checklist, and go through each job with them afterwards.
Who is authorised for rigging and signalling, which drawing revision sits on yard elements, and who is learning from your senior bar bender. A rigging authorisation list with a drawing release routine is a likely first job. After that talk we put the proposed scope on paper for you to approve.
All 8 business types in construction materials · Find another business type
See all HR topics for construction and real estate, or another industry.
Identify payroll leaks, record gaps and hiring bottlenecks in a free first conversation, and leave knowing what to fix first.
Know what you need? Share your requirements in four short steps.
Want the full picture? See the paid HR Diagnostic.
Prefer a quick message? Chat on WhatsApp
