A precast concrete maker casts beams, columns, slabs, boundary walls and drains in a yard, lifts them with cranes and erects them on site. Lifting risk, bar bending skill and project dates make the workforce 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 structural and architectural elements such as beams, columns, hollow-core or solid slabs, compound walls, drains and cover slabs. Work flows from drawings to mould or shuttering set-up, reinforcement cage fabrication, concreting and vibration, curing, stripping, lifting to the stockyard and dispatch. Gantry or mobile cranes lift heavy pieces, and trailers carry them to site where an erection crew places and fixes them. Orders are project based, tied to a builder's schedule, and each element has its own drawing. Bar benders, shuttering carpenters and crane riggers hold most of the skill. A drawing error or a missed rebar cover shows up only when the element is lifted or fitted, and the cost of a remake is high. See also 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 move on cranes and slings, and a wrong rigging or untrained signaller can cause a serious accident.
Revised drawings reach the yard late, and bar spacing or cover is wrong on elements already cast.
These skills take years, and a few people carry the plant, with offers from site contractors always on the table.
Pressure to deliver before the builder's deadline tempts crews to strip and lift before the element is ready.
Team leaders manage helpers around other trades, with limited supervision from the plant.
Paying per cage rewards speed, and bar spacing or cover faults are 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 with a periodic assessment and a sling and gear check each day.
What this coversHideNamed, trained riggers and signallers with a periodic assessment and a sling and gear check each day. See health, safety and wellbeing.
One person issues each revision with date, and the yard marks the old drawing as withdrawn.
What this coversHideOne person issues each revision with date, and the yard marks the old drawing as withdrawn. The role design and job descriptions work defines the role.
A skill scale with tests, pay bands and a path to supervisor.
What this coversHideA skill scale with tests, pay bands and a path to supervisor. See compensation benchmarking.
A signed check before stripping and lifting, tied to the cast date and curing log, which the project lead cannot override alone.
What this coversHideA signed check before stripping and lifting, tied to the cast date and curing log, which the project lead cannot override alone.
Team leader briefing on site safety, communication with the builder and handover sign-off.
What this coversHideTeam leader briefing on site safety, communication with the builder 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 gear every day and stop work if anyone is unsure. Record near misses and talk about them in short briefings.
Offer a distinct grade, fair pay and a path to supervisor, and give them a say in method. Compare pay with nearby precast and site contractors.
Name one person to issue each revision with a date, and have the yard remove the old copy. Operators then work from only the current drawing.
Use a signed ready-to-strip check tied to the cast date and curing log, and make the plant manager, not only the project lead, responsible for the sign-off.
Brief them before each project, give team leaders a checklist for site safety and handover, and review each job with them afterwards.
We would list who is authorised for rigging and crane signalling, check the drawing revision on elements in the yard, and ask who is learning from your senior bar bender. A good first piece of work is a rigging authorisation list plus a drawing release routine. Scope is agreed in writing afterwards.
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
