Barely half way through the project but already 90% through their small tools and safety supplies, a road project team held a bake sale in an attempt to raise a little cash. Any money raised from the bake sale is being used to cover a forecasted budget overrun.
The bake sale idea came from a superintendent who saw the success that his children had with a bake sale at their school. What he failed realize before he got the jobsite bake sale idea rolling is that most pro builders are better at grilling than baking. Realizing that baking is a lot like mixing a good concrete, the area concrete superintendent had the local concrete rep do a Lunch and Learn to discuss concrete mix design proportions and mixing practices. Feeling confident in their abilities to mix and bake desserts, the jobsite crew then raided all Betty Crocker items from the baking aisle of two different grocery stores. Next, they rented some ovens and got to work. Well, they got to work after making work plans and putting on the appropriate PPE. Six hours, several burnt cup cakes and a dozen skin burns later, they had baked and frosted dozens of hopefully tasty treats.
The next day, the day of the bake sale, things started a little slow. An unforeseen hiccup for the team was that the general public was skeptical of their baked treats. Construction crews aren’t exactly seen as skilled bakers. The location under a completed bridge was also a bit awkward. The location had high traffic counts but looked pretty unofficial even though it was staffed by safety vest wearing construction pros. After giving out a few treats for free, the project team eventually sold everything they baked. At the end of the day, the project manager tallied their revenue and the costs and determined that they are able to add $496 to the small tools and safety supply budget through the bake sale.
During a lessons learned meeting after the bake sale, the consensus among project staff in The Trailer was to manage the small tools and supply budget better moving forward so that they could avoid more bake sales. When asked why most of the team wasn’t a fan of the bake sale, one engineer said, “Baking is for the birds. Our crew is better at grilling and drinking a few beers. Maybe we just aren’t good at baking but it is pretty much impossible to bake, drink a beer, watch the game and trash talk each other at the same time. Not only is grilling easier but drinking and trash talking is encouraged.”
***This was another Fake Construction News article. Stay tuned for more.***
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