The Little Things That Convey A Big Message

We’ve all heard the refrain about the importance of keeping a jobsite clean and tidy because the client may not know what a hammer drill looks like but they do know what a mess looks like. But, to take it a step further, for the people that know even a little bit about construction, the little visible indicators of quality set the tone for the entire project. Those seemingly minor details that are right in front of people’s eyes? They tell a story, whether you mean them to or not.

Take concrete wedge anchors, for example. If you walk by and see that the tops are cut off it could mean they didn’t get full embedment, so you immediately start wondering: what else did they take shortcuts on? Or let’s say the handrail spacing along a leading edge isn’t consistent. On its own, sure, it won’t compromise the whole structure. But what does it say about the level of care and attention that went into the parts you can’t see? Did the crew place every piece of required rebar, or did they skip a few because it was “too hard to secure”? Did someone actually torque those bolts to spec, or did they just trust their “calibrated hand” and move on?

It’s not about perfectionism. It’s about the message your work sends. When craftsmen start saying, “Looks good from my house,” and nobody calls them out - not the foreman, not the superintendent - that’s where the bar for quality quietly drops. One unchecked detail at a time, the culture shifts from “We hold ourselves to a high standard” to “Eh, good enough.”

This isn’t unique to construction, either. In Marine Corps basic training, recruits spend an absurd amount of time on things that don’t seem to have much to do with waging war - making beds, folding clothes, shining boots. Why? Discipline and attention to detail. Because if you can’t pay attention to something as simple as a wrinkle in your sheets, how can you be trusted to pay attention when it’s life or death? You’ve never seen a Marine Corps recruitment poster featuring a guy with a wrinkled uniform and a 5 o’clock shadow. Their message is loud and clear: “We have high standards in everything we do.” That culture attracts people who want to be part of something excellent.

Now, I’m not saying you need to keep a BIC razor and can of starch at your jobsite desk. But the principle holds: pay attention to the little things, especially the little visible things. They’re signals - not just to your client or your inspector, but to your whole team - about where the standard is set.

When people walk your project, what story are the small details telling them? Are they saying, “We care, we double-check, we build it right”? Or are they whispering, “We’ll get by with whatever we can get away with”?

People can’t see behind walls or under concrete. They don’t know if every piece of rebar is in the right place, or every bolt is torqued perfectly after the fact. But they can see those anchor tops and handrail spacings, and they’ll assume the hidden stuff matches what’s visible. That assumption can either work for you or against you.

So the next time you’re tempted to wave off a small inconsistency or let a minor detail slide, ask yourself: what standard am I setting for this project - and for my team? Because the details don’t just tell a story about the work. They tell a story about you.

-Dan