Using S.W.O.T. to Help Develop a Scope of Work

Back in the early 1990’s, before I joined the construction industry, I was in college taking business classes.  I remember learning how to assess a business by using something called SWOT.  The SWOT acronym stands for strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.  I’ve been developing this idea for assessing existing homes that are looking to undergo renovations.  I’ve found that working through a construction project using this theory can help in the development of the plan, the process includes pre-construction data gathering and developing and accessing a scope of work.  As far as I know, this is the first discussion of SWOT being used for analysis in the construction industry.

Let’s start with the first two letters, S and W.  The strengths and weaknesses of a home need to be assessed before any work, and even planning begins.  When we work in an existing home, our goals are improving the structure, creating comfort, or increasing efficiency, sometimes we find out down the road that the changes made did not improve the home, and in some instances, we’ve endangered the occupants or damaged the structure.

Here’s an example of an event that happened to me, I’ve told this story before, but it illustrates a case where not assessing a home before renovations begin can lead to an undesirable outcome.  Back in the early 2010’s, I was hired to replace a shingled roof with a new metal roof.  The job went well, both the homeowner and I were pleased with the outcome.  The following year, the homeowner had us back out to replace a few windows in the upper level of his home.  The owner’s children had moved away many years earlier and the upper-level bedrooms were mostly used for storage.  The windows were in poor condition, they would not seal correctly and at least one had a hole created by a woodpecker that completely penetrated the wood frame.  The window replacement job also seemed to be a success, we improved the continuity of the water control and reduced the air moving through the upper level of the structure.

The following spring, the homeowner called to let me know they had a roof leak.  There was water dripping into the home in several locations, through the finished ceiling.  When I arrived, I found the entire underside of the roof sheathing full of frost.  The melting frost was the source of the water leaks.  What changed to cause attic frost to form when it had not previously?  The addition of new windows!  The home was probably on the cusp of attic frost before the new windows were installed, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were occasions when attic frost was present before we worked on the home.  The window replacement tightened the upper level of the home up just enough to where more humidity was accumulating, it was no longer flushing through the envelope, more was being trapped in the upper level because of the slightly reduced natural air exchange.  This moisture was moving with air into the poorly air sealed attic, accumulating over the winter until spring, when the frost melted.  Could we have identified this potential problem before work began? Possibly, if we had used the strengths and weakness assessment idea.

The strengths and weaknesses process of the SWOT theory begins with a building investigation, which may include an energy audit.  This investigation is used to see how the home is currently operating.  Strengths of the project might include a newly installed roof and correct landscape grading around the home, providing proper water management.  Other strengths could be non-combustible fuel heating systems (maybe the home is conditioned using air source heat pump technology).  Weaknesses might be moisture problems, air barrier deficiencies, or current insulation levels.  We also want to assess any weaknesses associated with the mechanical equipment and appliances inside the home.  Are there atmospherically venting appliances, or other solid or fossil fuel-based equipment operating that could create issues if the home’s natural air exchange is reduced?  How about operating costs, are they meeting the homeowner’s expectations?  We are trying to determine what is working in the home, and what is not.

I like Pat Huelman’s (a respected building science educator and researcher from the University of Minnesota) philosophy on assessing a home, “how close is the home to the cliff?”  The window replacement home was on the cusp of issues before I slightly improved the building enclosure, this small change pushed the house off the cliff, causing a failure.

Once a comprehensive building investigation has been conducted identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the building, we can now begin to incorporate the opportunities and threats portion of the SWOT theory.

The “opportunity” portion is determining how to utilize the weaknesses or deficiencies of the home to develop a scope of work to make improvements.  Starting with the original reason for the renovation, which could be an addition or room renovation, cladding or window replacement, and so on, we add to the scope the deficiencies identified by the building investigation.  An opportunity could be adding gutters to assist in the management of bulk water.  The addition of continuous exterior insulation before recladding could be another opportunity.  Maybe the air tightness of the structure could be improved before the continuous insulation is installed, by taping the seams of the existing wall sheathing, or replacing a mechanically attached WRB with a self-adhered (Henry Blueskin, Siga Majvest SA, etc…) or a fluid applied product (Prosoco Cat V).

Often budget restrictions will not allow for a comprehensive scope of work covering all the weaknesses to be addressed.  The scope should be defined in the order of importance, with the health of the occupants as most important in the sequencing, then the structure durability and energy efficiency improvements.  The builder and homeowner will need to determine which priorities are incorporated in the final scope of work.

The “threat” idea is how can these improvements affect the overall operation of the home?  How can we screw up the strengths and opportunities?  Will the changes of a renovation create future problems?  There are tools to help with this assessment, energy and WUFI modeling are two.  Experience is probably the biggest.  Every building investigation a building scientist or practitioner performs leads to a better understanding of what works, what is risky, and what should not be done.  This knowledge is often climate based.  My understanding of building science is greatest in cold and very cold climates.  I have an understanding of the science in hot and humid and hot and dry climates, but I don’t actively work in those areas, so my experience is only what I read or in trainings I take.

Let’s go back to the roof and window replacement experience I discussed earlier.  Performing a comprehensive building analysis may have identified the deficiencies in the ceiling air barrier.  Improving the air barrier would have reduced the attic frost risk.  But, improving the air tightness level of the home might also affect the draft of the lone atmospherically vented propane water heater, causing spillage to occur.  Thinking through the threats isn’t always a straight line.

Who can perform a SWOT analysis on a home?  A contractor with a good understanding of building science and who has the tools and the training to perform a building investigation (blower door, thermal imaging camera, air quality monitors, tools to track air leakage, humidity and moisture meters, and possibly combustion appliance zone and duct tightness testing) could produce a good building investigation.  Chances are it will be an energy auditor or other building science professional who regularly performs building investigations.  The problem is that there are not a lot of those people in the residential construction community.  A second issue is cost, it can take up to a week’s worth of time (or more on large or very complicated structures) to investigate, test, produce the report and suggest a sequenced scope of work outlining the opportunities and threats.  Costs can be in the thousands of dollars.

Not performing a SWOT analysis can easily result in those thousands of dollars being used on remedying the missed “Threats”.  I’ve been involved with a few of those investigations over the years, by the time I’m contacted, the contractor has already spent time and money trying to remedy the issues and is apprehensive to spend thousands more to provide a comprehensive solution.

I’ve been thinking about the idea of using SWOT as a construction renovation tool for the past couple of years.  I recently included the idea in a live training PowerPoint presentation.  I’d like to hear from the readers of the Northern Built blog on their thoughts of the idea.  Should a complete, formal training be developed?  Would it be helpful for your projects?  Please leave a comment with your thoughts.

This blog first appeared on the Green Buildering Advisor website.

5 Replies to “Using S.W.O.T. to Help Develop a Scope of Work”

  1. Thanks Randy.

    Been enjoying your very excellent, professional info-sharing for a while now. Good on you for investing your time to help others.

    We’re over in Bayfield, and have been frustrated by the lack of skill and qualifications of the local construction services. That said, there’s a few that seem to to be good -but- they’re booked out for years. :0(

    The latest service we that hired to convert an outbuilding to a greenhouse was so overextended he ended up making basic mistakes (i.e., not following product installation instructions, not following the plan’s architectural details, and more) They’re are several plumb and level errors to boot.

    Just wondering if you know of, or might be able to refer us to some one in the area who is competent? Understanding that you may not want to – which is ok.

    As far as you question, whether you should take the time to build and try to monetize training materials — the comment that comes to mind is “not if you want the effort to realize payback compensation.”
    Even a cursory scan of the online training market show saturation. Both public and private schools will be moving more aggressively into the space than ever before. Not to mention out-of-job talent in most every other field.

    2 cents.

    Thank you again Randy for your fine work!
    Hope you enjoy the upcoming heatwave ;0)

    1. Hi Bruce,

      Thanks for the comment! I appreciate your take on making an income in online training, and you are correct, there’s a lot of content already available.

      As for contractors in your market, I’m sorry, I don’t know anyone in your area. I do know of a resource you can check though. Building Performance Institute (BPI) has a list of contractors on their website who have received their certifications, mostly covering existing housing. Might be an opportunity to find the right person through them. http://www.BPI.org.

      Good luck!
      Randy

  2. Randy,

    I’ve been involved in residential construction since I was old enough to swing a hammer. After some college, I was hired by a residential contractor focusing on high-end and high-performance projects. With a chip on my shoulder, I had then moved into the remodeling industry and into the bidding and project management world. Boy did I have a lot to learn…

    With this being said, I wish there had been training on methods for proper scope of work development or building investigation that could have better guided me and made my mistakes less painful. I think that today’s homeowner is much more likely to be interested in improving systems that effect the lifespan, efficiency, and quality of living within their home than in the past. This makes training on SWOT or other methods much more desirable for modern contractors. I would definitely be interested.

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