Quality Management System Primer

Published Monday, December 31, 2012

Building high performing homes (HPH) that are energy efficient, durable, comfortable, and safe to live in does not simply require knowledge of building science principles. It also requires the ability to properly design, specify, and install new technologies and systems. Quality management systems (QMS) provide the infrastructure necessary to ensure repeatability as well as manage continual improvement to increase first time quality, reduce warranty, and increase customer satisfaction. As a result, QMS is needed as the industry shifts from building conventional to HPH and ultimately state-of-the-art homes such those meeting the DOE’s Challenge Home.

This guide is designed to help a builder understand quality management and its role in transitioning from conventional to HPH building and remodeling. It addresses the typical quality management systems for new home construction, and also provides context for the use of quality management in existing homes. It explains what quality means, the value of QMS, the unique need for QMS when building HPH, and the first steps to a implementing a comprehensive QMS.

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