The fact that clients expect the highest quality work from you isn’t going to change. It’s expected…and rightfully so.

The problem is that the projects we work on in this industry present plenty of opportunity for mistakes. These mistakes will often be extremely expensive, and there’s nowhere to make up the cost, except to dip into your profits.

That hurts everyone in your firm. So, to make up for the loss, you try to spend your way out of the problem. To you recoup the cost in your billings, you charge more, which undermines your ability to win the projects you really want to work on. Charge less, and you run the risk of losing money on the projects you do get!

PSMJ’s book Total Quality Project Management for the Design Firm presents a smart alternative to this “Catch 22.”

Ensuring a high level of quality doesn’t have to be a costly proposition. Total Quality Project Management teaches A/E project managers how to head off problems before they become problems by transforming the thinking and refining the processes the project team relies on to push their projects through to completion. Upon applying the tactics and strategies covered in this book, every member of a project team will become part of an efficient, cost-effective, highly-motivated quality control machine.

Co-authors Frank A. Stasiowski, FAIA, PSMJ’s founder and CEO, and project management expert David Burstein, PE, outline how the Total Quality Project Management methodology can be applied to the entire range of potential design project problems—from sales and administration to budgeting and much more. With real-life examples of Total Quality Project Management working in a variety of contexts and applications, this book provides clear, easy-to-follow guidance on:

• Identifying quality problems on studies, design projects, and construction projects
• A fresh approach to improving administration, marketing, and management
• Keeping your clients happy
• Implementing TQPM in your firm—and making your project team competitive

Stasiowski and Burstein not only reshape your fundamental attitudes about quality, but they also reveal how to eliminate those expensive, profit-threatening quality control problems from your organization forever.

The book also comes complete with numerous forms useful for self-analysis, evaluation, and action as well as a convenient glossary of terms, checklists, and references to more specialized reading.

A must for design firm managers determined to boost their firm’s bottom line, Total Quality Project Management for the Design Firm is a blueprint and handbook for restyling your organization into an efficient, cost-effective design firm.