Zero-defect quality is a quality management philosophy holding that a project should aim for no defects at all, rather than accepting a certain baseline rate of defects as an unavoidable cost of doing business, shifting the goal from managing an expected level of rework to genuinely preventing it in the first place.
The philosophy originated outside construction, in manufacturing quality management, but has gained real traction on projects where defect tolerance is especially low given the consequences of getting it wrong: healthcare facilities, life-sciences and cleanroom environments, and other specialized building types where even a minor quality lapse can have outsized downstream consequences for occupant safety or facility function.
