I was prompted by a long standing pothole down the centre of the road outside my house . The gang turned up early on Sat and filled in the pothole in accordance with the worksheet and the yellow markings - they made a really neat job - but were not able to fix the growing extensions to this pothole that had opened up since the original one was surveyed. No doubt the extended damage will get repaired within 6 months - with an additional 'setting up' cost for the gang - and more joints in the patchwork.
I was wondering if there might be a way of saving some of the overheads - eg. The survey - the man with the wheel on a stick, the yellow marking, the compiling of it all into a tender document and specification, receiving bids / costings, approving the work, etc.
Replace all this non-value-adding activity with a suitably empowered gang with the materials, tools and the standards to go forth and fix problems - for audit purposes they would be required to take "before and after" photos and quantify the materials used. The result would be more common sense being applied and a reduction of overheads and lead times.
(But if this could be managed I wonder if the maintenance contractors where I work could fix the steam leak outside their door - as no managers will raise a formal request as it isn't on their own territory)