The construction site is a highly dynamic work environment with complex processes happening at the same time. Even the simplest of construction projects require a multitude of people to interact and collaborate in order to produce deliverables.
If information is not communicated and managed properly, it is highly likely that the construction activities involved will result in disruptions of schedules and timelines and an overall delay in project delivery. However, if progress among the different construction activities is communicated between teams in a timely manner, delays and other risks are greatly reduced.
Learn when you shouldn’t submit a delay claim in construction
Organizing and managing a construction project requires a myriad of skills from various construction professionals. Construction is definitely not a walk in the park. It is a huge scale operation prone to delays and overruns. But, there are available hacks that can help improve the current construction processes. One of those hacks involves the big role that communication and reporting play—the adaptation of technology that incorporates both.
A real-time collaboration tool that facilitates instant and up-to-date communication and reporting can greatly impact project management especially with regards to gaining insights from individual activities of a project task.
In this article, we will try to present to you how construction teams can ensure instant progress reporting so that they can successfully deliver their projects on time and on budget.
5 Main Steps to Avoiding Delays in Construction
1. Invest in mobile reporting
Going digital with your reporting process is the first step to a data-driven construction project. There are plenty of reliable digital solutions that can help you implement mobile reporting and enable your teams to submit updates from the site with the click of a button.
Like that, project managers and project directors can get instant access to critical information from the construction site and communicate real-time progress back to the office or the client in no time.
Investing in a mobile reporting system allows you also to automatically create daily, weekly and monthly reports while being able to attach photos, activity logs, task information, etc.
In other words, reports can be automatically generated and sent through the digital tool you are using or emailed as PDFs. Most importantly, you can report work progress as you go about your tasks and you can document quality and safety compliance to stay on top of construction regulations.
In that sense, mobile reporting leads to better and more direct communication. Choose the correct digital solution that will allow you to share issues as they emerge on-site and start preventing delays in your project.
2. Store all captured data in a central repository
Capturing your data from the field is one thing, but finding the right place to store this precious information is another. You should always go for a tool that will allow you to gather all your data in a cloud-based and collaborative central repository.
This allows the project manager or director to virtually manage all project tasks and detect quickly if there is any crucial information missing. Like that, there is no room for mistakes or misunderstandings. On top of that, all project agents and stakeholders are also able to access the collected feedback regardless of where they are so that they have a clear view over their own to-do’s.
In a sentence, a centralized repository facilitates better collaboration and empowers project managers to better manage documents, submittals, daily reports, etc.
3. Connect with your teams on a regular basis
The construction delivery process is becoming increasingly collaborative with the emerging growth of cloud-based construction software and app solutions that ensure fast and accurate digital workflows. This kind of connected workflow has a very positive impact on team collaboration.
By implementing the right construction technology platform, you can connect your teams regularly, enable multi-party collaboration and integrate workflow processes.
An established instant and constant connection among your team members greatly reduces the time required for communication, adds clarity to the existing workflows and accelerates decision-making.
4. Link the progress updates from the site to the tasks
It is important that the updates you send and receive are automatically linked to their respective tasks and activities. Unless swimming in a sea of information with no relevant context is your idea of fun, it is essential to find the right digital tool that can provide a complete audit trail of all on-site activities related to specific construction tasks.
Lots of hours can be saved by tracking updates immediately with task history and digitized comments, hence avoiding manual processes. This greatly contributes to a reduction in delays caused by manual audit tracing of construction activities and tasks.
Get the right tool that’s customizable to your construction business needs. There are various construction project management software and app solutions out there that can provide a full audit trail for each activity progress of your construction tasks and jobs. Save time, avoid delays, and greatly reduce unnecessary administrative load.
5. Standardize your processes and invest in predictability
The standardization of construction processes has shown many benefits. Gibb and Isack (2001) found that standardization reduces cost and positively impacts construction processes. Standardized processes enable the project team members and stakeholders to understand what is required from particular team members and by when.
Standardizing your construction processes will gradually result in repeatable, predictable and measurable processes that result in high-quality deliverables, reasonable costs and effective product delivery.
Utilize a real-time construction technology platform that enables the standardization of your construction processes and workflows. Investing in repeatability and predictability leads to less unplanned costs, shorter lead-in times, reduced delays and other operational benefits.
Conclusion
Relying on instant progress reporting can help you avoid construction delays, improve communication between site teams, streamline construction processes, and control costs. It also facilitates quick access to relevant data and ensures responsive communication with and among the crucial project players.
In that way, all project stakeholders can make better decisions faster so that they can deliver on time and bring trust back in contractual relationships.
