5 Reasons to Start Using a Construction Project Management App
One of the easiest ways to connect the field and office is with a construction management app. Since 83.1% of JBKnowledge respondents find mobile devices to be very important in construction. Tablets and smartphones are increasingly common on the construction site, so any construction management software must work on them. If that isn’t reason enough to switch, here are 5 reasons to start using a construction management app.
Table of Contents
1. Schedule and Management
Using a construction management app gives you and your crew the ability to see the schedule for any given project on any given day. Project schedules are usually made in advance and updated based on real-time knowledge. They serve as an important tool in construction management, as such, it’s important to ensure that they’re accurate. By using a construction management app, the foreman or supervisor can use the schedule to see where equipment is supposed to be and when. They can see where the project should be and update the schedule to match project actuals.
Supervisors and your crew wouldn’t have access to this up-to-date information in the field if it wasn’t for a construction management app. It saves your crew time and money when they can see everything as it happens in real-time.
2. Communication
A good construction management app will help you manage your communications. By linking your phone and email, or logging screenshots in the app, you have a log of all communications. This comes in handy when you have Requests For Information (RFIs), Change Orders, or Submittals. When you send the documents in emails through the app you can be immediately notified when you get approval. This also keeps any and all important information in one project folder location.
If something goes wrong and you have to go to court, it’s incredibly beneficial to you. Because you will have a log of all calls, texts, and emails related to the project in one location. Everything is easy to access and easier to prove.
3. Project Management
If you’re looking for a construction management app, you’re probably interested in project management. A great construction management app will allow you to create and modify documents in the field as well as in the office. It will help you manage documents—you know where they are and how to locate them. It will help you manage resources through the schedules you can build and the saved employee and equipment roster.
By using a construction management app, you get all that plus you know it’s cloud-based. A cloud-based app saves everything in one location, so it can be accessed by multiple devices. It helps when you’re onboarding a new employee, and you know the data is secure.
4. Budget Management
Construction management apps can help with your budget management. They allow you to create and upload your project budgets. From there you can keep track of your budget, manage change orders, purchase orders, and submittals. So you know exactly how much is being spent, exactly how much is left in a project budget, and using the schedule you can see the end date of a project.
Having all of this information in one place also makes your life easier when you bid on other projects as well. You have all the information on how similar projects went and can use it to build better project proposals.
5. Time Cards and Time Management
Along with budgeting is time cards and time management. Currently, many construction companies have their workers fill out timesheets. Timesheets get lost or can be hard to read. Most employees fill them out the day they’re due rather than in the moment. It means your office and accounting employees have to spend valuable time tracking down timecards and people in order to clarify things.
Time cards and timesheets can be done easily and effortlessly through some construction management apps. Most have the foremen or supervisors clock their crew in and out through the app. However, industry leaders like eSUB Construction Software, are integrating GPS tracked punch clocks directly into the app. That way your employees can punch in and out of work from their phones, and you have the added benefit of knowing if they were at the site.
Switching to a Construction Project Management App
Construction is going to continue to see a rise in both personal devices and company-owned devices in the field. And the construction software industry is still young and growing to fit the industry needs. That’s why now is the best time to switch from traditional construction management methods to an app.