Trick or Treat? Preventing 5 Common Construction Horror Stories

Facing our Fears

What is your worst fear as a contractor? Is it going over budget on a project? Not having the skilled labor you need to finish projects on time? An accident on the jobsite? That’s all spooky stuff. In honor of Halloween, we’re facing our fears and discussing those scary construction issues and mishaps — and how to prevent them. So here we go!

1. Going Over Budget on a Project or Not Finishing it on Time

These are scary enough to give any contractor chills. But they're also the most common construction challenges. There are a lot of things that can cause a project to go over budget or cause project delays: misquoted estimates, untimely approvals, noncompliant or mismanaged subs, accidents and even the weather!

Thankfully, with the right technology, you don’t have to be afraid. Modern, integrated construction management software will help ensure that you can stay on time and under budget on every project. Using estimating software can help you simplify bids, estimates and financial project planning so that you’ll start your projects with the right figures budgeted for time, materials and labor. Once the job begins, having real-time access to project and job cost data that integrated, cloud-based software provides can ensure your project is moving forward as expected. These systems can automate workflows, provide real-time data to make meaningful decisions and will flag any potential delays so you can address them in a timely manner and keep the job going.

2. Not Having the Right Team to Get the Job Done

Perhaps even more frightening is the thought of not having enough skilled workers to complete jobs effectively. Or, the wrong teams or workers assigned to the wrong projects. In recent years, fewer young people are choosing careers in the construction industry and more experienced professionals are getting closer to retirement. Planning for both current jobs and the future of your construction business can cause some concern, especially when it’s difficult to hire the skilled employees you need.

There are several courses of action to take to make sure your team continues to grow and flourish with the right talent to propel your company forward in the years to come. To start, it’s important to make sure your construction company has modern human resource management software to empower your teams to recruit, hire and onboard talent more efficiently. Solutions like Viewpoint HR Management allow your company to recruit a broader audience of construction talent, including more women and younger professionals, but it doesn’t stop there. Once the talent is found, these tools allow for quick, efficient drug-testing, onboarding and training to get new employees up and running faster. And finally, once they are hired, these solutions enable employees to self-serve for things like updating their personal information or requesting time off. This makes it easier for employees to take control of their information. And, with integrated workflows, project managers can ensure they have the right workers and skillsets assigned to the right jobs at all times.

3. Lack of Access to the Most Current Project Data

This nightmare may be a reality for you if your teams are currently operating with out of date, on-prem construction software. Pen and paper, email or other manual processes for data collection don’t allow the most current data to get to the right people in a timely manner. When data has to pass through different sets of hands and be entered manually, there is a high chance of error and miscommunication – a project nightmare for sure!

This doesn’t have to be your reality. Modern, integrated construction technologies are helping contractors realize real-time, automated data collection so that everyone is looking at the most recent, more accurate data in real time. Even with a loss of internet connection, data can be gathered and synced once a connection is restored so that a project doesn’t get behind and data doesn’t get lost.

4. Project Errors Leading to Costly Rework

Speaking of miscommunications and errors, one of the worst things that can happen on a jobsite is something getting built or assembled incorrectly. Not only can this lead to dangerous construction flaws, these mistakes require costly fixes through rework, added materials and labor and time delays. With average margins of 3%, there’s not much room for error on any given project. So, avoiding errors in the field is a high priority for any contractor.

By providing all team members access to real-time data and instant project updates, modern construction software can significantly reduce your project risks. Taking advantage of the cloud, these solutions can automate workflows in real time to ensure that important project changes are communicated to real time. And, with intuitive audit trails and built-in safeguards to ensure checks and balances like approvals and compliance tasks, errors can be further reduced and conflicts among team members are avoided.

5. A Safety Incident on the Jobsite

Safety is one of the construction industry’s biggest challenges. You might have seen recent news on deadly crane collapses or faulty bridge design causing injuries and death. Any safety incident on the jobsite is one too many. Yet with project delivery timelines becoming more and more demanding, the pressure is likely on for you team members to work faster and more efficiently. Sometimes, this can mean safety takes a back burner. But that should never be the case.

Today’s leading contractors when it comes to safety are putting rigid safety guidelines and best practices in place — often going above and beyond typical industry standards. So how do you ensure your project teams are all being properly trained, that new safety procedures are being regularly delivered, and that safety procedures are being properly tracked and measured? Through technology, of course! Leading modern construction software platforms have safety tracking workflows built in, complete with safety document management, workflows to facilitate training, HR certification processing and much more to ensure your team are operating at optimal safety conditions.

Put Fear to Rest

Managing construction project can be scary – certainly so without the right tools and technologies in place to help your teams perform their best at all times. Find out how a cloud-based, integrated construction management platform like ViewpointOne can help you rest a little easier at night. Connect with us today!