Construction delays are common—whether you’re planning a home expansion, building an apartment complex or constructing a sprawling mixed-use development.
In fact, one study found that as many as 70% of large construction projects are delayed, most often because of change orders. And those late projects can be costly. As crews rush to finish the work, the price tag goes up for everything from overtime for the workers to an extended need for portable toilets, construction trailers, dumpsters and more.
But, those added construction costs aren’t the only losses when work doesn’t finish on time. When projects are late, the space—whether it’s office, retail or residential—can’t be occupied and doesn’t earn the rent that it should be generating for the building’s owner.
That can add up to a lot of money as rates for Class A office space, multi-family rentals and commercial retail space all are on the rise. And it’s the project’s owner who loses out on the revenue.
These days, it’s especially critical that owners, and not just contractors, have full visibility into their projects to ensure they are staying on schedule, on budget and managed efficiently. And, thanks to new technology that allows for a connected jobsite, it’s possible.
Manual processes not working
During the pre-construction period, of course, a project is mapped out as contractors estimate how long it will take to pour concrete, install HVAC systems or hang drywall. But bad weather, design issues, scope creep, failure to get permits in a timely manner and other factors can all set back progress despite the best laid plans.
Until recently, one of the biggest hurdles on a construction site was that it was almost impossible to monitor what was happening at any given time. Locating which trades were present or where materials were located, for example, often required supervisors to physically walk across a work site to get answers.
That lack of visibility has made it difficult for anybody managing a project to gain real-time insights into how a project is doing and pull out actionable information to make the current project—and the next one—run more efficiently.
A connected jobsite can help
But, now, with a connected jobsite, project owners, along with contractors, can better monitor the progress of a project, uncover inefficiencies and dive into real-time reports to ensure that a project finishes on time—or, at least, as soon as possible.
And, with Spot-r, that’s exactly what project owners are doing. For project owners, it has several benefits. The technology:
- Replaces paper timesheets. The Spot-r Clip automatically logs workers in and out as they enter and leave the Spot-r network at a rate that is 12 times faster than paper sign-in sheets. On a two-year project with about 100 workers, that could save about 5,136 production hours—or nearly $225,000 in wages.
- Singles out sources of waste. That might include under-resourced jobs, bottlenecks and other opportunities to boost operations. One Spot-r user, for example, uncovered that workers were spending nearly 25% of their time in transit to get materials. With the information, the contractor moved the materials stockpile closer to the work area, so workers wasted less time.
- Provides rich insights. Thanks to a cloud-based platform, it’s easy to share update reports and other information to improve communication and collaboration, so, when work slows down, everybody is on the same page to get it back on track.
If you’re tired of construction delays eating into your profits, contact us to learn how you leverage a more efficient, connected jobsite.
