Construction has a reputation for taking longer than one may anticipate. Hindrance caused by lack of coordination between contractors or unexpected delays often causes more and more of a setback than anticipated, and thus the question persists of how production can be improved in the construction industry.
The establishment of anything, specifically the construction of a large project, can be compared to that of a machine; it is deeply complex, and it is the components of a machine that make it function efficiently. Any faulty or rusted aspect may become a point of struggle, which may reduce the efficiency as stated in the former – and when this ability is lost, profit will be at stake, along with arguably the most important thing: time.
Construction Pain Points
There are numerous aspects in which productivity can be improved in the construction industry. From the perspective of an engineer, there are two inquiries: where are the first failures, and what are the points of struggle? They are as follows:
Poor Planning
Poor Communication
Poor Management
Poor Data Management
Poor Labor
Analyzing each one of these areas can suggest where the faults first begin, and how they can be prevented initially to increase productivity and save time and money.
Poor Planning
Planning is a crucial part of construction and having contingencies in case of any failure is a vital part of construction. Considering that plans may always fail, it is important to note that poor planning plays a considerable role in the delay of construction work.
The scheduling and let alone planning of a project is not an easy task. It is undoubtedly an agonizing experience to schedule a time for subcontractors only for them to arrive at the incorrect time or not at all. Or to produce a Gantt Chart that has the possibility and likelihood of being ignored as time goes on due to the dynamic changes with the project. Stressors such as these, and many more, are part of the difficult task of planning where the initial fault of construction-related work begins.
Rarely ever is it possible to update project plans as they progress, let alone do it exceedingly well. However, with construction management software like Sablono, it is made possible to even plan out an entire project, such as its use for the Dubai Uptown Tower.
By planning ahead of time and consulting with Project Managers and Engineers, Sablono can create above and beyond 250,000 individual activities for all entities involved in a construction project. The software can then create charts, graphs, and other visualizations to show the entire construction crew exactly what is supposed to be done – where and when, and in what order. It is even possible to invite subcontractors beforehand to populate the Sablono activity list with activities necessary that project management may have missed. All these features assist with creating a well-thought-out plan before going into construction.
To make future planning even better, Sablono does not just fulfill a duty in the planning phase. Sablono can actively be used during the construction phase to update the construction schedule in real-time based on completeness from contractors and subcontractors. Sablono even offers the ability for an automatic three week look-ahead schedule. Which then can be adjusted from your baseline to your need.
Poor Communication
You may have found frustration when attempting to contact a subcontractor who may or may not be on-site and they are unreachable. Maybe you are a subcontractor trying to find a superintendent or engineer for a critical question and you called them, checked the office trailer, and searched the entire site and they are still unfound. Maybe you have witnessed poor communication between tradesmen such as an electrician needing to get into a wall for wiring but the painters have already come through that hallway multiple times. Then later, another problem promulgates and other tradesmen like the carpenters need to go back into the same room with said wall. And then it most likely will require the painters to spend more time and labor on a task they have completed multiple times.
It is hard to communicate on a construction site. Issues arise from typical construction dangers to being lack of phone service, to limits on the ability to relay every detail of work done in a written daily report to the engineers. But communication can be different.
With Sablono, communication becomes centralized and clear. It also allows subcontractors to input what work was done and where the work was completed directly into the central system for all involved parties to see. It also becomes clear if a subcontractor is needed on-site for the day, half a day, or not until another trade finishes work in a location before them. Sablono can clarify if material is en route or located on-site or necessitates an order. With the long delays of ordering material in 2022, it would be particularly beneficial to the project for this information to be clear and widely available.
Perhaps the best way Sablono can improve poor communication to increase productivity is a unique feature of its centralized data system. With Sablono, after the project management team creates the activities and specifies the order and where they can be completed, tradesmen can access this information from their phones. This streamlines the process of communication between trades and reduces mistakes and delays that may cost time and money. The tradesmen will see what activity they must complete and then update the system from their phones regarding their completion. This then updates the entire project and allows management to have a clear authority to refer to when concerned about the status of a particular task, instead of talking in circles at meetings.
Poor Management
Labor cannot be directed without project management. One party must be the ultimate leader of any project and provide authority over what activities must be completed where and when. Project management often plays this role in construction activities. So, please imagine the frustration in a situation where a project has a talented group of tradesmen but direction and authority become very unclear from project management for a large-scale project.
But Sablono can mitigate poor management and increase productivity with exceptional tools for management. Having an objective authority on the project at any given time, it allows project management to provide clearer directions and future paths to construction completion. Also, with the help of management tools such as charts and floor plan visualizations of the project, it provides tradesmen with clear direction and guidance for their work.
Sablono also assists in providing answers to subcontractors regarding lead times, resource allocations, and performance of trades. It eases information sharing regarding material needs and provides the tradesmen with schedules for missing material. For the project management role, it allows metrics for which trades appear to be performing poorly. Which, if mismanaged, will become the critical piece of machinery that slows down the entire project. Oftentimes, it is clear who may at fault, but Sablono can make it appear more clear and it can even provide the information plainly to the tradesmen who will take the initiative to catch up on their own merit.
One of the most important features for management lets Sablono provide budgeting and cost-analysis tools. This helps save productivity and can improve the overall efficiency of the construction project. It can indicate places in the construction process where money must be conserved and budgeted more, while also providing places in the process where a decision can be made to provide more funding or to save more money.
Poor Data Management
A large-scale construction project creates an enormous amount of data. This data is typically captured weekly, daily, or at other time intervals in reports. It is not unusual to eventually have reports for these reports once a project becomes extremely large and unwieldy to disseminate information effectively.
It is also quite difficult and time consuming to sift through and fully store all of the information that may come in daily from tradesmen and inspectors. It is also uncommon to have an employee specifically hired to do such a specific task. But the great news is that you will not have to.
Since there is an enormous amount of information created on a construction site it would be better to have a centralized location for all data for all necessary persons to access. With Sablono, the data can be stored and shared in a digestible manner. Instead of having to sift through reports and inspections and have the information only saved within the fallible heads of the site engineers and superintendents, it will be available to everyone. By using Sablono as a library of data for all on and off-site production, it democratizes the availability of information to all parties involved. And Sablono increases construction productivity since tradesmen and foremen do not have to spend time on excessive reporting that may get lost and saved digitally from its paper form. It can even provide a home to store information regarding inspectors’ reports and the site engineer’s interpretation and sharing of the reports and data. This information is then shareable with other superintendents, engineers, subcontractors, clients, etc. instead of having to rely on manual transmission via word of mouth, emails, or other types of reporting.
Poor Labor
Lastly and critically, poor labor may be the most important aspect in a reduction in construction productivity. Whether the tradesmen are not on schedule, never requested the materials they needed, not coordinating with other tradesmen or management, or being absent when they were expected. Poor labor can bring construction productivity to a halt, which costs time and money.
By using the integration Sablono provides, you can combine the great data management tools to identify which areas of the construction process are falling behind schedule. This uses performance metrics to find which tradesmen or processes require more management attention. Just arming management with the information that these areas require managing allows them to direct attention towards the situation before it becomes an issue or a problem. Mitigating issues in the construction process will greatly increase construction productivity and ease the time between the end of the project and the present.
Sablono can also provide direct information on which subcontractors or tradesmen are not updating their completed progress. It can also provide the requested daily or weekly reports to prove which trades are doing their jobs most effectively. More importantly, however, it will allow management to keep track of which trades are not as productive as other trades.
Improve Your Construction Productivity
As you can see, construction can take an enormous amount of energy and time. It is in everyone’s best interest to increase and maintain high productivity on the construction site of large projects at all times. When maintaining a high productivity, time and money can be saved project-wide. By using Sablono, you can identify and deal with problems that may arise from the typical pain points in construction as follows:
Poor Planning
Poor Communication
Poor Management
Poor Data Management
Poor Labor
If you want to mitigate all of these issues on your next large project, then give Sablono a try!