Construction Software Evaluation Checklist

When evaluating construction software, you may subconsciously follow the Goldilocks Principle — you don’t want software that’s too simple, nor software that’s too complex. Rather, construction software which you believe is 'just right.'

To reach this point in your evaluation process, you must identify which features of construction management software are important to you and which features are not. To help you do this successfully, we’ve put together a simple checklist of construction software features which we think are necessary for construction projects to succeed.

Here’s a short description of what you need and why:

A blueprint app for the jobsite

To go paperless in the field for improved productivity, you must carefully select construction software that offers mobile plan viewing and document management. You need an easy way to view your drawings without needing to carry around paper copies of plans. A construction management app which offers mobile markup tools will further simplify your life onsite as you’ll be able to add things like markups (lines, highlighters, clouds, arrows, and text), annotations, and progress photos directly to your drawings from the field. This way, you don’t need to reprint a drawing set every time a change is made — saving you more time and money on your construction projects.

As-built drawing software

As you know, it’s critical to keep your drawings up-to-date when new changes are made, otherwise you risk working from an outdated plan. To avoid this from happening on your jobsite, invest in a construction app that automates version control and identifies conflicts for you between old and new plans. This level of transparency ensures no wires get crossed and keeps production moving without significant waste.

Task management software

At Fieldwire, we believe tasks should clearly define work so that you know where you need to go each day and what to do once you get there. That’s why it’s important to implement construction task management software that gives you these answers on any device, in real-time. For jobsite productivity to improve, you need software that gives you the ability to:

• Attach tasks directly to plans.
• Assign tasks to others.
• Set priority levels for tasks.
• Organize tasks using categories or checklists.
• See an overview of your tasks for a given day, week, or month.

Construction scheduling software

In order to avoid construction waste on your next project, you need flexible, transparent, and lean scheduling software. For easy crew scheduling and progress tracking, try construction scheduling software that offers a Kanban board, Gantt chart, or Calendar view of tasks]. Having the ability to easily extend deadlines, drag-and-drop tasks, and quickly see into the future will help you avoid project overrun and scheduling conflicts.

A punch list app for the jobsite

Punch lists are commonly tackled towards the end of a project when deadlines are tight and workers are exhausted. Which, in turn, increases error and prolongs project turnover. So, it’s critical that you invest in a construction punch list app that streamlines the punch process. You want to be able to add and annotate punch items on-the-fly using a mobile or tablet, and instantly generate punch list reports directly from the field. This way, you can conduct more efficient site walkthroughs and reach close-out faster.

Customizable construction reporting software

Towards the end of a construction project, reporting can be a headache, but not if you’re using automated construction reporting software. In the click of a button, you should be able to generate and download PDF reports and CSV files to share with others from the field or office. More importantly, you should be able to customize those reports for different project members. With Fieldwire’s custom form builder, you can make modifications to our six existing forms — daily reports, safety audit forms, QA/QC inspection checklists, request for information (RFI) forms, timesheet forms, and time and materials (T&M) forms — or build your own entirely from scratch. It’s never been so easy!

The best part about Fieldwire’s construction management software is that it combines all of these six, essential features in one platform. And, based on the plan you select, Fieldwire offers varying features — some being simple and some being complex. That way, you can easily choose the plan that’s ‘just right’ for you. Start evaluating today!