How to Streamline Construction Processes from Planning to Payments

We already know that 70 percent of a contractor’s workday is spent idling; coordinating tasks, waiting for equipment, and searching for information. Meaning only 30 percent of a contractor's day is spent doing the real work they’re trained to do; the work that keeps production moving.

For wrench time to improve, contractors need tools that allow for real-time sharing of information and seamless coordination of tasks. Throughout all six stages of construction — from planning through to payment — contractors need flexible, reliable, and cloud-based software that streamlines and simplifies workflows to save them time and money onsite.

Sounds good, right? Follow these three steps to execute your next construction project on-time and on-budget:

1. Unite tasks, plans, and schedules in one place

Once the project initiation and planning phase is complete, the real work can begin. Typically, according to GenieBelt, “the project team begins the crucial work of assigning resources, implementing project management plans, setting up tracking systems, completing tasks, updating the project schedule, and if necessary, modifying the project plan.”

Imagine you’re a contractor using a separate tool to complete every one of those tasks. You’d end up wasting valuable time jumping from one tool to the next, risk losing important information, and ultimately, delay project progress which hurts your bottom line. To prevent this from happening on your next project, consider using construction task management software that gives you one place to manage your tasks, plans, and schedules.

Fieldwire’s task management app, for example, lets workers:

• Attach tasks directly to plans,
• Assign tasks to others,
• Set priority levels for tasks,
• Organize tasks using categories or checklists,
• And see an overview of their tasks for a given day, week, or month — all from one place.

It’s Kanban board, Gantt chart, and Calendar view of tasks also allows for seamless crew scheduling and progress tracking. Having the ability to easily extend deadlines, drag-and-drop tasks, and quickly see into the future will help contractors and owners avoid project cost overrun and scheduling conflicts.

2. Reach close-out faster with a punch list app

The performance and monitoring stage in construction is necessary for tracking progress. Punch lists come into play in this phase to ensure the work carried out is to spec and within scope. To avoid missing punch items and costly rework, contractors should consider a construction punch list app that streamlines and simplifies the entire punch process. This way, they can add and annotate punch items on-the-fly using a mobile or tablet, instantly generate punch list reports directly from the field, and conduct more efficient site walkthroughs to reach close-out faster.

Towards the end of a construction project, reporting also comes into play. And, if contractors aren’t using automated construction reporting software, it can become a painful process. With the press of a button, jobsite teams should be able to generate and download PDF reports and CSV files to share with others from the field or office. More importantly, they should be able to customize those reports for different project members. With the likes of a construction custom form builder, contractors can easily modify 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 their own entirely from scratch. It’s never been so easy!

3. Streamline your payment process for successful projects

Once all punch list items have been resolved and project reports are in, a final budget is handed down and the payment due is handed over. However, it’s not as simple as it sounds. Red tape has turned the payment process into a stress-filled nightmare that results in slow-pay cycles, bullying, burdensome paperwork, and costly disputes. Construction payment software like Levelset helps contractors and suppliers get payment under control at the start of a project, facilitating seamless payments and successful outcomes. It helps contractors avoid payment problems and get paid faster to reduce the payment cycle by up to 80% and improve your bottom line. Levelset does this by providing help with:

• Sending free Preliminary Notices to speed up payment.
• Free Lien Waivers exchange.
• Filing a Mechanics Lien or Bond Claim in minutes.
• Free state-by-state learning center for construction payments.
• Free expert help from lawyers.
• Easy guides to prompt payment laws.
• Free forms for Pay Applications and other common payment docs.
• Managing Retainage on large projects.
• Understanding and utilizing Joint Checks.
• Avoiding poor contract terms like Pay When Paid.

To ensure your payment process runs as smoothly as your project management, we’re teaming up with Levelset to dig deeper into cash flow problems — to understand what is causing them and how construction companies like yours deal with them.

Taking part in this 5-minute construction cash flow survey will help us shed light on the most effective ways to deal with issues related to cash flow. We want to help you and your peers in the industry understand you’re not alone when facing payment problems and offer you some simple solutions. To learn more about the survey, please read this helpful blog post. Thank you in advance for your time!