How to eliminate inefficiencies & improve cost management on construction projects.
For many specialist subcontractors, there is an established process for managing the commercial aspects of a project at each stage - from estimating and tendering, through to practical completion.
However, this often means the business has isolated systems with data stored in many different places. And this causes various inefficiencies that need remedying. This blog explores both the inefficiencies and offers solutions.
Time consuming tasks & inefficient processes
Multiple systems
Spreadsheets are currently an essential part of many construction businesses, with specially created documents used for estimating, procurement, tracking project progress, managing variations and cost reporting.
Email is also commonly used for tracking orders, deliveries and invoices for materials.
Even though much of the data is stored digitally it will often be in different formats and located on a mix of local computers, company servers and in the cloud.
There is no common source for people within the business to work from.
Data duplication
Using multiple, separate systems often means that data has to be re-entered or manually transferred from one to another as the project progresses.
This not only wastes time that could be used for more productive tasks, but it also increases the possibility of error.
Tedious admin
Ultimately, fragmented data equates to wasted time. Hours are often lost following ‘paper trails’ to answer internal invoice queries. Multiply this across several sites and projects, and the admin is extremely time consuming for the entire business.
Difficulty reporting
Information silos can make meaningful reporting difficult, time consuming or even impossible.
With the data held in so many different places and formats, both on site and in the office, obtaining a clear picture of project or business performance as a whole can be challenging.
Added to this is the complication that any assessment will usually be based on information that is quickly out of date - due to the time required to collate and analyse the information.
Clear and up to date reporting is essential to ensure that decisions that will impact revenues, costs and, ultimately, the profitability of the business are based on accurate information.
But there is a solution.
Cost management software
Chalkstring provides the answer to these issues. It's an all-in-one, cloud-based cost management solution for all stages of the project from tender to final account.
And, it's been developed specifically for specialist subcontractors.
Chalkstring provides a centralised database for all financial information relating to each project and the business as a whole. And it standardises processes business-wide, allowing for easier collaboration between colleagues.
Chalkstring enables the project life-cycle to be managed from within a single system, from initial take-off, estimating and value engineering, through to procurement, variations, valuations and labour payments.
And, importantly, it provides a 360° view of all live project data and makes cost reporting simple at every stage.
This makes it easy to see how each project is currently performing and progressing to help:
- understand costs, revenues & profit
- predict cashflow
- understand liabilities
- allow corrective action to be taken where an issue is identified.
How Brebur benefits
Our work with Brebur, a leading specialist steel framing system (SFS), plastering and suspended ceiling subcontractor, demonstrates the real efficiency savings that can be achieved by using Chalkstring.
The business has reported that estimating is now completed twice as quick, as they use a single database containing pricing and templates.
The Brebur team is also able to complete valuations in 15 minutes rather than half a day.
And internal invoice queries have reduced by 95% due to full visibility of what was ordered, delivered and invoiced.
To find out more, hear from Jamie Brenton, MD at Brebur, in our case study video here.
Summary
The data fragmentation and information silos that are created when separate systems are used for project cost management can result in serious inefficiencies, lost time and reduced productivity.
All-in-one cost management solutions, such as Chalkstring, eliminate many of these inefficiencies and streamline processes across the lifecycle of a project to deliver substantial benefits.
If you're interested in seeing how Chalkstring could be a game changer for your business, get in touch.
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