Construction Software Reduces Rework Cost Pressures

According to construction software firm Procore’s latest “How We Build Now” report, medium and small-sized businesses are working harder this year to reduce the current level of rework.

Large businesses are stuck in a 2019 time warp, spending 22 per cent of their time in 2020 re-visiting work they have already completed—the result being that rework continues to add significant cost pressure in terms of raw materials and labour for the industry.

For Spence Construction, transforming its construction management platform into a real-time centralised system with Procore has helped it address and overcome a broad range of construction management issues—especially solving the challenge of rework.

Before implementing Procore, Spence Construction relied on a spreadsheet-based single-use entry documentation system.

For Spence Construction business manager Tim Hassett, technology was a primary channel to unlock productivity and profitability.

Hassett’s mandate was clear: improve document management processes throughout the broader business, and create an easy-to-access central system.

“Manual data entry was increasing the risk of errors for the firm,” Hassett said.

“A lack of automation meant administration took more time than it should, and this resulted in bottlenecks each month and a lack of visibility across the business.”

Data capture will improve the bottom line

Businesses polled in Procore’s report estimated they could reduce project costs by 12 per cent if data is more efficiently captured, and the findings would then help inform business decisions.

With this goal in mind, Spence Construction planned its move to a cloud-based system to deliver robust data capture, standardisation and integration.

Procore Project Management, Incidents, Observations, Defects and Quality and Safety was implemented, with the firm also incorporating Procore Analytics, Project Financials: Real-Time Labour Costing, as well as the Correspondence Management Tool to enhance productivity.

“Procore lets us collaborate across a central platform from wherever we are, and this gives us real-time data to make more informed decisions every day.

“And with Procore Analytics, we can better measure the data, meaning we can better manage positive outcomes,” Hassett said.

Now with everyone in the business using Procore for some function or other on a daily basis, Spence Construction is collaborating more rapidly and effectively than in the past—and is able to administer more projects with the same amount of time and effort.

These results align Spence Construction with findings from the latest “How We Build Now” report: 53 per cent of large businesses, and 48 per cent of medium businesses believe investment in data capture, integration and standardisation will deliver better productivity outcomes.

Almost half—45 per cent—of both sized businesses think this type of investment will improve knowledge management and help with increasing regulatory compliance.

Meeting customer needs with better use of data

The construction firm now believes it has a competitive edge, as it can share the progress of projects with architects and owners and accurately report on the project status.

In addition, real-time updates help them price projects accordingly and avoid significant overruns.

“The bottom line benefit for us is a halving of errors which inevitably lead to rework and this, in turn, translates into a 50 per cent uplift in efficiency for on-site project management,” Hassett said.

For Spence Construction, the double down on technology will see it integrate Procore Analytics to enable greater process efficiency.

“We need to find ways to support continued growth without stretching our internal resources,” Hassett said.

“The Real-Time Labour Costing tool will help us analyse and understand our true cost of construction on every project—which in turn will power informed decisions from a tendering and job management perspective.”

Click here to download How We Build Now 2020 Report

The Urban Developer is proud to partner with Procore to deliver this article to you. In doing so, we can continue to publish our free daily news, information, insights and opinion to you, our valued readers.