Top tips to increase productivity in construction

The construction industry makes up approximately $650 billion of the U.S. GDP and provides a livelihood for more than 10 million employees. However, if you want your construction company to be more competitive, you will find it necessary to increase productivity. Here are five ways to do that:

1. Take care of your labour force

Your labor force is the lifeblood of your company. Employees provide the physical effort that is necessary to complete your jobs. They also provide the mental effort required to control costs, manage schedules and ensure that your projects are completed on time and within budget. Additionally, your employees represent your company when they are on the job. Therefore, it is important that you take care of them. Here are some ways to do that:

Give them some time off

Make sure that your employees have enough time away from their job to take care of personal matters. Reward long-term employees and employees that have gone beyond the call of duty with additional time off. If they have to work holidays to complete your construction projects on time, make it up to them with extra time off or by rewarding them as described on the following point.

Reward them

When your employees meet or exceed your expectations, you should reward them. One way to do that would be to pay them a cash bonus. You could also provide perks such as a gym membership or tickets to a sporting event. You could also host a corporate-wide event such as a picnic. Another way to award employees is by recognizing their efforts. Employees want more than to just get paid for their performance. They want to feel like they are appreciated and are part of the team.

2. Use new technology

You can also increase productivity by taking advantage of new technology. This can lower your per-unit cost of work performed and increase the efficiency of your operations. In many cases, new technology will make it possible to improve communications, provide better cost estimates and more accurately track the progress of your various construction projects. New technology, such as that used in a modern metal building, can also make your company stand out as a technology leader. Another thing that new technology will do for you is to ensure that your customers receive the attention they deserve.

3. Pay attention to details

It has been said that the devil is in the details. However, that is also where the profits reside. For instance, your projects will be much more profitable if you use cost-effective materials. If you need to expand your working space or add a new building, you should spend some time evaluating and comparing the cost-effectiveness of different materials. In many cases, for instance, you will discover that the most cost-effective material to use is steel. This is because steel is plentiful, extremely strong and in abundant supply.

4. Find the right construction management software

If it has been a while since you installed your construction management software (CMS), you should consider upgrading it to a newer version or finding a new tool that can cover your needs best. Many advances have been made in CMS over the past few years, including advances in cloud technology and mobile applications. This is especially true for construction companies that operate in a large area or on a global basis. A reliable software solution will make it easier to track costs, improve your building process and deliver on time. You can also use CMS to allocate labour and equipment. Additionally, you will be able to make changes on the fly in order to resolve unexpected challenges.

5. Effective visualisation

For effectively planning and executing construction projects you will need to implement the latest engineering software and digital solutions. The use of computer graphics and the latest IT technologies in the construction industry opens a number of opportunities such as:

1. Application of database management allows a potential to  arrange and accelerate the procurement process
2. In the age of fast-developing technologies the latest tools and automation, such as artificial intelligence, will fasten and improve the decision-making process.
3. The communication and transmission between different parties can be arranged using internet technology instead of hard work in paper form.
4. Internet and wide online payment methods can also be used for fast transactions, procurement of goods, tendering and a lot more.

6. Improve supply chain management

One of the main concerns of every construction company is the sourcing and obtaining of high-quality materials and supplies at affordable prices. It is obvious that there are huge opportunities for improvement of supply chain management in the construction sphere as currently, the situation has low or no digitisation at all. Extended lead times and transactions between placing an order and receiving already purchased materials have a huge impact not only on the project timeline and quality but also on the budget.

As a construction company, you should always develop and maintain positive relationships with all of your suppliers. By establishing familiar and friendly relationships with suppliers, it will be easy for your company to negotiate and get better deals and prices. Besides, your managers will be able to calculate and predict the order fulfillment time and process that can influence the project timeline and costs.

There will always be unpredictable situations when a supplier will be unable to provide materials on time. For such cases, managers must have a broad list of other material vendors and suppliers who will be able to fulfill a request immediately.

Nowadays, the demand for construction companies increases, the scale and complexity of  construction projects continually rises. Construction companies need to eliminate their efficiency issues before much newer and more powerful and disruptive companies can catch them off-guard. Although good competition always opens a room for improvements.

Wrapping it all up

To stay competitive, you should be looking for ways to increase your construction company’s productivity. One of the best ways to do that is to implement new tools or technology. This will allow you to better track the progress of your construction projects as well as control their schedules and costs.