There is no shortage of industry articles detailing how custom home builders can use new technology in construction to improve efficiency and profitability.
Augmented reality, digital representation, drones and battery-powered backhoes may make for interesting reading about technology trends, but it’s important for custom home builders like you to focus on the technologies that improve traditional home construction methods with little investment of your time and effort.
That’s why custom home builders, when evaluating the latest new construction technology, should first look at cloud-based project management software to better face the challenges of today’s home construction industry.
Today’s challenges demand construction workers save time and money
You already know that rising material prices and labor shortages make the cost of doing business more expensive and complex. Home construction projects simply take longer to finish when materials and the experienced subs needed to install them are in short supply.
Working on a drawn-out project that may wind up losing you money is a tough spot all home builders and construction companies try to avoid.
As you realize a project might lose money, odds are as the weeks turn to months, your enthusiasm and ingenuity for the project will drop. This can lead to poor customer service and frustrated clients who can damage your hard-earned reputation.
What is the role of technology in the construction industry?
The trick to working profitable projects is to use technology to stay in your wheelhouse. You need to focus on the kind of construction project that matches the strengths of your home construction company. When you stick to your niche, you become better at finding the clients that your home construction team serves best.
Of course, finding those clients requires proper marketing and networking, but ultimately, you also have to adopt a construction process that allows you to estimate and quote more jobs in less time so that you find the jobs that serve you best.
Accurately quoting more projects using the right construction technology gives you the confidence to grow your business’ profits.
Also, many home builders use the quoting process to evaluate the nature of the potential customer as well as the project scope.
Discussing material and labor prices with homeowners often reveals red flags about the future client. People who excessively haggle your estimate or expect you to cut corners on quality may not be right for your business. When you are quoting more, you have the power to say “no” when the fit isn’t right for you.
Builders like you are discovering the path to increasing their capacity to quote lies with modern project management software. Modern software designed for the home construction sector lets you learn a set of basic computer skills that do multiple construction management tasks from one software platform.
Construction management software offers end-to-end improvement for your construction projects
Successful builders in today’s market have a clear method for forecasting the cost to build a project. Once those costs are understood, the builder sends out professional quotes that quickly lay out all the tasks, labor and materials needed to finish the job.
Clear customer communication about costs and scope is one of the quickest paths to winning more jobs. Construction technology is then used to manage the project to its final completion and invoicing.
New technology in construction saves upfront admin time
Builders using modern software don’t lose hours behind a desk quoting and closing customers because modern construction technology serves as a one-stop-shop for takeoffs, estimating and quoting. In some cases, the time needed to do a takeoff can be reduced by as much as 80%. The software also offers customizable templates that make writing a quote letter a less time-intensive task.
Construction technologies can ease planning complex projects
Once you have the proper customers onboard, running your projects smoothly helps turn a consistent profit and makes for a satisfied customer. Here again, new construction software can help.
Today’s best software also offers scheduling and budgeting tools that you set up using your original estimate. This eliminates duplicative work and overly complicated spreadsheets that lead to costly errors.
Imagine scheduling tasks straight from your estimate so that you can see it all on a single chart. The best software allows you to set due dates and assign tasks by email all from the same platform, and this saves you the time and hassle of learning multiple apps or managing confusing spreadsheets.
Construction companies can schedule tasks more efficiently using technology
Once a job is up and running, you can adjust tasks with the click of a mouse and email your team updates quickly and easily. Having the right subs on your job sites at the right time is critical to running a successful project.
When using modern technology, those successful projects also pay dividends in the future. You can create templates from your most successful projects so that you don’t have to start estimates and schedules from scratch with every project.
And because tracking actual costs is straightforward and doesn’t require confusing spreadsheets, you can track your actual costs to your original estimate to identify areas of your build that had unexpected price increases or needs better supply chain control.
With the right software you can create a cycle of continuous improvement that makes you far more efficient than using a traditional method of job management.
Modern technology enables greater dealer collaboration in the home construction industry
As home building become more challenging, builders and dealers are collaborating more closely to meet the needs of the construction industry. Modern cloud-based tools are giving builders a way to communicate online with their dealers so that quoting customers is not only easy but highly accurate.
You know how frustrating unreturned phone calls and emails can be, especially when trying to talk to dealers about basic things like material pricing and availability. Waiting on unreturned calls leaves little time for true collaboration among home construction professionals.
How modern technology helps boost collaboration
Modern software makes all of this so much easier because it’s shared online within common workflows that eliminate the need to endlessly email or call your dealers. Imagine sharing your project details with your dealer straight from the same platform that you used to build your estimate.
Now, imagine that the dealer has shared the material pricing with you in an online file that you can access at any time you need it—even from your construction sites. In some cases, data collected by modern software can offer material prices in real time.
This frees time for you and your dealer to collaborate on other things than pricing. A dealer can suggest different material options that you might not have considered that speed up your project without sacrificing the quality and performance of your build.
If you want to learn more how modern technology can help you work more effectively with your dealer, check out this resource.
Why do we need new technologies in the construction industry?
Many custom home builders put off learning new technology out of fear it takes too much time. However, with the latest home construction technology, it’s never been easier for construction managers like you to learn how to use construction management software.
With the same point-and-click mouse and keyboard skills you use to surf the internet and use your favorite phone apps, you can learn how to quickly set up a customized account to perform digital takeoffs, material estimates and job schedules for all your construction projects.
To learn more, why not schedule some time with Buildxact? Or visit Buildxact’s website where you can learn how easy it is to get started with a low monthly subscription. Or start today with a free trial or demo.
