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Month: August 2020

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Tips & Advice

5 Tips to Grow Your Construction Business

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In an industry as competitive as construction, it can be challenging to set yourself apart from similar businesses. Whether you’re well established or just starting out, growing your construction company and attracting new clients requires strategic planning. While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution to scaling your business, we do have five tips outlined below to help.

1. Find Your Niche

Identifying a specialty field or a niche market that your business can excel at is one of the best ways to gain a competitive edge. Rather than doing many things well, why not focus on doing one thing exceptionally? People are typically willing to pay more for specialists, and this gives you the opportunity to brand yourself and position your construction company as the superior choice for meeting certain needs.

If roof repair is your specialty, make sure your marketing and advertising reflects that so when a potential client’s roof is damaged or starts to leak, they know to call you—the expert. Even as a general contractor who offers a broad range of services, you can still position your company as “the best” at something.

Once you’ve identified your niche or specialty area, make sure to update your website, Google Business Profile and other online listings to include specific and identifying keywords to boost your SEO and increase the likelihood of being found in online searches.

2. Invest in Your Team

It’s no secret that the key to any successful business is its people—and yet, so many times, employers forego premium talent for a less expensive candidate. The hiring process takes time and money—but, in the end, you’ll save money by hiring the best fit for the job who can help take your business to where you envision it (even if they come at a slightly higher cost) than by hiring someone less expensive who doesn’t meet all the qualifications or successfully contribute to your company’s long-term vision.

The construction industry is competitive, and the demand for skilled workers is high—so once you’ve built your dream team, you need to also make sure you have retention strategies in place to help keep them. Make sure your team knows what they do matters, and explain how their individual efforts contribute to overall company success. Celebrate achievements and milestones together. Not only does this make them feel important and valued, it builds loyalty and trust and reduces the likelihood of churn. 

As your business grows, remember that you need to have sufficient staff to support that growth, which will likely mean investing in additional team members. 

3. Get the Word Out

You may have the best product or service in the world, but if no one knows about it, your business won’t succeed. If you want to grow your construction company and attract new business, people need to know you exist—and the way to achieve this is through marketing. For your marketing efforts to be successful, you should develop a marketing plan that clearly outlines what you offer and how you plan to communicate that to target audiences. 

A marketing plan should include specific strategies for how to deliver your message to various audiences across different channels. Ideally your marketing mix should include a combination of word-of-mouth marketing and networking tactics, printed marketing materials, a strong online presence, and a budget for advertising. 

Since most people will do research online before ever picking up the phone, you’ll want to pay close attention to your digital presence (e.g., your website, social channels, Google Business Profile, etc.) and consider investing in paid online ads.

4. Proactively Seek Opportunities

To grow your construction business, you need to proactively seek out new opportunities. In addition to marketing and advertising efforts, networking is a great way to identify new leads and develop strategic partnerships. Networking is a vital component to building strong and lasting business relationships, which can easily translate into new business opportunities for you.

Consider joining your local chamber of commerce to meet business leaders, or join a trade association to meet other industry professionals and learn new ways to grow your skills. Trade shows are another great opportunity to network and to learn what new industry trends are on the horizon. 

When you make new connections, don’t underestimate the importance of a quick follow-up email or invitation to connect on LinkedIn. Maintaining business relationships will help keep you and your business top-of-mind, and increase the likelihood of new business referrals.  

5. Utilize Technology to Improve Efficiency

As a construction business owner, it’s crucial to stay aware of what new technology is on the horizon and how it will transform the industry landscape. Equally as important, you must be willing to adapt and invest in technology to improve your business operations.

For example, an all-in-one construction management software solution to fulfill your project management and accounting needs offers a number of benefits that will save you money in the long run. This type of software makes it possible to automate your most complex processes, thereby saving you time (which equals money) and reduces the margin of error that comes with manual data entry (which also saves you time and money).  

Final Thoughts

To sum it all up, growing your construction business requires strategic planning and an investment of time, money and resources—but there’s no better investment to make than in yourself and your business.

 

To learn how our software solution can help streamline operations so you’ll have more time to focus on your growth strategy, click here to schedule a personalized product tour.

 

Author Biography:

Kathryn Dressler is a content strategist with more than 10 years of experience across the spectrum of marketing services, including blogging, social media, public relations, copywriting and editorial services.

Categories
Tips & Advice Trends & Technology

5 Reasons You Should Invest in Construction Management Software

Largely driven by the ever-changing technological landscape, the construction is rapidly maturing and evolving. Like businesses across all industries, construction companies have come to rely on software and digital tools to perform everyday tasks and complete necessary job functions like communicating with team members, tracking expenses, submitting proposals and more. 

Still, many construction companies are unaware of what a comprehensive construction management software is, how it can benefit their business, and whether or not it’s a necessary expenditure.

In this blog, we’ll discuss five reasons it’s worth investing in construction management software. 

What is construction management software?

In a nutshell, construction management software is a set of project management tools used to improve and streamline the entire construction process, from planning to project completion. While there are software options that include project management features only, using an all-in-one construction software solution to manage your accounting and project management needs means the data used to drive key decisions is always in sync, up-to-date and reliable. 

What are the benefits of construction management software?

1. Improved Communication & Collaboration

Every project, regardless of industry, requires communication and collaboration to complete. Often times, communication barriers can lead to delays, misunderstandings and errors, all of which end up costing valuable time and money. Project management tools improve communication between team members and stakeholders by creating a central platform for real-time collaboration, brainstorming and problem solving. Providing a centralized place for team members to quickly access and communicate about vital project information leads to improved planning and faster execution.

2. Time & Resource Management

Being able to effectively gauge the required amount of time and resources needed to complete a project is critical for timely delivery and success. With construction management software, tasks required to complete every step of a project can be entered, assigned and updated easily. This allows project managers and team members to know what resources and equipment are required, and when, and allows for more accurate forecasting. 

3. Reliable Job Costing & Accounting

Having a constant pulse on project costs is essential to running a successful construction business. However, many companies use separate systems for accounting and projecting management that don’t communicate in real-time, which results in errors, inaccurate reports and untrustworthy data. An all-in-one software solution that ensures job costing and accounting data are synced means the information is current and reliable, and thereby allows informed decision making that reduces the likelihood of waste or over-budget issues. 

4. Document Sharing & Control

Because every step of a project requires some sort of documentation, construction companies have to deal with a lot of paperwork. A document management system provides a centralized place where critical information (like blueprints, wireframes and specifications) can be stored, managed, updated and accessed by those who need it. Construction documents are often complex and evolving, so having that information digitized, simplified and stored on the cloud saves time and reduces margin of error. 

5. Detailed Reports & Insights 

Construction management software records every phase in the construction process, and that data can be accessed at any time to analyze a project and to provide valuable insights that allow for informed decision making about next steps. Consolidated dashboards with various reporting options make it easy to digest and consume pertinent information, and provide the ability to drill down into the accounting information to view invoice or payment details, or to identify any red flags or pending approvals that may hinder project progress.

Is construction management software right for your business?

In this blog we’ve touched on five key benefits to using a construction management software and how it can help streamline processes, improve resource planning, enhance collaboration, and provide critical information needed to keep projects running on-time and at-cost—all of which ultimately lead to higher profitability.  

If you’re curious about Premier Construction Software but want to read reviews before contacting us, click here to learn more about us on GetApp.

Or, if you’d like to know how our all-in-one solution can be tailored to meet your business needs for maximum impact, click here to schedule a personalized product tour today. 

 

Author Biography:

Kathryn Dressler is a content strategist with more than 10 years of experience across the spectrum of marketing services, including blogging, social media, public relations, copywriting and editorial services.

Categories
Industry Insight Tips & Advice

5 Ways to Make Your Construction Company More Environmentally Friendly

The construction industry is undergoing a massive shift as businesses are realizing the long-term benefit of investing in the environmental movement. And while “green” and “sustainable” are terms often used interchangeably, it’s important to draw the distinction between the two. 

Green construction entails building projects in an environmentally responsible and resource-efficient manner to reduce carbon footprint. Sustainability construction includes the preservation of the environment, with a focus on social responsibility. Both contribute to the overall goal of becoming more environmentally friendly, but in different ways. 

Below we’ll discuss five ways to incorporate green and sustainable construction practices into your business to better protect the environment and its resources, and to demonstrate your commitment to social responsibility to key stakeholders.

Go Paperless

Getting rid of paper is one of the easiest first steps to begin your environmental transition. Paper uses a massive amount of raw wood, and even recycled paper requires numerous chemicals and water be used in the production process. Paper is also expensive, and unreliable compared to digital resources. 

When you start to consider how much paper is used every year on construction blueprints alone, it’s easy to understand how an all-in-one construction management software will save you time and money by digitizing construction document management and reducing paper waste. 

Create a Sustainable Supply Chain

According to the EPA, “Sustainability is based on a simple principle: Everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment. To pursue sustainability is to create and maintain the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony to support present and future generations.”

The construction industry is capable of making significant contributions to these objectives. One major way is by building a sustainable supply chain—because a construction company can’t be truly sustainable if its suppliers are not. To achieve this, work with your suppliers to let them know your sustainability goals and how you expect them to contribute. 

Use Eco-friendly Alternatives

The construction industry’s reliance on non-renewable materials has had a long-lasting impact on the environment and remaining resources. Fortunately, with green building initiatives on the rise, more builders are looking for eco-friendly alternatives to traditional building materials. 

A few eco-friendly materials gaining popularity in 2020 include:

  • Timbercrete: Timbercrete is made from combining sawdust with concrete. The result is a material that’s about two and a half times lighter than pure concrete, and with fewer emissions than concrete. 
  • Hempcrete: Hempcrete is a composite made of natural materials, lime and hemp. It’s a light-weight, “carbon-negative” building material that can be used for insulation.
  • Fast-growing bamboo: Bamboo grows quickly and requires little water, thus making it a dynamic eco-friendly crop that can be used in many building materials. It can be as strong as wood or concrete, yet its light-weight nature makes even its transport more environmentally friendly. 

Adopt Lean Construction Practices

Lean construction is an extension of the lean production system—that is, a business approach intended to maximize value, increase efficiency and minimize waste. Under this system, every person involved in the construction project—from architects to tradespeople—are taken into consideration to ensure projects are completed quickly, efficiently and as low-cost as possible without sacrificing quality or integrity. 

Premier Construction Software’s all-in-one solution provides the gold standard business playbook to ensure all processes are optimized from start to end. By minimizing manual data entry and leveraging automation, we transform how people work and how your business operates.

Get Certified

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is one of the most widely used sustainability rating systems in the world, and LEED certification comes with many benefits. For one, it lends credibility to an organization’s ability to develop a sustainable project and shows the public the organization cares about being environmentally and socially responsible. 

LEED certified buildings are more energy and resource-efficient, meaning they also reduce stress on the environment. Additionally, its focus on using reduced and renewable energy sources also helps to reduce operational costs.  

The construction industry will continue to shift toward more environmentally friendly practices and processes as the need, expectation and demand continues to grow. To learn more about how Premier Construction Software can help your business become more environmentally friendly by improving construction document management, reducing waste, boosting productivity and streamlining processes, click here to schedule a personalized product tour.

 

Author Biography:

Kathryn Dressler is a content strategist with more than 10 years of experience across the spectrum of marketing services, including blogging, social media, public relations, copywriting and editorial services.

Categories
Industry Insight Trends & Technology

Top 10 Construction Trends in 2020

2020 has been a year of unprecedented change and challenges with the novel coronavirus causing global shutdowns and impacting all major industries. Fortunately, most U.S. businesses have now been permitted to reopen, albeit with new restrictions and requirements in place.

While the coronavirus has certainly caused some disruption and changes within the construction industry, there are still several industry trends that maintain constant and continue year-after-year. Staying attuned to industry trends will help you maintain a competitive edge by knowing what to expect and help you to prepare accordingly. 

Below we’ve compiled a list of the top 10 most noteworthy and must-watch construction industry trends of 2020.

 

1. Supply Chain Disruption 

For builders that rely on Chinese-made goods and materials, 2020 has been an especially challenging year with Chinese government containment efforts and quarantines stalling—or, in some cases, completely stalling—production in factories across the country. While the economic giant has begun to recover, the long-term impact to the U.S. construction industry is still yet to be fully recognized.

Fortunately, because materials sourced from China typically arrive in the U.S. by slow-moving ship, most projects underway likely already had their materials ordered and in transit months ago. However, given that China is the world’s largest supplier of construction materials—with U.S. companies sourcing everything from steel to plumbing fixtures—any production or supply chain disruption felt on its end will undoubtedly impact the U.S. as well. While we can assume there will be some impact to future projects, the extent to which is still to be determined.

 

2. Labor Shortages 

Prior to COVID-19, the construction industry was already facing a labor shortage due to a boom in projects and high demand for workers with the necessary skills to complete them. Now, the industry faces new labor challenges. Many U.S. businesses adapted to the coronavirus closures by shifting to a work-from-home model. However, for many construction companies, this model isn’t feasible and healthy workers are required to be on-site. 

School closures and public transportation disruptions have also created a myriad of new challenges for construction industry workers that impact their ability to show up to work on time, if at all. In anticipation and preparation for increased absenteeism—whether due to illness or other factors—supervisors should begin to cross-train employees to handle multiple functions, and utilize technology to streamline operations such as construction management solutions.

 

3. Improved Safety Equipment

Aside from the new health and safety protocols implemented as a result of coronavirus, the construction industry is witnessing a rise of machines that are capable of increasing jobsite safety and reducing risk. For example, some work boots can now automatically connect to Wi-Fi and alert others if a worker has fallen. Another example is environmental sensors that can detect workplace conditions (like heat, wind, noise) and assess risk.

These machines are changing the jobs humans do by augmenting the decision-making process and creating room for higher-level jobs to use the data to decipher and translate findings into actionable insights.

 

4. Augmented Reality

Although virtual reality (VR) has been an emerging trend over the past few years, experts say it’s quickly growing outdated as augmented reality (AR) becomes the new “it” trend. VR is strictly a digital experience, whereas AR combines digital and physical views to create an immersive experience in real-time. 

Benefits of AR for builders and developers include 360-degree video to enable fast and affordable simulations, 3D visualizations of future projects and automated measuring of buildings, just to name a few. For clients, AR can provide more efficient project staging and make pre-construction projects tangible for buyers and tenants.

 

5. Drones 

drones in constructionDrone usage continues to be one of the fastest-growing trends in the construction industry as the technology advances and becomes more affordable, and the capabilities of drones continue to expand. Drones are commonly used to produce heat maps and thermal imaging, but the advancing software now makes it possible for them to provide real-time and actionable data that can be used for rapid decision-making and to streamline the entire construction process. 

Drones can also be used to improve workplace safety and reduce injury. For example, drones can be used to survey job sites to ensure workers are kept from potentially dangerous situations. They can also reach heights unsafe for the human worker.

 

6. Cloud & Mobile Technology

Not that long ago, most people didn’t understand what “the cloud” was—let alone a cloud-based operating system. Today, most mobile devices can access information anywhere, any time, and from any device. Cloud-computing has become integral to the construction industry for a number of reasons, including powerful data processing, connected job sites, easy sharing, and data storage, just to name a few.

Given its ease of access, Software as a Service (SaaS) has become a leading way to get the most benefit from cloud computing with minimal investment. There are SaaS offerings for almost every construction task, and Premier Construction Software offers the most powerful, all-in-one cloud-based software solution on the market to help you streamline accounting, job costing, project management, document management, approvals, electronic signatures and more. 

 

7. Modular & Prefabricated Construction

Another growing trend is a shift toward modularization and prefabricated construction because of the time, energy and cost savings. Modular construction is a prefabricated approach to building repetitive structures like hotels, apartments, and office buildings. 

Because modular units are built off-site, companies do not have to deal with construction barriers like inclement weather or limited working hours. Prefabrication can save companies a lot of money because they can get bulk discounts on materials—which, in turn, also saves time (and time equals money). These processes are also considered more eco-friendly because any leftover materials can easily be recycled. 

 

8. Building Information Modeling (BIM)

Given the emergence of an open and highly collaborative data ecosystem, it should come as no surprise that BIM continues to be one of the hottest trends in the construction industry. BIM allows users to generate computer representations of buildings and utilities, and brings more accuracy to the building process by empowering the exchange of important project information between key stakeholders.

BIM’s further evolution—like 4D and 5D BIM—will be the catalyst for fundamental change within the industry. Improved technology is anticipated to make construction projects more productive, affordable, eco-friendly and safe.

 

9. Green Technology & Sustainability

Every year, green construction grows in popularity as more companies look for ways to incorporate sustainability into the construction process. Green construction entails building projects in an environmentally responsible and resource-efficient manner to reduce carbon footprint. Sustainability construction includes the preservation of the environment, with a focus on social responsibility.  

A few green trends gaining traction in the construction industry include bricks made of recycled cigarette butts, self-healing concrete and thermally driven air conditioners. 

 

10. Construction Management Software

Construction software plays an important role within the construction industry, but many companies are using multiple disjointed systems that don’t speak to each other in real-time. This creates disconnect between accounting and project management which, in turn, causes bottlenecks, errors, and inaccurate reports. 

Premier Construction Software empowers businesses to work smarter by providing modern, powerful and easy-to-use construction software. Our all-in-one software solution features accounting, job costing, in addition to project and document management to ensure the data syncs real-time, making it easy for businesses to trust the data to make more informed decisions.

To learn more about Premier Construction Software and to speak to a representative, click here.

 

Final thoughts

As the construction industry continues to evolve, it’s imperative to stay informed about trends that are shifting the business and global landscape. Adapting to these changes and leveraging technologies to maximize efficiency and reduce risk will help business owners stay competitive, offset additional costs and increase profitability.

 

Author Biography:

Kathryn Dressler is a content strategist with more than 10 years of experience across the spectrum of marketing services, including blogging, social media, public relations, copywriting and editorial services.