And most people don’t even know it. How you can tell if your construction company is fit for the future – and 6 advantages of digitalization
“Digitization? Nope, we’ve always done it without it!” Construction companies that claim this will no longer exist in the next few years. Building contractor and 123onsites founder Jürgen Bruns is convinced of this. Read here how you can make your construction company fit for the future with digital processes and which levers you can use to achieve this.
The future of the construction industry: How you can tell if your construction company has been asleep when it comes to digitalization
Monday, 7:30 a.m. on the construction site. The team exchanges ideas. Employees have various questions. “I can give you the information this afternoon, I’ll have to look it up in the office first.” Sentences like this show: Sleeping through digitalization. Because if you have to go to the office to look up the smallest pieces of information, you should optimize your processes – and digitalize them. In most cases, it is only small adjustments that those responsible in construction companies need to make. For example, using a tablet with access to the internet and cloud, where the important PDF is stored. This allows employees to log comments directly on the document. If that doesn’t work, a voice memo is an option and an alternative to handwritten minutes – otherwise someone would have to digitize them again.
“Anyone who uses the latest company cell phone but arrives at a construction meeting with a trunk full of construction plans on paper has missed the point of digitalization in my eyes.”
Jürgen Bruns, building contractor
What is needed is a fundamental rethink – in the minds of around 80 percent of German construction companies. What has worked until now will become a problem in the coming years. This is because the digitalization of construction companies is not just about optimizing internal processes. It is also about remaining competitive. And therefore future-proof. Tenders – in private or public procurement – are no longer sent by post. Everything is digital.
“The coming years will be decisive in terms of digitalization – because construction companies will only exchange data with the tax office, successor companies or tax consultants digitally in the future.”
Jürgen Bruns, building contractor
6 reasons to digitize your construction company
Advantage 1: Why the digitalization of your construction company is important for collaboration with other construction companies
Perhaps many analog processes are running smoothly for you today. You have a sophisticated system that works for your employees: perfectly structured timesheets, tried-and-tested Scheduling, well-established processes for Photo documentation. You have specialists in your team who can blindly tick off all the important documentation steps. That’s great, but it can set you back a big step when working with other companies or in public tenders, for example – in case of doubt, it can even mean you miss out on the contract. More and more construction projects, which you may enter as a subcontractor, require digital infrastructures – for example, for exchanging construction plans or centralized Time tracking in a cross-company tool. Clients have long since realized that their projects run much more efficiently if they record and store all data centrally.
“A lack of digitalization on the part of construction companies is now a knockout criterion: for example, if a subcontractor can’t jump on the existing digital infrastructure of a project, they’re out.”
Jürgen Bruns, building contractor
A simple example is invoicing: some companies no longer want to receive invoices on paper – but as PDFs. If you can’t deliver that, you’re out in case of doubt. This is the future of the construction industry.
Advantage 2: Digitize Scheduling and resource planning for your construction sites – and save time
On the construction site, you and your team are always running out of time. If you plan your Scheduling digitally and make it visible to your employees in an app, you’ll save a lot of time. Your construction specialists can use your digital scheduling to see today where they will be working tomorrow or for the rest of the working week and what equipment and materials they will need. This gives your team more space to start work directly on the construction site, as no one has to travel to the building yard for the daily service meeting.
“If there is no digital work planning, effectiveness is lost. Experience has shown that construction companies gain around 20 percent more time with digital processes. Time that they can invest in their trade and use to generate more profit.”
Jürgen Bruns, building contractor
With an app, your employees can check the day before where they will be working next and meet their colleagues directly on the construction site. Before and after work, they can start or stop their digital Time tracking with a click, and can even assign their working time to a specific activity on the construction site, saving them having to fill it out by hand and make a trip to the office to hand in their timesheets.
Advantage 3: Plan your material requirements for construction sites digitally
A classic scenario on a day at the construction site: An employee calls the office at 10 a.m. because he realizes: “I need three more packages of nails.” This is noted down. An hour later, the next call: “I’m missing five more roof battens.” Also noted down. In the afternoon, the third (or fourth or fifth) call: “Please pack a small scaffold and two trestles, I’ll need them on the building site tomorrow morning at the latest.” This is also noted down. Your employees call several times throughout the day, repeatedly taking your office team away from their work. This is more efficient:
“If employees simply type their material requests into an app during the day, someone in the office checks the recorded requirements in the evening and can prepare the material for collection the next morning. Four fewer phone calls, more effective work on the construction site and in the office – it’s simple.”
Jürgen Bruns, building contractor
Some construction companies also keep lists of material requirements during the day and deliver them to the office in the evening. That’s better than calling all the time. But it’s still an unnecessary journey. Because even then, your crew still has to make the extra detour to the building yard in the site van after the work is done to hand in the materials list. The foreman jumps out of the car and has the material prepared for the following day – and the rest of the team waits impatiently in the car to finally go home for a well-deserved day off. This does not have to be.
Advantage 4: Keep an eye on the working hours of your construction site equipment
It is important for contractors to know which machines are used where and for how long. Especially in the case of large construction machines such as excavators or bulldozers, which are used on several construction sites during the course of the project, the working hours of the equipment must be clearly documented. This is not only important for planning the use of the machines, but also to take into account the hours worked in the construction site calculation. If this data is only available in writing, the maths will start at some point. However, if you record it via an app, you are up to date around the clock and know which equipment is doing which work and where.
Advantage 5: Photo documentation via app allows you to record more than (just) construction progress
Things always have to move quickly on the construction site. Photo documentation via app is a powerful tool and makes work easier for you and your team – it’s the future of the construction industry. For example, if an employee notices that they need supplies of a particular material, they can simply take a photo of the delivery bill and add a comment to the image: “Please deliver three additional packages” – everyone involved in the project will then know exactly what is needed.
“Used correctly, Photo documentation really is the greatest tool of all on the construction site.”
Jürgen Bruns, building contractor
How Photo documentation makes communication easier for your foreign employees
This is particularly helpful for construction experts from abroad, for example, who may face language barriers. Writing down a complicated product name is difficult when in doubt, and mistakes can easily be made when copying under time pressure. However, everyone understands the photos – and an employee can send the right material to the construction site.
Advantage 6: Your digitalized construction company makes you attractive to skilled workers on the job market
The construction industry has the greatest shortage of skilled workers of all sectors nationwide. As a construction company, you should therefore do everything you can to be attractive to your employees. Digitizing your construction company will help you do this, because the bottom line is that digital processes always mean time savings and convenient workflows for your employees. They can spend their working hours efficiently doing what they are really good at: building. The future of the construction industry therefore also means putting an end to the tiresome paperwork and unnecessary trips between the construction site and the yard. If a modern construction company you are competing with offers this form of work simplification, your employees may decide to change jobs. Building contractor Jürgen Bruns knows from experience:
“I can’t have my employees making unnecessary journeys every day – just to load a bag of cement from the warehouse for the next day. It’s more worthwhile taking the bag to the construction site by cab than wasting the employees’ valuable time.”
Jürgen Bruns, building contractor
Use succession plans in the company and accelerate digitalization
Many construction companies know how important digitalization is, but are worried about burdening their team with a major digitalization process. For example, if your employees are a few years away from retirement and you don’t want to confront them with such major changes. The fact is that new software is not introduced “just like that”. It is important to involve the team in this process.
A tip: Perhaps your company is facing a succession and therefore a generational change. This is an ideal time to turn deadlocked company structures on their head, because a breath of fresh air will also motivate your employees.
Image credits: MR1805/iStock via Getty Images; nicexray/iStock via Getty Images; m-gucci/iStock via Getty Images; sirtravelalot/Shutterstock.com
