The Problem with Construction Data Collection

Inefficient
For an industry as large as construction, a surprisingly amount of their data collection processes are still
handwritten. Whether it is in the field or back in the office, paper forms require a great deal of labor.
Handwriting reports are time consuming enough, without counting the time your office worker has to
spend deciphering messy handwriting, re-entering the information into your records, or scanning the
form into your online filing system.
Lack of Standardization
With handwriting format, your employees pretty much have free reign to collect data as they please.
Required fields are skipped, accuracy can be questionable, especially if they fill out the form eight hours
later, but they eliminate the issue of skipped fields by allowing particular fields to be required
Limited Data Capture
Details matter, especially in a field as meticulous as construction. Paper, however, limits the type of data
you can collect. It requires you to fill out aspects of your report such as descriptions and photos
separately, forcing you to go back later and compile all the data. This can also lead to issues such as
mismatched descriptions or photos, only weakening the data you collected.
With mobile apps, employees are able to expand their data with sources such as take photos, capture
GPS location, scan barcodes, and run calculations all in one go. A mobile app automatically compiles all
the data in a report. Expand your data in new ways, and understand your business like never before.
Delayed Information Sharing
Construction sites are dependent on the communication between field and office workers, particularly in
the realm of tracking time and daily work reports. Reports filled out via paper need to be transported all
the way from the field back to the office. This often means they aren’t submitted until the end of the
week, which can backlog your office employees for some time.
But this delay ends up hurting you, the decision maker. A lag in data delays your understanding of the
costs of a project, as well as knowledge of if it’s running on schedule. It limits your ability to make
decisions to change the course of a project. Over the long run, the companies that can keep their costs
down and projects on time are the construction companies that thrive. A mobile app, will help you make
those decisions earlier and strengthen your projects for the long run.

POOR CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT: THE

IMPACT ON SUCCESS AND SAFETY
No general contractor sets out to hurt anyone or build a substandard
project. However, if construction management is poor, so will be the
outcome. Bad management can endanger both the success and
completion of a project as well as the safety of the workers.
This can result in a lost reputation and millions of lost dollars. Future work
depends on the perception of current and past work. Learn to identify
ineffective construction management practices early before you wind up
paying for it through the nose. When there is uncertainty, variability in
objectives there is an increase in risk. The result is an increase in safety
and material incidents, injuries, and losses.

WHAT DOES BAD CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

LOOK LIKE?
There are many indications of poor management; these are just a few that
can tip you off to current issues and future problems:

 Crews are poorly supervised or not supervised at all

 Jobs are completed late
 Change orders are improperly administered (leading to collection
failure)
 Continual threat of litigation
 Increased backlog
 No management resources
 Bidding without all needed information

If you are an owner and you see this occurring on your project, you need
to look for another general contractor.  If you are a general contractor and
this is happening to you, you need to clean up your act before you go out
of business.

Problems can be caused by processes, by people, or a bit of both.

Ultimately, problems are the result of an inefficient system and ineffectual
management.
SYSTEM PROBLEMS
System problems arise from poor administration of the three Ps:
processes, procedures, and practices. These are the instructions your
company follows to address the work you do. Most of the time, the three
P’s become problematic when there is lack of planning or when the Ps are
ignored.

UNREALISTIC ASSUMPTIONS
Without careful analysis of the contract terms assumptions are made
about scheduling, operations, and expectations of quality that can turn
out to be fantasies.

For example, poor analysis can lead to creating or agreeing to an overly

aggressive schedule. Any deficiencies in processes, procedures, or
practices will rapidly come to light as employees attempt to work beyond
their capacity, take shortcuts, stack trades, or put in overtime. When there
is not enough time to do the work, there is not enough time to assess the
risk of these behaviors.

Unrealistic expectations can cause changes to be made to the original

plan, often too quickly to determine the risk to the project. As the
organization tries to recover from these unanticipated changes the
probability of adverse events increases.

INEFFECTIVE OR INCOMPLETE RISK ASSESSMENTS

With short deadlines or high performance demands the risk assessment
can get short shrift. This impacts the reaction to both risks typical of a
particular project and any risks unique to a situation. An incomplete or
ineffective risk assessment may not cause a huge problem but there will
be problems nonetheless. And then those problems beget more
problems. You see where we are going with this.
INEFFECTIVE (OR LACK OF) PLANNING
Planning does not just mean scheduling. It means attending to logistics,
addressing potential changes ahead of time, and understanding the
constraints of the project. You need recovery plans and workarounds
developed before a problem occurs to mitigate the impact.

POOR SUB SELECTION

The performance of your subcontractors will be traced back to you, the
GC, regardless of the fact that they aren’t really “your” employees. Without
a process in place to identify quality subs or to replace poorly performing
ones, your company will be taking the heat. Assess their capabilities early
and get replacements as soon as possible for incompetent or incapable
workers.

POOR PRECONSTRUCTION PRACTICES

It’s easy for clients to get antsy when nothing visible is being done and this
is how preconstruction planning winds up going by the wayside. Don’t let
this happen. Preconstruction practices include most of the planning
needed for a smooth project.

 Budget is established
 Project risk assessment is performed
 Staff and subcontractors are selected
 Initial project schedule and operational plan is developed
 Metrics to help identify issues early and to resolve them are
identified

With proper planning, your crew will have time to innovate and manage
and your company can reduce cumulative risk.

SYSTEM MISALIGNMENT
Change happens. Policies and procedures are updated over time or
company growth demands the specialization of departments. Without
good senior management oversight, processes will develop that are no
longer aligned or in agreement with the company needs. In addition, a
change in one process could impact another in a different part of the
company leading to confusion and inefficiency.

This misalignment extends to communication difficulties as well.

Expedited decisions and problem resolution will no longer occur. Staff is
left to decide for themselves which process to follow and how to make
things meet in the middle.

Project management and safety concerns fall by the wayside, increasing

the risk to both you and your client.

INSUFFICIENT COMPANY OVERSIGHT

Construction projects and general contracting businesses have many
moving parts. Without attentive management, your organization can
descend into chaos. Or at least lose money on certain jobs.

Just as process misalignment can cause inefficient work, profits and

business unity can fall when there are different profit centers within your
organization. Eventually, they can begin to compete with each other,
taking higher risks to do so and negatively impact safety.

MEASURING THE WRONG METRICS

Using the right metrics drives right behavior. Guess what measuring the
wrong metrics does. You need the right metrics to drive behavior that
aligns with company goals and culture. If you measure and reward
production, that is where all the effort will go. If you don’t measure the
impact of any risky activities, people will strive for bigger production
numbers without consideration for risk. Eventually, company culture will
undermine safety.
PEOPLE PROBLEMS
Although everything can be traced back to a people problem, these issues
are more personal and less organizational in nature. They aren’t the result
of processes so much as they are of management.

NO MOTIVATION
To be blunt, training, inspections, incentives, and punishment do very little
to motivate anyone. In construction this can translate into poor job
performance and safety concerns. You want your workers to do the best
job possible, just know that behavioral interventions have their limits.

LACK OF CAPABILITY
You want your people to grow in their jobs but if you task someone
beyond his or her capability, failure is likely to follow. Make proper
selections in hiring, place people in the right roles, and provide training
and support to ensure success. Leaving the door open to unexpected or
inappropriate activity brings down you and your employee.

CONCLUSION
Bad construction management plays a role in everything from ineffective
bidding and preconstruction assessments to hiring the wrong crew and
the inability to complete the project on time and on budget. Bidding
before obtaining and analyzing all needed information can begin a very
slippery slope. Recovery is nearly impossible if your organization also
suffers from misaligned processes, measurement of the wrong metrics,
and ineffective hiring practices.

At the least you will sacrifice quality work and revenue. At worst, safety will
be compromised.