rowing complexing in construction, to meet changing design and compliance requirements, has added layer upon layer to the work for a subcontracting business. As the market tightens and costs increase (without a corresponding increase in chargeable rates), to remain a healthy business, subcontractors need to work smarter, as well as harder, to stay on top.
Technology is the only way to keep up and get ahead, and the Australian construction industry is leveraging the many benefits of subcontractor management software to ‘sharpen the axe’ and make better decisions and faster work of day-to-day operations, improving quality, productivity and profitability.
The need to streamlining operations to find the missing margin motivated the move to subcontractor management software for the team at The Steel Fixing Group (TSG NSW). “Taking a step back and looking at the big picture has helped us achieve our business goals,” said Director Spiros Mamary. “Implementing Neo Intelligence as our construction software system has improved our workflow and made it easier to manage more work. Without streamlined processes, managing a large workforce is impossible without spending countless hours organising and stressing out about it. “
For the team at Boral, the big problem that they identified was poor communication and lack of accountability.
“If our company’s volume kept growing, managing team communication would have become impossible. We were facing a lack of accountability and finger-pointing due to forgetfulness and miscommunication,” said Felicity King, Control Officer at Boral.
While SG Formwork knew that payroll processing was a big challenge for their team to handle each week, it was still a surprise to discover an 80% reduction in admin cost once they moved to subcontractor management software. “Before Neo, it took two people hours to process payroll for 233 employees,” said Payroll Officer Cherry Bulusan. “Now I do it all in around three hours – this is a saving of an entire day of processing and an entire person as a resource!”
Improving how to move the team from project to project was the big win for QRC, who now enjoy vastly simplified scheduling.
“It was a full-time task for someone just in scheduling. All the daily scenarios that unfold meant that there were many changes to schedules, which made it a very difficult task with a manual system. Managing this huge task reduced that person’s ability to be productive doing other things.”
“Neo Intelligence’s scheduling and staff management module has enabled QRC management and site staff to have full visibility over what is happening each day, enabling them to make better informed decisions about staffing needs and job requirements across multiple sites. Updates are live and visible to all.”
The improvement in project outcomes and business processes are so clear in these real life stories of the impact of subcontractor management software. Having software built with knowledge of how subbies actually work means that the system improvements are real, and easy to achieve. With the reduction in stress and frustration that comes when the solution is found, subcontractor management software is a game-changer for modern construction businesses.
