Few professions are as complex as construction, which requires different trades, products and people to work together to create one project. For subcontractors, playing their part in that can mean managing equipment, staff and materials to a schedule that can change from day to day. Simplifying subcontractor operations with construction scheduling software reduces the time spent on administering business by streamlining the planning, so you have more time for doing.
The power of construction scheduling software
Construction scheduling software is all about bringing order to the chaos of construction work. With an ever-changing work schedule, subcontractors often have at least a full-time staff allocation just managing the schedule for plant and workers.
Having between 20-600 staff across multiple sites at once each operating as part of the bigger construction project that can be impacted by weather, supply delays and time blowouts, it’s common to revise the schedule multiple times a week, every week.
No more double-booking
A construction scheduling system must include facility to manage who and what is available for work, and when. Keeping track of all the people and plant involved in your business – including staff leave – is fundamental to streamlining the scheduling of work accurately, and not missing people.
With this tool on board, there is no risk of double booking a member of staff, or for overlapping use of a piece of equipment – as the system won’t allow you to do it. A construction software system purpose-built to manage all the moving parts makes creating and updating the schedule simple.
Easy drag-and-drop scheduling
While each subcontractor business type has unique needs, at the core of it an efficient construction scheduling software needs to work in a simple way. Having a simple-to-read digital calendar with all the projects currently in plan on a screen makes it easy to plan out what is going on. See the scheduled project and their allocated equipment and staff at a glance. Need to change the start date of a project?
Easy. Drag-and-drop the project to the new start date – and immediately see that one of the workers scheduled to that job is on leave that day. So swap that person out with another who is available, leaving the project fully staffed for the busy day ahead. Flexibility and easy updating is key to construction scheduling software for subcontractors.
Everyone on the same page
Updating the team about the new plan of where they are needed should be simple too. Building in communication tools to the scheduling software that sends real-time updates to their mobile app, and or SMS notifications with confirmation tasks keeps everyone clear on who goes where.
Different people in the team have different information needs. While administrators need to have the full project documentation and the schedule for everyone easily accessible, supervisors and workers have different information needs. Having a dedicated mobile app for supervisors and another app for fieldworkers means that team members have just the information they need to do their job, without the clutter of stuff they don’t need.
Case Study: QRC Concreting, Brisbane, Queensland
QRC is a Queensland concrete contractor that has been delivering solutions for a range of commercial, civil, and industrial projects for over 30 years. Founded by managing director Chris Jones and based in Brisbane, QRC has nearly 100 staff and can have anywhere from 10-15 projects on the go at any one time with most ranging from 3-12 months duration, sometimes longer. QRC began using Neo Intelligence in 2020 and reports that the company has seen both dollar savings and efficiency improvements through using the Neo Intelligence platform.
Director of QRC, Ashley Johnson, says “Managing our staff schedules was previously done through using a physical book; we had all our jobs in one column and using paper and pencil had to make changes on the fly,” he said.
“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. Read the full Client Success Story here.
Is it the right time for your business to find out how to simplify and streamline operations? Contact our team today to book a demonstration of the Neo Intelligence platform.
