Time tracking is one of the essential processes in any business. We can even say that the construction industry depends on it. A construction project has a timeline and a deadline, and any delays will cost both the clients and construction companies a lot of money. Let’s see how time tracking can help contractors complete construction projects as scheduled.
Time tracking can help contractors to manage construction workers more efficiently
The efficiency of the construction workers impacts the entire project. Measuring employee efficiency will help contractors predict possible delays. With the help of time tracking software, you can know when the workers are coming to work or checking out. It is also possible to track break time, calculate work hours, improve the employee scheduling process, and have complete insight into potential overtime.
With time tracking software, every contractor can also prevent shady business, like forged logging of work hours, or make sure there are no unauthenticated work hours. Time theft is not that common, but it can happen occasionally. When it does happen, it will cost the company a substantial amount of money.
Improving business productivity with time tracking software
Contractors have needs regarding time tracking, planning, and reporting, and all of that affects business productivity. The sole goal is to efficiently analyze and monitor profits compared to employee working hours. Labor costs are the most expensive part of any construction project. That’s why knowing timesheets inside out and tracking employee engagement plays such an important role.
Timesheets provide data about labor productivity and project goal delivery. Every project has a tight budget, and any delays in the construction plan schedule could seriously affect it.
Time tracking also improves communication between the contractors and clients
We spoke with Top Rated General Contractors LA to see how they use time tracking to improve customer communication and secure construction projects. From their angle, time tracking can help contractors deliver the correct numbers to their clients. If you have a better insight into goal delivery, you can get real-time information about the project. When you speak with your clients, you can answer their questions about the progress of a project.
Furthermore, by analyzing the completion time of previous projects, you can create a bidding strategy for future clients. If the numbers look good and you can show that all of the projects are finished within the deadline, it will be easier to grab the attention of potential prospective clients.
The entire time tracking process helps in being utterly transparent towards your clients.
Time tracking improves team cooperation
Modern construction projects are very complex, and they can include thousands of workers. The secret of success lies in their synchronization and collaboration that is simple and easy. Time tracking solutions can ensure this.
Every project has a project manager, site manager, main contractor, site engineer, subcontractors, and an army of construction workers. They all have their tasks that have a spot on a virtual timeline that spans from the start of the project to its completion. By tracking the time of various tasks, you can track the overall progress of the project. If we consider the number of people included and if everyone has even the shortest delays, those delays can accumulate and are a serious threat both to the construction company and the clients.
Improved data control
Another reason why time tracking can help contractors is that it makes data control easy. Teams like accounting, payroll, or resource managers also have their assignments. Even though they are not directly tied to the construction process, they are a part of the company. Any handwritten records can create holes, loss of data, and even inaccurate reportings. As a small example, payroll greatly benefits from time tracking and timesheets. They can make sure that the paychecks are on time and without any issues. That affects the workers and keeps their morale and motivation high.
Time tracking software works as a single platform that allows you to store everything in one database. It also reduces double entries of data and removes redundancies in issuing work orders.
Are there any downsides to time tracking?
Time tracking in the construction industry sure seems like a dream come true for every contractor. Can something that helpful be flawless; are there any potential problems time tracking can cause?
Well, in terms of business projects, there are no downsides. However, time tracking implementation can be a tricky thing from the employee perspective. Every manager who wants to track their employees’ time can discover if they are slacking on the job. Furthermore, some employees are not as productive as others, and they may fear that the time tracking will tell their boss they are not doing a good job and eventually get them fired.
As a manager, you need to make sure your employees understand the need for time tracking. It is not there so that managers could spy on employees, but to boost the productivity for the entire business.
Another thing to consider is that tracking time also requires time. The system needs to be implemented so that it does not create additional work that will only end up wasting more time for the people using it. It needs to work in the background as a silent partner. A good idea is to have a team designated for time tracking of specific processes.
Help your construction company by implementing time-tracking today!
As you can see, time tracking can help contractors in more ways than one. Every construction company should use time tracking as a powerful tool to improve their projects and raise the standard and quality levels. Start with small steps, but start today! The sooner you start tracking time, the better. You will quickly spot holes in your projects and find a solution to remedy any potential problems quickly. Best of luck!
