Are You Haunted by Ghost Assets?

Boo! It’s that spine-tingling time of year, so let’s talk about something that might be lurking right under your nose: ghost assets. If these phantom resources are haunting your construction projects, you’re not alone. But don’t worry, with a little help from Kahua, these financial poltergeists won’t stand a chance. 

What Are Ghost Assets, Anyway? 

Ghost assets are those “here today, gone tomorrow” items: equipment, vehicles, or materials that show up in your books but are nowhere to be found when you need them. They might have been lost, stolen, broken beyond repair, or simply misplaced, but they’re still slinking around in your asset register like stubborn spirits. 

Signs You’re Dealing with Ghost Assets 

• Tools or equipment you can’t actually find, even though your list says they should be there 

• Paying warranty fees and taxes on things that don’t exist anymore (yikes!) 

• Project logs and spreadsheets filled with mysterious, unaccounted-for items 

Why Should You Be Afraid? 

Spoiler: Ghost assets are expensive!

These spectral assets can do real damage to your bottom line—and not just when they jump out and surprise you. Here’s why ghost assets are so scary for construction projects: 

• Inflated Expenses: Paying warranty fees and taxes on invisible equipment stretches your budget thinner than a spider web 

• Spooky Slowdowns: Searching for missing items can creep into productivity, causing nasty delays and frustrating your team 

• Compliance Nightmares: Phantom assets haunt your audit trails, making compliance far trickier than necessary 

• Wasted Time: Chasing after assets that don’t even exist is time you can never get back 

How Do Ghost Assets Come to Life? 

It’s easier than you think for these ghouls to multiply: 

• Losing track of assets during moves, repairs, or across multiple sites 

• Doing inventory the old-fashioned way (paper lists or scattered spreadsheets) 

• Forgetting to update asset records when something’s broken, retired or cannibalized for parts 

Who You Gonna Call? 

Ghost busters - banish ghost assets with Kahua!

So, how do you make sure ghost assets don’t spook your projects? The answer: get proactive with an asset-centric approach. 

Kahua’s Asset Centric Project Management® helps construction owners and teams: 

• Collect and connect all asset data from day one—so no item is left behind or unaccounted for 

• Automate tracking and integrate information across systems, making it easy to spot gaps and banish inaccuracies 

• Streamline handover and reduce operational risk by knowing what you really own and where it’s “living” at any given time 

• Monitor asset performance, manage commissioning and keep maintenance data in one place so those ghosts don’t have a place to hide 

 Imagine having a dynamic digital inventory, so you’re never caught off guard by a phantom forklift or bewitched backhoe again! 

Don’t Get Spooked. Take Control! 

It’s time to shine a light into the shadowy corners of asset management. Kahua’s platform is your trusted ally—turning ghost-filled records into a reliable, easy-to-manage portfolio from the very start of your project all the way through handover and operations. 

 Ready to say “boo” to ghost assets and “hello” to visibility, transparency and peace of mind?  
Let Kahua help you build projects that are as efficient as they are ghost-free. Contact us at connect@kahua.com to learn more or schedule a demo! 

Happy Halloween from everyone at Kahua!