Cut Costs & Delays: How to Improve Operational Efficiency for Construction Owners
When material and labor costs rise, owners are hard-pressed to reduce costs wherever they can.
Operational efficiency practices, enabled by project management technology and lean project practices, can improve outcomes across labor, materials and delays.
Increased communication combined with real-time decision making and powerful analytics work together to improve operations in construction projects, adding up to improved cost savings and overall efficiency.
Understanding Operational Efficiency in the Construction Industry
Operational efficiency in the construction industry is more than just completing the project on time and under budget. It’s the processes, best practices and technology implemented throughout the design-build lifecycle that leads to positive outcomes.
Today’s operational efficiency comes from a combination of:
- Making data-driven decisions
- Following project management and sustainable best practices
- Optimizing workforce development
Continual implementation of these practices will ultimately lead to cost savings from materials and labor, consistently timely project delivery,and optimized resource allocation.
Leveraging Technology for Enhanced Efficiency
Today’s technology options offer many solutions for construction project owners, including:
- Project management software keeps people aligned on the order and priority of project tasks and provides a centralized location for communication of changing project needs.
- Mobile workforce apps keep employees and contractors connected to any changes that happen back at the office, allowing quick reallocation of work and best use of materials.
- Communication tools, like mobile notifications, in-project chat features and real-time updates, keep the full workforce connected and reduce errors.
When used separately, these tools can provide incremental improvements to the ways teams communicate and organize their projects. But their real power comes from how these tools work together.
Watch it: Efficiency in Action!
Digital Project Management Platforms
Digital project management platforms provide a centralized location for real-time data sharing and decision-making, no matter your location.
When the office learns of material delays, they can update the project and send a notification to onsite management to reallocate workforce, saving money that would be wasted waiting around for deliveries that never come.
The same applies for those in the field. When they identify a safety concern or other delay, the onsite workers can update the project notes, notify the office of the delay and detail the concern all in a single message.
Real-time updates ensure that all parties have the information they need to make the right decision with enough time to pivot.
Implementing Lean Construction Principles
Lean construction methodologies hinge on real-time data to make decisions quickly and coordinate people and materials to work in concert with the least possible waste. When implemented correctly, these practices improve collaborative planning and boost productivity.
Within a lean construction project, materials are delivered at the time they will be used, not days or weeks before, which risks damage or theft when sitting around the site. Human resources are similarly deployed at the right time for specialized skill sets to be used to their advantage.
When backed by a project management software, lean construction becomes visible and trackable for everyone on the project, allowing specialized teams to plan their portion of the work to the highest efficiency. Tools like this reduce onsite downtime and project delays because everyone’s working from a centralized schedule.
Prioritizing Sustainability and Green Practices
Owners that choose sustainable building materials, energy-efficient designs and green certifications for their construction projects stand to improve their operational efficiency and long-term savings.
While some sustainably sourced, recycled, renewable, or alternative construction materials like bamboo, recycled plastics, reclaimed wood, or sustainable concrete may come at a greater initial cost, many of these materials last longer and require less maintenance over time.
Combined with their environmental impact or lowered carbon emissions, that makes the cost savings increase over time.
The same is true for energy-efficient designs like rooftop rain gardens or solar energy solutions. Solar power can decrease the building’s dependence on the power grid and even make the building profitable if it contributes power back to the grid.
Green roof designs like the one seen on the Music City Convention Center in Nashville, TN, insulate the building, protect the roofing materials from UV rays and provide a pollinator habitat within the urban environment. The design increases the longevity of the building while reducing heating and cooling costs and improving the local environment.
And when the project is focused on sustainability, those practices tend to permeate the project, attracting contractors who are interested in decreasing waste in labor and material costs.
Optimizing Workforce Management and Training
Workforce management, cross-training, upskilling and other workforce optimization measures not only invest in the people that make your project successful, they improve the operational efficiency of the project as a whole.
A skilled workforce that engages in ongoing training is engaged with the company, which results in higher productivity. Their personal investment in the projects as learning opportunities also leads to higher safety awareness and standards on the project site.
Workforce management tools can increase skills by providing ongoing training and in-context tutorials that highlight company best practices and internal skill sets, even when those experts aren’t on site. Videos and messaging tools can provide quick answers, while access to ongoing in-person or digital training tools give employees more complex skills.
Training and Skill Development
Upskill staff with a combination of live or prerecorded classroom-style training and shorter snack-sized bits of training that happen within digital tools they use every day. By making training available in the context of their work, you make it easy to remind staff of safety protocols and give tips and tricks.
Consider adding safety messages at the bottom of your daily task email, or setting aside time within the daily digital huddle to provide a link to skill-building opportunities. Implementing training within the team’s daily digital workflows brings training to top of mind and integrates it with “regular” work.
Data-Driven Decision Making
Real-time data within a construction project management tool helps teams identify bottlenecks, improve processes and make informed management decisions because the entire team is working from the same, up-to-date data.
For example, if the framing materials are delayed, an update from the lumber provider allows the lead framer to deploy framers to other sites where they’re needed. The whole team can be notified, saving time and mitigating any delays caused by commuting to the wrong site.
Real-time data makes these changes possible and protects the relationships between partners, employees and project owners. When the full project is connected, the entire team works together to improve efficiency through informed decisions.
Analytics and Performance Tracking
Data without context is useless, but with analytics tools that integrate data from across the organization, you can build dashboards that show real-time project statuses.
From these dashboards, you can quickly identify and mitigate risks, understand the financial impact and use historical project knowledge to make data-driven decisions that improve project outcomes and avoid potential problems.
And a robust analytics system can help project teams identify patterns in the field and implement changes accordingly, while keeping the full team informed.
Centralized Communication Tools
Centralized, project task-based communication tools provide notifications and real-time updates within the tools the team already uses. Timely communication that happens in the project means no one loses time or materials due to a missed email.
Everyone can see the new requirements, can ask questions in the project task and provide clarifications visible to the entire team. Tools like this keep teams aligned around the most up-to-date tasks, reducing downtime and improving performance.
Improve Operational Efficiency With Kahua
Construction operational efficiency depends on timely communication, real-time data and efficient mindsets. While a project management tool may not change mindsets, it can help owners implement the processes and practices that promote sustainable and efficient workplaces.
Kahua’s construction project management platform enables in-context communication, practical workflows and real-time data that improves efficiency and productivity for project owners. Start running a more efficient worksite today with Kahua.
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