3 ways to reduce time spent on construction firm admin
Whether you’re a general builder, a design and build firm or a developer, running a construction business involves a significant amount of time at your desk. In addition to supervising work on site, you inevitably spend hours every day communicating with clients, estimating, managing planning applications and compliance, liaising with tradespeople, speaking to merchants, completing health and safety paperwork… the list goes on.
How can you make the best use of the 9-5, so that you don’t have to work into the evening every day? Working more efficiently will help you free up time for the important things (at work or at home) whilst developing a robust and profitable business.
If that’s a goal you’d like to achieve, see our 3 top tips for saving time on building firm admin:
Software can shave hours off admin tasks
1. Look for technology to assist
When your to-do list is long, automating as many tasks as possible is a quick win. You can probably think of several tasks which can be achieved more quickly with software. Health and safety paperwork and estimating are two such examples. While it’s true that you will have to invest a bit of timing learning the software at the outset, in the long run, you’ll save yourself countless hours poring over estimates and other documentation. Seize the day and take the plunge with the software you’ve had your eye on!
2. Make your processes more efficient
Many admin tasks overlap and you may find yourself entering the same data repeatedly. To save your time – and your sanity – identify where you can streamline tasks. If you’re a design and build company, use a software tool like BuildingWorks, by Integro Software, which estimates the project in real time while you design the build. Not only will this give you significant time savings, it enables you to review the specification, in line with the budget, as you draft your plans.
If you’re not interested in design work, EstimatorXpress by HBXL Building Software may be the product for you. Using its out-of-the-box estimate templates for extensions, new builds and so on, you simply type in the project dimensions and the software calculates the material and labour requirements for each phase of the job. Of course, you can adjust the specifications to tailor the estimate for your project. EstimatorXpress will then produce a professionally presented customer quotation, showing as much detail as you’d like – no typing required! You will save literally hours with every estimate you produce.
To maximise time-savings, take a look at HBXL Building Software’s other offerings, including Health & Safety Xpert and ContractsXpert. HBXL uses data-sharing technology called X-Connex which allows you to synchronise the data across the software suite, so you only have to input the data once. For example, Health & Safety Xpert will analyse the build phases in an estimate produced in EstimatorXpress, and collate all of the relevant health and safety documents that you will need, auto-filling the appropriate fields.
Plan your material ordering to save hours every week
3. Get on top of material ordering
Many builders waste hours every week repeatedly calling and visiting their builders’ merchant. Organisation is key to reducing time spent ordering and collecting materials. At the outset of your projects, draw up a schedule of all the materials you need on site, and when. The quickest way is to make use of the material order schedule that software such as EstimatorXpress and BuildingWorks generate automatically for you, using the data from your estimate. Send the schedule to your merchant before the job gets under way. Call off the materials and have them delivered to site as you need them – less stress and fewer holdups!
Next steps
We’d strongly recommend downloading a trial of one of the estimating software products mentioned above. With free, no-obligation trials available on these market-leading products, you’ve nothing to lose.
If you need an instant solution, out-sourcing your estimating to an estimating service is another way to reduce the admin burden. Check out HBXL Estimating Service for more details.