IN THE KNOW —
Five ways tech makes your day better When did you last have a day when everything went to plan? With a team to manage, building materials to organise and deadlines to hit – every day can be a challenge. The good news is, there’s a range of apps especially for builders that can help make your life easier. You might have heard of these apps such as Tradify, CoConstruct, NextMinute or Rave Build. They can take care of all those annoying admin jobs as well as help to make your team more efficient and the business more profitable. Adding construction software to your business might seem daunting at first, but the process can be made easier if you get advice on which product to choose, plus training to help your team maximise the benefits.
Rather than scribbling down notes and then spending time writing up the quote later, tech makes it easy because you can input all the details, take photos and estimated costs – and then email the quote directly from the app. Tradify is great for estimating and generating quotes for small jobs, and Builda Price is a good option for more complex projects.
2pm – job information at your fingertips You take a call from the client of the project you’re working on. They want to check on progress and also tell you about a variation to the job. Using the app, you have all the information they need at your fingertips. You can see how you’re doing against the budget and it’s easy to check or tweak the schedule. CoConstruct is great for sharing information with your clients because all the information – photos, site updates, schedule and more – can be shared through a client portal.
3pm – making variations to jobs You need to add the variation to the job you discussed into the system. The architect has altered the design, so you add the new plans to the system, and then through the app you message your team to tell them about the change. Buildertrend is a powerful tool for managing variations and communicating with your team. Here are the ways that construction software can help you on a typical day:
5pm – timesheets sorted
7am – assign tasks to your team Getting ready in the morning is less stressful because you know your team is organised. You’ve already assigned them tasks – which they can view in the app – so you know they’ll hit the ground running when they get on site. NextMinute is great for team communication because you can assign you team tasks and notify them via SMS, email or through the app.
11am – estimating made easy You’ve got a new business meeting with a potential client. They take you around their property and show you what needs doing.
It’s the end of the day and you and your team are leaving the site. Everybody can quickly go into the app and record the hours they’ve worked. This means that timesheets are automatically updated and you no longer need to chase your team for them at the end of each week. All these apps are great for making it easy to manage timesheets and labour costs. These are just a few of the tasks that construction software can help you with and put you in control. And because you’re doing everything on the go – it reduces the paperwork and admin you need to do at home, which gives you more time to wind down or spend with the family.
Anna Brooks Free Up. Free Up are NZCB National Partners and tech experts for Builders. Anna makes the process quick and easy, from selecting the right software to setting up the system to training staff. For more information visit www.freeup.kiwi
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