F E AT U R E Essential Construction KPIs to Improve Profits and Productivity by Grace Ellis, Autodesk
Why Construction Teams Should Be Tracking Way More Than Financials How do you measure project success? For many of us, it’s easy to see financials as a leading indicator of performance. Is it over or under budget? And by how much? As owners and project executives usually are looking at high-level metrics, it’s easy for teams to get driven purely by the money. In fact, 43% of construction firms prioritize immediate financial goals over organizational resilience. Nevertheless, there are a number of other essential construction KPIs that can signify if a project is on track and provide more actionable insights into what changes need to be made. Using budget as your primary indicator of performance is a lot like calculating the calories of a cake to assess its healthiness after it’s been baked. While it might be an interesting fact to know for your own interest and perhaps dietary concerns, it’s a little too late to make any changes needed to alter the outcome. On the
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other hand, if you were to measure and adjust the ingredients during the baking process, you could tweak results for a more desirable outcome (should healthy desserts be your thing). Clearly, pure financials should not be the main indicator of performance. So, why are they constantly the primary focus of project scrutiny? Other critical measurements need to be taken into account to track construction progress and productivity–the primary factors that are going to get teams that want success. Below, let’s discuss the importance of construction KPIs and critical metrics your company should be measuring to affect profits and productivity.
Key Takeaways • Construction teams need to track more than financials to determine a project’s success. • Using a budget as an indication of a project’s success may not give a team enough actionable insights about possible changes that need to be made.
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• Construction KPIs, or key performance indicators, produce a well-rounded look at a project to help companies build long-term resilience and to meet their short-term financial goals. • Tracking key KPIs like safety, quality, employees, and performance gives construction companies a better opportunity to analyze their performance. • Predictive KPIs may provide a look into future productivity and performance. • Standardizing KPI construction metrics ensures accurate input. Today, many companies do not integrate their applications, track quality KPI data, and monitor the life cycle of projects. However, standardizing the way software is used may correct this. • Using the Workflow Benchmarking Tool (a free tool) allows you to measure your company’s KPIs against other top construction companies.
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