Construction Software Why you should adopt Constructionspecific software and how to do it

By Tim O’Brien, The

Net Effect

Operating a construction trade business while balancing organization, financial controls, and day-to-day management can be a challenge. Most contractors are in the same position, and you are not alone in your quest to find a better way to run your business. If you want to be more profitable and efficient and have the desire to grow, utilizing construction-specific software will help you operate a more effective and successful business.

Construction software has made significant advances in the past few years with programs and apps that are easy to use and affordable for small contractors. These programs take advantage of smart phone technology and cloud computing, and they are less costly to implement than ever. Many of the key pain points that contractors suffer from can be addressed by incorporating new software tools to help manage your projects, payroll, scheduling, or any part of your business.

Discover the right software

Just like building a house, you need a good set of plans and a roadmap to help ensure success. To find software that best meets your company’s needs we recommend a four-step plan.

1. Understand your company profile. Not all construction software is created for every trade. Some are designed specifically for GCs, subtrades, or project management. One software will work great for a service trade, while another is specific to those who work on fixed price contracts. Are you a commercial contractor or residential? Do you have less than 10 clients per year or hundreds of clients? You first need to narrow down your company profile to help determine the best software solution.

2. Conduct a pain point evaluation. Identifying your problem areas will help you decide which software will best provide a solution. Do you struggle with creating a quote or estimate? Is scheduling your staff a constant headache? Can you track your job costs accurately? Is payroll too time consuming? Then, consider which areas are currently the biggest challenge, and what issues are the highest priority. By answering these questions, you can better plan your search.

3. Perform a constraint evaluation. By undergoing a comprehensive constraint evaluation, you can determine your limitations. There are four categories of constraints to consider: Time, desire, skills, and budget.

Time: When is the best time of the year for you to consider adopting a new software tool? Do you have a slow season? Is your year end a consideration? Can you put aside a specific amount of time each week to dedicate to your search? Plan this out to ensure you have a handle on your bandwidth and manage your time effectively.

Desire: Is the ownership of the company motivated to make the change? Will the management of the company be on board with adopting a new business process? Will your staff be open to change? Finding the champion within the company to lead the process will help keep the project moving forward. Skills: Does your company have people who can learn and utilize a new software tool? Can you ask your staff to learn a new digital process? Does your staff all have smartphones and are they comfortable operating a new app? Will you need to hire new team members to meet the needs of a new software and process? With a good plan, can your staff adapt to a new tool if it makes their jobs easier?

Budget: There is no easy cocktail napkin formula to calculate a return on investment in software. But when you look at your pain points and add up the costs of inefficiency and losses due to poor financial controls, you can intuitively start to create a range. Also, consider the time saved once new, more efficient processes are put in place. Even simple changes like time tracking on personal smartphones with automatic payroll will create time savings that you can put a value to.

4. Perform a software evaluation. Armed with these first three steps, you can now consider a software evaluation. The key considerations will be:

1. Is it designed for your size and type of company?

2. Does it solve the problem(s) you are looking to fix?

3. Is it user friendly?

If you simply have one specific area that you want to start solving, can you find something targeted to do just that job? Would that be a time-tracking app, estimating software, project management tool, or maybe something to schedule your staff? If you have more than one pain point to consider, then there may be a more comprehensive company management solution to consider.

It’s important that you take the time to narrow your search down to a few differ- ent choices, and then decide on your priorities in order to evaluate and compare the different software options. Create a manageable plan and timeline to evaluate your business, then develop a roadmap for the adoption. Make use of available grants that can help you find support through the Canada Digital Adoption Program (https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/canadadigital-adoption-program/en). And lastly, be patient with the process.

The Net Effect is an organization designed to help Canadian construction and trades businesses navigate the growing construction software ecosphere. To learn more, visit theneteffect.ca. n