Construction management can be challenging. As a contractor, you must take care of various things like scheduling, maintaining timelines, budget, decision making, information about stakeholders, communication, labor management, and so on.
This is where the necessity of effective general construction software comes into play. The software can help you save money and time to maximize profits and get more work done. Using this software, you can stay alive in this competitive market and manage your business effectively.
According to a survey, over 56% of construction companies have already started using general contractor software platforms to make their jobs easier. So if you’re considering getting a customized general contractor software platform, you’ll need to first start planning how it will look.
So to help you understand what features you require for your business, we’ve put together some of the must-have features that your general contractor software should possess. Check out Bridgit’s list of the best programs available too.
Features to look for in your general contractor software
- Bidding and financial management
The very first thing for most construction projects is the initial bid. In most cases, construction companies are offered several bids all at once. After a certain amount of time, keeping track of all RFPs and bids can be a challenging task.
So if your general contractor software has a bid management tool, you can do all these tasks effortlessly. The software can help you save time, offer better reports, and boost productivity.
Contractors and managers are also responsible for tracking invoices, payroll, project budgets, and other financial information. If these things are manually monitored and calculated, there’s a chance for miscalculations. Your general contractor software should have accounting management tools that can easily track expenses and offer a financial forecast.
- Inventory and equipment management
Most materials used in construction projects cost millions of dollars, along with the cost of equipment and machinery. These machines must be maintained and distributed to accurate locations during the project. If they’re not adequately tracked, you may find yourself in situations where you lack materials or machinery.
However, general contractor software can help in both these areas. Inventory management features make it easier to search and distribute raw materials in a timely and orderly manner. Also, equipment management tools can be synced with the scheduling system or your calendar, sending notifications whenever equipment is required at a specific job site. This tool will also help the contractor whenever equipment is due for maintenance.
- Customer relationship management
Once your bid for a construction project has been approved, you successfully onboard a client, and you must keep track of the client’s contact details and other relevant information about the project to regularly keep in touch with them. Even if you have an excellent team managing your clients’ requirements, a construction relationship management system will make things easier for you.
This software will not only empower your team with the necessary equipment for record-keeping to make communication manageable, but it can also automate some of the required activities to ensure that you fulfill your client’s demands on time. CRM systems can also automatically set up reminders for projects, send your clients essential project updates, and offer a better customer experience to your client.
- Document management
These tasks produce huge amounts of paperwork, including bills, invoices, financial documents, submittals, contracts, and many more. Manually managing this paperwork can lead to errors. Storing these documents in a physical space is another challenge where you have to spend time and money.
According to research, the average cost of filing a document is $20. Finding missing paperwork is $120 and reproducing a document that has been lost is about $220.
Instead of wasting time, money, and space, you can try a management system that uses cloud-based document management. If you already have a CRM, you can easily integrate them. Once both systems are synced, you can bid goodbye to manual paperwork.
- Project scheduling management
Once the project begins, you must develop certain timelines for your employees and subcontractors to complete the project efficiently. With so many tasks, ensuring that every worker and employee is on the same page can be difficult. According to a survey, about 73% of construction companies use project management and scheduling tools to make things simpler.
A construction company can improve collaboration using project management tools, especially if some team members work remotely. When this tool is integrated with scheduling software, project managers can easily assign tasks to various subcontractors and develop an effective project plan that you can easily share with various employees, workers, subcontractors, and stakeholders.
- Communication
Whether you’re using emails, phone calls, or text messages, your communication team can easily find themselves in a fix when using the various communication channels. Information can easily be lost while receiving client requests and queries. And if communication fails to move forward, the construction project can get delayed.
So to keep your customers and clients happy and ensure that the project is moving forward smoothly, your general contractor software must have a communication tool. By integrating this software with your CRM, you can easily automate some of the regular replies to your clients. This way, you won’t miss out on an important message or question.
- Mobile compatibility
Most businesses these days use cloud-based software even if they spend most of their time in the same office. However, in a construction company, every project takes place at a different site. It can be challenging to convey important messages, notifications, and notices to the project managers, contractors, and other employees who do not have access to a desktop or a laptop.
Nowadays, most software is cloud-based, so your employees and partners can easily access important data and files from anywhere at any time. In this way, if the general contractor software is made accessible from a mobile device or a tablet via mobile responsive design, employees and contractors can easily access project specifications and other information at any time.
Endnote
There are thousands of general contractor software platforms for various builders and contractors. Not everyone requires these features for their construction company. You can also customize your general contractor software as per your requirements.
