Managing multiple construction projects as a contractor can be overwhelming, stressful, and time-consuming if you don't stay on top of every aspect of each project; it can cause you to waste time, lose money, and create unhappy clients.

Here are some crucial ways to manage multiple construction projects simultaneously so that you can manage successful projects each and every time.

1. Plan and Prioritize for Each Project

Every successful construction project starts with a well-constructed plan with clearly defined priorities. Without proper planning, you’ll be constantly trying to keep your head above water, especially when managing multiple projects.

Good planning includes starting with a detailed estimate and proposal, having a clear project scope, and creating an outlined project timeline with tasks, subtasks, and deadlines. It also includes making sure the relevant team members know what tasks are priorities so that you can meet important deadlines.

Having a clear plan with priority tasks for each project is important so that you know exactly what to expect from all projects, and so that you can better track progress.

2. Stay Organized

It’s one thing to plan out each project, but it’s another thing to continuously stay organized throughout each project so that you can stick to the plan.

Staying organized can be difficult if you’re relying solely on manual processes, but with the wide variety of online tools we have in today’s age, like spreadsheets, project management software, submittal and change order creation tools, it’s much easier to keep things on track. 

The easiest way to keep your construction projects organized is to use an all-in-one construction project management platform that allows you to manage everything in one centralized place.

Having an efficient way of documenting and tracking things like events, assigned tasks, milestones, delays, to dos, change orders, and more will ensure you and your team stay organized and on track.

3. Use a Construction Project Management Software

When you’re managing multiple projects at the same time, using technology to your advantage is crucial. A really great technology resource that gives you a simple, centralized way of documenting and viewing where each project stands is project management software, which helps you stay organized and track progress.

It can be complicated and time-consuming trying to use multiple different software platforms and post-it notes to track things like finances, project timelines, delays, change orders, and everything else that goes into a construction project. 

You may have ten spreadsheets here and there that each require manual updates every time something happens, or five different calendars that you’re trying to keep up with, all of which are costing you time and money.

Having one platform where you and your team can manage every single aspect of all construction projects like ConstructionOnline™ will help you have a firm grasp on where each project stands without the hassle of using several different platforms.

4. Focus on Project Milestones

Keeping track of when each project’s milestones are being completed or delayed in project timelines gives you and your team a broader view of how each project is progressing. 

When you’re in charge of multiple construction projects, it can get overwhelming trying to keep track of every little task that needs to be completed.

You’ve got so many other things to worry about as a contractor; let your delegates handle the day-to-day tasks of the project timelines so that you can handle the big picture stuff like focusing on milestones to keep track of each project.

5. Track Project Finances

Having an overall view of each project’s financial health is a must for contractors who are managing multiple projects.

Financial health is one of the most important indicators of a project’s overall success; after all, if you’re not making your bottom line, what’s the point? As a contractor, it’s important for you to keep a close eye on each project’s finances including profitability, changes to the budget, and a breakdown of costs.

Learn more about how you can track financials and profitability with ConstructionOnline's TrueVision™ Financial Dashboards, which allows you to see a summary and detailed breakdown of each project’s finances from start to close-out.

6. Allocate Resources Without Overlap

Resource allocation can pose issues in construction projects especially if you have multiple team members who are working on multiple projects. As the main contractor, it’s your job to make sure each project has the necessary resources to stay on track and on budget.

When you know exactly how resources are being spent within projects and across multiple projects, including resource availability, workload, conflicts, task completion, and more, you can get a better understanding of potential conflicts and delays, and you can more easily reallocate resources as needed. This ensures each project is performing at peak efficiency. 

You can make resource tracking much easier and less time–consuming with ConstructionOnline’s TrueVision ResourceTrak™, which gives you the tools to view how your project teams are being utilized company-wide in a comprehensive view.

7. Clear and Consistent Communication

Clear communication is important for keeping all of your construction projects on schedule and on budget. It can also keep you out of potential legal trouble that you may face as the main contractor from poor communication.

Throughout the lifespan of a project - or in your case, multiple projects simultaneously - there will be unexpected events that cause delays, change orders that may increase project finances, RFIs & Submittals that require your approval, and everything else that goes into construction. This is why it’s important for you to maintain consistent communication with your subcontractors so that you’re in the loop on every stage of each project.

If you need a centralized method for handling communication with your subcontractors, learn more about ConstructionOnline's communication tools.

8. Delegate When Necessary

When managing multiple construction projects simultaneously, delegating tasks will help your projects to progress much more efficiently without you being overwhelmed.

When you consider how many tasks, subtasks, events, delays and a host of other things that are in just one project, let alone multiple, it’s too large of a workload for one person to do well. You’ll end up missing important deadlines and neglecting important financial details, all of which lead to overrun projects.

Delegating tasks to subcontractors and other team members is one way you can reduce overload on yourself and ensure that each project will finish on time and under budget.

Delegating tasks is much easier with tools like ConstructionOnline's ResourceTrak, which allows you to see where resources are being utilized, what resources are available, and who might be better at performing certain tasks.

9. Prevent Schedule Conflicts Among Projects

When you’re managing multiple construction projects, it’s not uncommon for conflicting events to occur both within one project schedule and across multiple project schedules. This is why it’s important to cross-check all project schedules so that you can get ahead of any conflicts.

Keeping up with multiple project schedules can be daunting if you’re checking individual schedules one-by-one, but with modern technology a task like this doesn’t have to be complicated. With ConstructionOnline’s multi-project scheduling, you can manage multiple schedules in one view and see how they relate to each other.

These are just a few tips for managing multiple construction projects simultaneously, but if you do them right, you’ll have a much better chance of ensuring that all of your projects come in on time and under budget.

If you want to know some key performance indicators you should keep track of to ensure the success of each project, check out our blog post 6 Ways to Accurately Measure Construction Project Success.