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5 Timeless Strategies for Stress-Free Construction Management



Are you tired of inefficient project management? Are you tired of ripping your hair out and losing sleep because you are drowning in past due schedule tasks, over-budget change orders, a construction team that’s always asking you repetitive questions, and hunting down that one crucial document among multiple drives, folders, and software platforms?

If so, we’ve got 5 timeless strategies that will help you manage construction projects without being overwhelmed and stressed to the max, plus you’ll discover a single tool that will help you implement all 5 strategies in one place. Keep reading to learn more:

 

1. Start with a Well-Constructed Plan

A solid plan with clearly defined priorities is the foundation of successful project management that is free from stress and overwhelm. Without proper planning, you’ll be constantly trying to keep your head above water.

Good planning includes essential elements like the following:

  • A detailed and accurate estimate and proposal
  • A clearly-defined project scope of work
  • An outlined project timeline with tasks, subtasks, and deadlines
  • Each team members roles and responsibilities

A well–constructed plan is going to let your team know exactly what needs to be done and by when so that the project can be as smooth sailing as possible.

2. Keep Everything Organized in One Central Place

You know what the definition of stress is when managing construction projects? It’s having hundreds of documents and spreadsheets in multiple different places that are difficult to keep track of. This includes, estimates, proposals, contracts, change orders, submittals, RFIs, daily logs, and other important elements of construction.

The easiest way to stay organized is to keep project records and documents gathered in one central place where you and your team can easily access and update things. This way, you don’t waste time and money trying to hunt down things on different computers, folders, drives, and whatnot.

If you’re looking for an all-in-one construction management platform that will help you centralize everything and stay organized, ConstructionOnline is a great software that will do exactly that. Click the button below to start your free trial today:

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3. Automate Repetitive Processes with Workflows

One major source of stress and overwhelm when it comes to construction project management is wasting time doing those repetitive tasks that need to be done multiple times. 

Whether it’s your process for managing change orders, purchase orders, submittals, RFIs, lead tracking, client selections, or something else, when you find yourself doing the exact same steps over and over again that could easily be automated with today’s technology, you’re just increasing the amount of work and stress that you have to handle.

Having a streamlined way of automating repetitive tasks will make projects less stressful and more manageable. While this is true for all types of construction projects, this is especially true for larger-scale projects like multi-family developments and commercial build-outs where much of the work is the same processes repeated many times over. 

Implementing systems that allow you to automate data entry on these projects helps to eliminate the potential for errors, streamline project setup, and reduce unnecessary stress.

4. Delegate Tasks When Necessary

One surefire way to be overwhelmed as a contractor is trying to do everything on your own. Delegating tasks when appropriate will help you manage projects more efficiently without being stressed out.

When you consider how many tasks, subtasks, events, delays and a host of other things that are in just one project – especially larger-scale multi-family and commercial projects – it’s too much 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.

5. Communicate Clearly & Consistently

We all know just how stressful project management is when there are consistent breakdowns in communication: Maybe a sub missed the memo about a modified due date and so the task still hasn’t been completed, or one of your employees was not aware of how many overdue tasks they were responsible for completing because “no one told them”.

Clear communication is important for staying stress-free as a contractor, not to mention it can also keep you out of potential legal trouble that you may face from poor communication which we both know comes with loads more stress. This includes communicating about unexpected events like schedule delays and change orders, daily reports that detail the day’s progress, and more.

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

ConstructionOnline: The Ultimate Solution for Stress-Free Project Management

Now you know what strategies you can use to manage construction projects without the overwhelm, but how exactly can you implement these strategies efficiently?

You can use an industry-leading construction management software like ConstructionOnline, which allows you to do all of the strategies mentioned here and a whole lot more.

When it comes to staying as stress-free as possible while managing construction projects, here’s what ConstructionOnline allows you to do:

  • Create estimates, schedule timelines, and proposals so that you can create a detailed, well-structured plan.
  • Manage everything in one centralized place, including estimates & finances, reports, invoicing, POs, change orders, daily logs, Submittals, RFIs, to dos, warranties, files & photos, and more.
  • Automate workflows for things like lead tracking, project creation, change order management, PO management, Submittal & RFI tracking, and more.
  • Delegate tasks to subs and team members with tools like ResourceTrak.
  • Communicate with clients, subs, and team members seamlessly with email, text, and in-app notifications and messaging tools.
  • And more…

Want to see up close and personal just how ConstructionOnline can help you manage projects without the overwhelm? Get your 10-day, risk-free trial today by clicking the button below:

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Check out our other articles about managing construction projects more efficiently:

Topics: Best Practices