ConstructionOnline Blog

The Cost of Chaos: 8 Expense Tracking Mistakes that can Sink Your Business

Imagine you’re building a house, but no one’s checking the plans, tracking the budget, or making sure the materials fit the design. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, right? You may be surprised to hear that when your company doesn’t have proper construction expense management, it can be just as disastrous. Inaccurate and unorganized construction expense tracking can lead to project delays, budget overruns, and even legal trouble. Let’s dive into the 8 biggest mistakes construction companies make when tracking expenses, and how to solve them.

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Topics: Best Practices Estimating Financials Project Management OnCost™ Purchasing Purchase Orders

Avoiding Cloud Technology? Here's How You're Falling Behind

The internet is not new, and neither is the cloud. Technology in construction has been around for over 20 years, but desktop solutions are causing contractors to fall behind. Switching to cloud-based construction management can be daunting, but did you know that it could be the difference between a desktop management system and the cloud that causes you to go out of business?

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Topics: UDA ConstructionOnline Best Practices Learn From the Pros Commercial Project Communication Financials Subcontractors Residential Multi-Family TrueVision™ Business Intelligence Contact Management Project Management

Building Smart: How Team Communication in Construction Minimizes Risks

There’s not much that’s as frustrating as finding out too late that a crucial task from early in the life of a project needs to be completely re-done. Something as simple as a misplaced electrical outlet could result in thousands of dollars that were not estimated for. Not to mention, the potential weeks required to add to a project’s timeline can damage your reputation or worse – lead to costly legal disputes. 

Communication in construction is crucial for smooth project execution. In the construction industry, team members are often in different locations at any given time – a job site, meeting with stakeholders, the office, etc. Having the right construction communication plan in place can keep projects on track and reduce legal risks. Keep reading for different internal communication strategies to set your team up for success from the very start.

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Topics: Best Practices General Contractors Commercial Project Communication Residential Contact Management Project Management

The Importance of Using Technology in Construction

With the accelerating rate of technological advances across the construction industry, it’s a natural expectation that contractors keep up with the times by utilizing technology in some form. Whether it’s using a basic spreadsheet to create accurate estimates or investing in a project management software that handles larger-scale projects, technology helps contractors execute successful projects with more ease.

Although the role of contractors hasn’t changed much since the onset of the digital age, the way in which contractors execute projects has changed from relying on manual documentation and tracking to more automated ways of carrying out project tasks. So in this article, we’ll explain the importance of tech, the risks of not using tech, and how contractors can embrace tech as the new way of doing construction.

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Topics: Best Practices Project Management