What You Need To Know About Construction Resource Management?

workload management software

Looking for a way to set your construction company apart from the pack? We know it’s a tough market out there, profit margins are shrinking and competition for key projects continues to be fierce. How about we tell you that instead of implementing every new “trend” to managing your operations, the actual hidden way to increase your company's bottom line is by implementing a construction resource management software.

Hear us out. Much like other industries, but even more prevalent in construction, are your resources. And without proper resource management, projects can fall behind schedule, become unprofitable or never see the end of the tunnel. You might have been using homemade spreadsheets or personally designed softwares to manage resources, but often these tools operate in separate silos and don’t have the capacity to give an enterprise-level view of resources.

Let’s take a deeper look at the role resource scheduling plays in the construction field and understand why implementing a resource management solution might be the hidden key to your company’s longevity and success.

Importance of Construction Resource Management

In any construction project the stakes and risks are high. Why? Projects are tied to predetermined time bound objectives, material and resource costs are volatile, there’s a high influx of contract workers and external factors like unpredictable weather. Project managers must take critical decisions to minimise conditions that can extend tasks beyond scheduled duration.

A construction project also requires highly specialised talent, alongside temporary labour. Some of prominent players in a construction projects are:

  1. Architect: The main man behind the scenes who brings the client’s vision and develops the blueprint for the project.
  2. Estimator: The estimator is incharge of determining the total cost of a construction project based on the Scope of Work. The Scope of Work is a document that lays out the entirety of work that needs to be done in order to complete the building project.
  3. Supervisor/Shift Manager: The supervisor is the link between the field workers and the management office. The supervisor oversees the day-to-day management and functioning of the construction site.
  4. Quality Surveyor: Quality surveyors keep tabs on the contractual and financial aspects of a construction project. They review the architect’s blueprint and calculate the cost of the materials required.
  5. Engineer: Any construction project requires multiple engineers – building, electrical, mechanical, and civil — each specialist managing their respective domains. For example, a civil engineer will oversee the technical and safety aspects of the project, while an electrical engineer will focus on designing, testing, installing, and maintaining large-scale electrical systems for the job site.

At any given time, a construction site can face the following challenges:

  1. Shortage of skilled labour due to poor resource planning or key resources going on unplanned leave.
  2. Changes in scope due to external factors such as weather or materials not getting delivered on-time which can add additional workload on existing resources.
  3. Poor communication about project scope and responsibility that results in employee burnout and disengagement.
  4. Inefficient planning tools (legacy systems or spreadsheets that have just basic HR-related data) that lead to key resources being over or under utilised or double-booking errors.

In addition to human capital, construction sites have to manage equipment and raw material inventory as well, which adds another jigsaw puzzle in the mix. The result from having multiple prominent players and moving inventory is that construction projects are dynamic, interdependent and ever-changing. There are multiple moving parts and it’s easy for a project to get delayed or overshoot budget, even if one piece isn’t planned or performing up to the mark.

This is exactly where a construction resource management tool can prove beneficial. A resource management tool will build a comprehensive process that will allow for proactive planning, scheduling, and managing of enterprise-wide resources for the construction industry.

5 Benefits of Using a Construction Resource Management Software

Resource management provides an array of advantages to construction project managers. Here are is a list of some of the benefits availed from adopting the right construction resource management system are:

Construction Needs Resource Management & Planning

Resource planning and management is one of the most important ingredients for competitiveness and profitability in today’s construction industry. Haphazard planning of a construction project can affect the outcome of the project and your company's stature. Therefore, planning for optimum use of labour, raw materials, architectural design, and schedules is essential for the proper distribution of resources and a successful project completion.

Established in 2004, eResource Scheduler has helped more than 800 businesses across the globe, manage and execute projects with minimal errors and disruptions. Our team of experts can provide a customised demo of how our planning software can help your organisation so you too can hit your goals, stress free.

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