11 Construction Jobs That Work (Much) Better with Construction Technology

Article written by Charity Heller and posted on the Viewpoint blog.

When you think of digital software, you probably imagine a desk-bound guy or gal in the IT department who helps when you’re finally forced to update your computer. You might not necessarily think of HVAC installers, HR, field service managers, or plumbers using construction technology.

But software technology has the potential to impact many, many parts of the construction business. The impact of technology goes far beyond the IT department.

Construction technology helps these construction areas:

Owners and Executive Teams
Finance Professionals
Construction Accounting Professionals
HR and Payroll Professionals
(Yes, the IT Department)
Construction Estimating Professionals
Operations & Construction Project Management
Field Management Professionals
Service Management Professionals
Equipment Management Professionals
BIM & Detailing Professionals

Read on to see how construction tech affects and accelerates 11 different parts of the construction project team.

1. Owners & Executive Teams

Owners, who manage large capital budgets, need targeted visibility into the contractor-led processes. To ensure the overall health of the company, owners and executives need fast and accurate information. But perhaps the most important issue is that the information is presented in the terms and format that they actually care about.

For example, a president or CEO of your company probably wouldn’t care that there were an unusually high number of account privilege upgrade requests in the server logs… but they would care that they were at a high risk of losing customers because of a cyber attack on their servers.

Construction software can take the same information, and present it with different metrics and in different formats, such as dashboards, based on what matters to the person looking.

2. Finance Professionals

If you’re a CFO, director of finance or controller responsible for the company’s financials, you’re always working the numbers to maximize profit margins and make sure projects stay solvent.

You also have your eye on the cost of ownership, billing and vendor payments, and best practices for financial reporting.

Construction accounting software makes life easier in many ways:

Accurate job costing across payroll, materials, equipment, subcontractors and productivity
Avoid risk with SOC 2 Type II compliance, constant monitoring for cybersecurity threats, and user-level permissions and access
Connected estimating and planning makes projects go faster. Up-to-date resource allocation and labor reduces risk.
Project managers and operations get reliable project financial reporting dashboards and alerts
Automate AP processes by maximizing rebates

Basically, construction tech keeps data accurate and consistent, so financial estimates and budgets are accurate (and stay that way throughout the project!).

3. Construction Accounting Professionals

People who work in construction accounting are task-driven folks! Accounts payable, accounts receivable, job cost accounting, managing accounts, and access to accurate information are all part of your very demanding job.

Construction software has a big impact on the AP team, because data can be automatically collected and entered immediately, from the field, and from across the organization. A few other benefits of modernizing accounts payable with technology:

Accurate job costing—and that includes payroll, materials, equipment, subcontractors and productivity
Stay compliant with SOC 2 Type II and other security measures, constant monitoring for cybersecurity threats, and user-level permissions and access
Onboard employees to meet project and seasonal hiring demands
Share reliable project financial reporting dashboards and alerts with project managers and operations
Automate AP processes by maximizing rebates

4. HR & Payroll Professionals

Your job is to support a diverse, thriving workforce, make sure their HR needs are met, and make sure everyone is paid properly and on time. It’s also your job to onboard and retain qualified employees and contractors (including younger workers), keep everyone happy, and avoid compliance risk across multiple job sites, cities and states.

...it’s a big job.

Going from pen and paper to digital has a massive impact on HR and payroll jobs. Construction technology helps with things like:

Centralized job costing system captures costs coded to jobs labor, equipment, materials, production
Approval workflows and rules for critical business functions to keep different roles accountable across AP, AR, POs, and job billing
Simplify regulatory compliance by connecting ERP data and reporting to a variety of federal, state and local authorities
Quickly onboard employees to meet project and seasonal hiring demands
Mailing employee pay stubs with automated, digital access
View immediate cost information and detailed breakdowns to keep projects under budget and profitable through every stage
Customize invoices to meet customer requirements

Construction software eases the administrative burden on HR and payroll with automation and centralized information.

41.6% of construction companies still use spreadsheets for project management. (Good news for their competitors!)

5. The IT Department

f you’re in information technology or work as a systems administrator in construction, your job has probably exploded over the past few years! You’re feeling the pinch to modernize, but you don’t have the time to do it right.

You’re right to be feeling the pinch: Construction is the #1 industry hit by ransomware in 2021, according to a new study from NordLocker, an encryption software firm—and you do NOT want that to happen on your watch.

Construction technology makes it easier to do the right thing:

Dependable data integrity across the business. A unified data set across your organization that allows for single entry of data and extensive visibility throughout the organization without risk of manual processes
SOC 2 Type II compliance, 24/7/365 monitoring against cybersecurity incidents.
Users protected by enabling multi-factor authentication and SSO.
Multiple daily backups
Reliable system with minimal system downtime

With modern construction software, the IT department goes from being a cost center to a business driver.

Related: Why Cybersecurity Matters in Construction: Part 1 and Part 2

6. Construction Estimating Professionals

Bid too low, and you lose money. Bid too high, and you lose the job.

The pressure is on to accurately estimate all project materials, equipment, labor costs and quantities. The answer is accurate true costs, so your bids win work, and you don’t get sucked into profit fade.

Construction software technology improves standardization and accuracy. Look for new developments in processes and automation:

Track estimates and detailing through the entire project lifecycle to understand profitability
Connect estimating and digital takeoff
Automate data entry to reduce data entry errors and duplication (and save a lot of time)
Integrated, up-to-date material pricing and labor
Use historic estimate data to improve bids and project profit margins

Estimators walk a fine line, but advances in construction technology offer real time, data-based insights—give a major boost to your best guess.

7. Operations & Construction Project Management

Successful operations and project managers direct a web of people, equipment, materials, job costs and progress reports, safety, and more, to manage construction risks and complete projects on time and on budget.

Construction technology has three main advantages for project management: 1.) collaboration, 2.) keeping stakeholders accountable, and 3.) accurate operational data to keep projects on budget and on schedule. It can also help you:

Manage risks and potential changes to your project
Bring architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing together in a complete constructible model. (Basically: Find and solve potential issues before they become real problems)
Record site activity, get detailed audit history of correspondence and actions
Control sensitive customer and business-critical data with role-based permissions. Look for other user-based security, too, like multi-factor authentication to boost protection.

There are so many moving parts to each project that it’s almost impossible to be a good project manager without good construction project management tech tools.

8. Field Management Professionals

It all comes together on the jobsite, and it can all fall apart. You have a constant need for accurate, up-to-date information to keep the hammers swinging. Oh ... and mobile would be nice.

Mobile access is a must from any construction software, if you’re out working in the field. New construction technology advances are bringing powerful capabilities, like creating field tickets on the spot, instead of taking days or months.

Look for other advances around customization and automation, too:

Manage tasks proactively, unapproved invoices, past due accounts, project management documents, equipment and material needs and labor hours
Stay up-to-date on reviews, eligibility dates, compliance documentation or certification expiration
Automate unique workflows and customize workflows
Build custom forms for capturing field and shop data
Manage the approved-for-construction set of drawings

One of the biggest challenges in construction field management is all the time spent tracking down information. Mobile field technology and ready access to information can significantly reduce project costs.

“We achieved “preferred vendor status” because we reduce our time to produce field tickets from 30 days to just 1, with construction technology.” - Great Basin Industrial

9. Service Management Professionals

Service contracts are the backbone of the business—they keep the cash rolling in when building work is slow. (Or, you know, when work comes to a screeching halt thanks to a global pandemic.)

The key to a successful service business is responsive, smooth customer service, so you can bill and collect cash fast. Advances in construction technology help technicians and service managers focus on service work, not paperwork.

Look for new ways to:

Create and manage service agreements, scheduled maintenance, and serviceable items
Create mobile work orders and capture digital signatures on mobile
Assign labor and material costs directly to work orders, to track profitability
Capture notes and photos, and attach them to work orders out in the field
Make custom task lists and templates, for a consistent process from job to job
Bill fast, get paid fast, and reduce disputes, by getting work signed off

There’s a direct correlation between speed of billing and speed of payment, and new tech tools are closing the gap.

10. Equipment Management Professionals

The cost of fleet equipment impacts your company’s bottom line. Between preventative maintenance, managing assets, and tracking depreciation, you need to be a machine to care for the machines!

The way equipment is managed makes the difference between costing or saving money.

Protect your equipment investment with proper maintenance and billing. Charge assets to jobs accurately using a mobile device.

Create and manage service agreements, scheduled maintenance, and serviceable items
Create mobile work orders. Enter work orders quickly, create work orders, and capture digital signatures on the go
Service technicians can assign labor, equipment and material costs directly to work orders, so the office can track profitability
Service technicians can capture notes and photos, and attach them to work orders
Service technicians can create custom task lists and ensure consistency from job to job
Bill faster, and get paid faster with fewer disputes when mobile work orders are signed-off instantly

11. BIM & Detailing Professionals

You can take a generic model from the engineer or architect and turn it into a highly detailed 3D model … but can you do it all without slowing down the project? One of the biggest headaches for coordinating prefabrication, procuring materials, and dealing with installation, is that the information lives in different places.

Construction technology helps you communicate accurate design details to everyone who needs them, and collaborate to avoid potential clashes and problems before installation.

New advances in construction software, like Trimble Construction One, bring all that information together in one place. This helps you:

Hand over generic models from architects and engineers to design and detail accurate models
Communicate project information and model changes to the larger team
Identify potential clashes before installation and coordinate between trades

To be fair, pen and paper still work.

It is technically possible to manually create designs from generic architectural models, to enter data manually, track project financials by hand, and to track payments to contractors and vendors by hand.

But it does not make financial sense to do so.

To be successful in the modern world, every job function in a construction company needs access to information and processes that are relevant to them.

Companies that already use technology have a competitive advantage in their ability to move faster, stick to an accurate budget, and get a high-level, strategic view of the profitability of their business.

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