How to track construction equipment easier

Construction equipment ends up being a massive expense for your company, and managing these resources can save your business from losing money. When your tracking process is done successfully, you’re able to control costs, increase employee safety and prevent theft.

Maybe you’re wondering if it’s worth investing in a construction equipment tracking system. The answer is clear. Discover why equipment tracking is essential and how investing in tracking software can benefit your business.

Why is construction equipment tracking important?

Equipment tracking can be effortless and efficient with the right tools. There are many benefits to keeping tabs on all assets, such as saving money and promoting team safety. Take a look at why implementing a tracking system is crucial for your company.

Cost management

Equipment is a major expense for your construction business. Heavy machinery isn’t cheap, but keeping up with the location and maintenance of your resources can combat the high cost. It’s important to consistently track your tools to be notified of damage or malfunctions early.

When you fix problems in a timely way, you save money on repairs in the long run and ultimately extend the life of the equipment. What happens if you don’t? If a machine breaks down, your production comes to a standstill that can result in lost time and money. Effectively managing the cost of assets means more of your profits can go toward other aspects of your business.

Reduced downtime

What good are your tools doing if they’re spending time idling in the yard? Put them to use! Getting the most out of what you already own is a great way to save money. Make sure you have a detailed schedule of where your equipment will be at all times and follow it as it moves. You can use GPS tracking to help with this. By boosting the productivity of your machinery, you can improve your construction efficiency.

Safety

Safety should always be your top concern, and the proper use of equipment is a substantial part of that. Asset tracking can reduce the number of accidents on the job site because you keep an eye on where your employees are and where the machinery is, too. You can see when a specific tool leaves an area and account for potential risk. Use tracking to prevent incidents and keep your team out of harm’s way.

Theft prevention

Job sites can be easy targets for theft because they have low security and are usually not well-lit. Equipment is often not locked away and is left to sit overnight with no one to watch it. By tracking your assets, you’ll prevent theft with real-time location data. You can have peace of mind knowing where your machinery is across all job sites. In the worst-case event that your equipment gets stolen, it’s easier to recover because you can provide law enforcement with the data.

What makes construction equipment tracking challenging?

Equipment is constantly being purchased, rented and transported to construction sites. Different tools are needed at distinct points of the job and located at separate sites. Here are some challenges you should be aware of when tracking your equipment.

High initial costs

Construction equipment is expensive, to say the least. A new bulldozer can cost anywhere from $325,000 to $1.2 million. Who has that kind of money to spare? And even if you buy it used, it’s still a sizable expense for your business. When you get an expensive resource, you want to make sure you manage it well.

Integration challenges

You’ll be better off if you get your team on board with equipment tracking. Start with the top-level employees and hold them accountable to update information, then shift your focus to the lower-level or newer employees. To further encourage integration, you can incentivize the practice of keeping up with equipment tracking.

Employee training

Keep training your team and set high standards. Stress the importance of safety and taking care of tools by prioritizing training sessions. Getting your team to utilize the equipment tracking system you have in place is essential for your business. Set consistent expectations and include training onsite and on the system.

How to make tracking construction equipment easier

Tracking can be made easier by just having a solid system in place. Here are some ways to make this a simple task.

Implement tracking systems for equipment

First and foremost, having a system in place for tracking your assets is key. You can start by performing an inventory audit to have information on all tools, and you can create names or tags for each piece. By having a system in place, you’ll be able to easily notice damage and loss on all assets. You can see the equipment location and record usage on all job sites.

Invest in GPS technology

Implementing GPS tracking for equipment can make your job even easier because you know exactly which location each piece is in. This helps in cases of theft because if something were to get stolen, you’d have that information to provide. Additionally, GPS technology reduces the manual labor it takes to keep up with the data.

Assign equipment to specific job sites

Machinery can get moved around often, and your job can get difficult when trying to locate something. You may consider assigning certain equipment to specific job sites. You can even create a schedule to note where things need to be at specific times and when they need to be transported to another job site. The bottom line is it’s essential to have a system in place for assigning equipment.

Regular maintenance and inspections

Make sure to regularly perform maintenance and inspections on your equipment. This helps lower your costs in the long run. Often, it’s more expensive to replace a tool than it is to repair it. A proactive approach also prevents accidents from happening and promotes employee safety. Set a schedule for maintenance and inspections to prolong the life of your resources.

Analyze data collected by tracking systems

You can run regular reports and collect data from a tracking system. You’ll know ahead of time if there are issues or if a tool isn’t where it’s supposed to be. For example, you can locate your bulldozer and make sure it’s moved over to the next job site. Your business can run more efficiently when your equipment tracking is on point.

Top features to look for in construction equipment tracking systems

Relying on spreadsheets isn’t going to cut it when it comes to tracking your construction equipment. They’re susceptible to human error and are labor intensive. You’re better off implementing a tracking software system. Here’s what to look for when choosing one for your business.

User-friendly interface

Employee buy-in is vital for equipment tracking, so having a user-friendly experience is most helpful. Make sure you pick a system that makes it easy for your employees to log in from the job site and easily record information.

This will encourage them to repeat this practice regularly and keep their data accurate. Buildertrend offers an easy way for employees to input details in a construction log within the mobile app right from the job site.

GPS tracking

With GPS, you’re able to see exactly where each tool is at any given time. Buildertrend automates GPS location and uses a phone as a tracking device for equipment. It requires no extra steps to record this valuable information.

Maintenance scheduling

Choose a system that includes an integrated tool to set schedules for equipment maintenance. You’ll increase the longevity of your assets when they’re scheduled for regular maintenance, and it’s easier to keep up with this when you have a tool in place. Buildertrend offers a precise scheduling tool and a way to create assigned To-Do’s for employees within the same tracking software. 

Usage reporting

Pick a system that has some way to see usage. You want to ensure you’re getting the most out of every piece of equipment. It’s doing no good for your business by just sitting around. By performing regular usage reports, you’re able to maximize your resources. Buildertrend uses tags to follow where these resources have been and their real-time location.

Customization

Consider choosing a system that gives you the ability to customize. For example, you can make your pieces of equipment easy to distinguish for your team by having a unique naming convention. Your business runs differently than others, so customization features are key to the success of implementing a system. A variety of customization aspects are available in Buildertrend, including the ability to create unique tags for each of your tools.

How Buildertrend’s Daily Logs simplify equipment tracking

For home builders and remodelers, keeping tabs on equipment location has neverbeen more important. Buildertrend makes it easy and efficient to implement a tracking process.

The communication power of Buildertrend’s Daily Logs feature makes it easy to see why it’s one of the most popular tools within the platform. Using Daily Logs can help you stay updated on the project work that’s being done on a day-to-day basis.

And did you know you could use Daily Logs to track construction equipment? It’s true!

When entering a Daily Log, you and your team not only have the ability to add documents, photos and videos, but you can also choose to add an equipment tag. When you add a tag for a specific tool within the Daily Log, Buildertrend will drop a location pin on the GPS map. This ensures you always know the last location for equipment when you’re jumping between jobs.

To learn more about equipment tracking and why it’s such a useful tool, we interviewed Nick Pitsch, an education coordinator on the Customer Success team here at Buildertrend.

How does the function for equipment tracking work within Daily Logs?

Daily Logs can be more than just the written history. When using custom tags and the GPS map location associated with the job site within the Daily Logs feature, home builders can easily track assets. Tags are built into the feature as a customizable filtering mechanism. There’s an easy-to-use Add button that allows each builder to create the necessary tags that align with their filtering needs. In this case, the different pieces of equipment that make the rounds from job site to job site.

To establish a new location for a piece of equipment, users would simply create a Daily Log within the job at the location it’s being used, then tag it so a GPS location can be captured.

How does Buildertrend track the equipment location?

Within Buildertrend, users can utilize their computer or mobile phone as a tracking device for equipment and apply their location when performing certain actions, such as recording a Daily Log. When they allow the location to be tracked, a pin can be dropped on a map and documented as a part of each log.

How would a user locate a certain piece of equipment?

If other users are trying to locate that same equipment, they can use the Job Menu to view Daily Logs across All Listed Jobs and filter using the tag related to the tool they’re looking for. The search results then allow the users to review the map location of the most recent Daily Log, which will show where the equipment is.

What is the process for creating tags?

Tags for Daily Logs can be created within the Details of each Daily Log. There’s an Add button next to the dropdown. These tags can be used across the account and are available for all jobs. Once tags are created, they can be used on a Daily Log at the time of creation or added to an existing Daily Log retroactively.

Why is using this functionality beneficial for construction pros?

Managing resources such as equipment is difficult and becomes more challenging when the number of active people and jobs increases. This simple process of mapping the location of each tool and easily pinpointing equipment in real time without having to ask around will save time and keep everyone on the same page.

Additionally, using this process for tracking will help to create a history, which could be beneficial for maintenance, warranty and replacements.

Don’t gamble with the success of your business

There are important features to look for in a good construction equipment tracking software. Buildertrend provides these essential capabilities such as GPS tracking, user-friendly interface, usage reporting and customization. 

With GPS tracking for equipment, you know exactly where everything is located. You’re able to record usage and prevent theft with this kind of valuable information at your disposal. 

Buildertrend offers a user-friendly experience for your team. It also includes a variety of ways to customize your system to fit the needs of your business. 

Take advantage of the usage reporting in Buildertrend by using equipment tags and daily logs. Harness the ability to analyze this data and keep your business running smoothly.

If you’d like to learn more about how to use tags to track equipment within Daily Logs, reach out to your account executive. They’re happy to help!

So, you’re ready to take your construction business to the next level with Buildertrend’s equipment tracking? Schedule a demo today.

Construction equipment tracking FAQs

Here are some answers to your questions about construction equipment tracking.