10 ways to improve residential construction project management

Residential project management software streamlines tasks and helps you keep track of projects and personnel. Whether you need accounting or scheduling management, project management solutions offer many options that make a contractor’s job easier. What features you need will determine what software works best for you; however, certain features are useful across the board to every residential construction project manager looking to manage their projects more efficiently.

What is residential construction management?

Residential construction management is the responsibility of overseeing the construction process for residential buildings such as houses or apartments. Management tasks include coordinating and supervising the project schedule, financials, client communication, timesheets, etc.

Construction project manager skills include having a high level of organization, coordination and responsibility. When you bring in construction management software, you streamline all processes and take out any risk of human error. Project management software does the tedious work and allows you to focus on areas that require your high-level expertise.

While you focus on what you do best, you’ll also complete projects safely, on time and on budget. Plus, these tasks will be completed faster and with higher accuracy than by hand.

10 tips for better residential construction project management

How exactly do you improve your residential construction project management? This seems like a big question, but don’t worry — we’ve got all the tips for you including construction management best practices.

First, we’ll share practical advice on how to improve your project management process as a whole. Next, we’ll tell you how to simplify each task by using Buildertrend’s convenient construction project management features.

1. Automate accounting processes

Accounting features are crucial, especially if you don’t have someone handling your accounting for you. Make sure your software includes construction budgeting, invoicing, billing, payroll and cash flow options. The costs of every construction project needs to be watched closely, especially as the project moves along, and it’s even better when it integrates with your accounting software. Automation of functions is also very important to a construction program. Construction accounts payable, accounts receivable, work orders and payroll should all be adjustable depending on the client and the job at hand.

With Buildertrend’s construction software, you’ll have all the tools you need to manage cash flow and track budgets. Some of the construction accounting features are bids, estimates and online payments. Right on the app, you can track finances and make adjustments, compare estimated versus actual costs and review work in progress reports.

2. Streamline your job costing

Your home building construction project management system needs to be able to set standard rates for all types of services your company offers. And on top of this, it should be able to explain the cost for each employee, contractor, production manager and supervisor. Tracking time and expenses, managing project milestones and timelines, generating construction purchase orders, creating invoices and producing actionable data are just a few of the job costing functions necessary in good software.

Buildertrend’s budgeting tools update the budget, labor costs, purchase orders and change orders the minute there’s an adjustment. Our construction software enables you to accept online payments and create line-item invoices straight from your cost estimates and reports to track your daily expenses.

3. Improve team management

Managing dispatched work orders, assigning assets and equipment, creating and maintaining schedules, managing general contractors, booking new construction jobs … the list of responsibilities for CPMs goes on and on, and project management software needs to help. Scheduling features may seem simple, but they remain helpful whenever you need to organize your days and jobs most efficiently and keep track of your team’s activities.

Let Buildertrend help you keep your team organized with the Schedule and accountable with the To-Do’s. The Time Clock feature allows you to see where your workers are on a map and who has clocked in and out for the day. This convenient and accurate data keeps your business moving right along.

4. Keep track of progress

Some contractors prefer separate project management functionality, allowing them to have an overview of their building projects, but also to focus on and keep track of every small detail. Even a management team might have a hard time planning resources, tracking project management, managing and integrating new client requests, gathering teams for collaboration, scheduling or changing time frames and tracking any issues that may come up on their own.

Daily Logs keep a detailed history of the work on your construction site. This history includes weather days, progress photos, notes and upcoming tasks. Not only is this a record of the site, it’s a clear line of communication with your stakeholders, project team, subcontractors and clients.

5. Centralize your job scheduling

Job scheduling is a function of construction management software that helps with scheduling tasks, balancing workload (including rebalancing unforeseeable delays) and updating everyone on project timing. This function should also be able to lay out a project timeline and assign employees or subs. It should also create reminders for all staff in the office and on the job site and adjust the project schedule as needed.

The job scheduling tools in Buildertrend take all the painful day-to-day tasks off your plate and put them into our centralized software. Mastering scheduling will ultimately save time and open up communication — but most importantly, keep your projects on track.

6. Use digital document and photo management

All the information and data in construction management can be more than the company is able to handle, especially when it falls on a small team. Document and photo management is an essential functionality for running a more paperless office. The resources of a construction company are also far greater and more intricate than most companies are equipped to handle without a little assistance. The most crucial feature? Unlimited storage. With so many projects going on at one time, construction companies need a platform that can handle the large number of documents and photos they’ve got floating around.

Real-time documentation of your projects keeps your clients in the loop and allows your business to operate paper-free. Buildertrend has all the unlimited storage you need, and the capability to file important project documents — in their separate folders — in one central location. 

7. Use software with mobile capabilities

Businesses today need construction management software that can work across desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile platforms. The ability for all employees to access cloud-based project data, whether in the office or at the job site, cannot be undervalued. Successful project management leads to more jobs and revenue.

In particular, managing the needs of remodeling residential construction projects can be challenging, as you need to consider the home’s residents in your decision-making. A delayed remodeling job could cost your clients more money. The increased capabilities that web-based remodeling software project management offers can further enable reviewing project conditions, schedules, deadline changes, job progress and new client input in a way that reduces the stress on the homeowner. All of these aspects can help the company complete more projects on time and within budget.

Buildertrend’s project management software can be accessed across computer, tablet or phone. Builders are able to check in on all projects from anywhere using Buildertrend’s mobile app. The schedules, files, project budgets and to-do’s update in real time, creating smooth communication from all locations.  

8. Leverage software integrations

Your residential project management software needs to connect to all the other programs you use to help your business function. This includes documents, accounting tasks, payment methods, insurance coverage and email. An effective program will allow you to access these necessities without having to download anything to a desktop or save a document separately. Integration means seamless connection with your software.    

Integrations make project management much easier. While Buildertrend offers more than 20 integrations, the five most popular are Excel, QuickBooks and Xero, Buildertrend’s Payment Processing, Buildertrend’s Risk Insurance and Outlook.

With Buildertrend, you’re able to import existing documents, access accounting solutions, make quick payments, safeguard your projects and upload email attachments straight into the software.  

9. Communicate and collaborate efficiently with your team

It is crucial to have continuous and fluid communication with your team. When you have multiple projects at all different stages, collaboration within a project management software is essential. This communication must be capable of including photo documentation, access to the schedule, tasks, budgets and messages.

As you may have guessed, Buildertrend has you covered on this. We know that staying up to date, so your team can make the smartest and fastest decisions to keep the work moving, is essential to your business’s survival. We also know that you need to access this point of communication in one spot.

Don’t go checking texts, emails and voicemails. Log in to your homepage on the Buildertrend app and stay connected.

10. Keep your clients in the loop

At the end of the day, happy clients means more business for you. Your reputation in the community matters and you want to produce good work. The best way to achieve these goals is by keeping your clients in the know on their home projects. Your software should allow you to work smarter and not harder in keeping your clients connected, from preconstruction to turning over the keys. A good software will let you post updates on the project, communicate with your team and allow your clients to see the work as it happens.

If there is a change order, update in the budget, weather delay … let Buildertrend be your central communication hub. By allowing your clients to login to the Customer Portal, you’re allowing them direct access to the project — this builds trust with clients and in turn your company wins more jobs.

Get started with Buildertrend residential project management software

As we discussed above, residential project management requires detailed attention to all the moving parts on all your projects. To successfully manage details on every site, you need construction project management software on your team.

Using a strong software will take the tedious work off your shoulders. The scheduling, managing and rearranging that all takes a lot of brain and manpower can be offloaded with the use of software.

Are you ready to start using the top construction management software in the industry, trusted by more than 1 million construction business owners across the globe?

Contact Buildertrend today to learn how we can help.

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