Project planning

How to track construction progress & why it matters

Tracking progres is essential

As a construction pro, being able to track progress is imperative for completing your new home build or renovation projects on time and on budget. With so many moving parts happening at the same time, it can be hard to manage it all and guarantee that projects will continue to run smoothly.

So, what’s the secret to making it all happen?

Tracking progress comes down to keeping tabs on daily job site headway, using effective scheduling methods and carefully managing financials. See how taking advantage of Buildertrend’s construction project software management features can help to sustain project timelines and keep your construction jobs on track.

Scheduling for success

The importance of construction progress tracking

Construction progress tracking is a crucial aspect of any successful project, regardless of its size or complexity. It involves monitoring and documenting the ongoing activities, milestones, and accomplishments throughout the project’s lifecycle. 

Construction progress tracking is essential for effective project management, resource optimization, risk mitigation, cost control, and client satisfaction. It plays a vital role in the success of construction projects by promoting accountability, transparency, and informed decision-making throughout all construction processes.

How to track construction progress

1. Track daily progress and ensure accountability with Daily Logs

Daily Logs are key for staying updated on the work that’s been done on a day-to-day basis. With access to Daily Logs, all key stakeholders can easily keep track of project progress.

When entering a daily log, you and your team have the ability to add documents, photos and videos. This will ensure verification for important project details or completed work. Your team can also make notes when parts don’t arrive or there’s a problem with design that requires input from the homeowner.

With Daily Logs, you’ll never have to worry about whether or not work is getting done. You can quickly check on the progress of each job from your desktop or the Buildertrend mobile app.

2. Maintain project timelines with effective scheduling

Buildertrend’s Schedule feature can be used for way more than setting up project timelines. It has a range of functions that will ensure your jobs continue to progress.

The Schedule will act as a source of truth for the duration of each job and maintaining it will keep projects moving. One crucial piece of tracking progress is making sure all key stakeholders are on the same page. You can share schedule items with your project team, subcontractors and clients to keep all parties up to date.

You can also assign To-Do’s to Schedule items in order to track what’s getting done and who’s responsible for each task. Adding To-Do’s will streamline your project scheduling processes and ensure accountability, alleviating the need to constantly check in while simultaneously tracking job progress.

Additionally, you can use tags to maintain organization and keep track of items such as daily logs and project phases. For example, tags can be used to easily search for and manage the daily progress of each job or locate different phases like demolition, foundation or framing.

It’s also important to note that within the Schedule feature, you have the option to link to homeowner payments. This will ensure that you stay on top of dates for when certain financial installments are due or if the homeowner needs to be reminded.

3. Manage essential financial information with ease

With Buildertrend’s Financial and Reporting features, you can seamlessly track progress from start to finish on every job. Managing cash flow is a major part of project management and using Buildertrend makes it easy. With multiple projects going on at once, it’s critical to keep track of money coming in and out.

Buildertrend’s Budget feature is necessary for keeping your projects and jobs on track financially. Whether you’re in the office or out on the construction site, the budget provides an at-a-glance view of where you stand for each job. Quickly view numbers from estimates, new expected costs, bills and POs, time clock labor, total costs and more. Once you have all your budget information entered, you can use the built-in progress reporting options to quickly review the financial health of your job.

Using Buildertrend’s Budget feature with our other financial features such as Estimates, Bills and POs, Invoices and Change Orders makes tracking your financials easy and assures the continued success of your construction business.

How Buildertrend helps you track project progress and maintain business success

Using technology to track progress on your construction jobs will help you to maximize your time, effectively manage your projects and increase your profits. If you’d like to learn more about how Buildertrend can help you reach your goals, schedule a demo today!

How to track construction progress FAQs

Get answers to the most common questions about construction progress tracking.

Construction companies can track progress in new projects using various task management
tools and methods, such as construction management software, project management software,
Gantt charts, critical path method (CPM), daily/weekly reports, templates and site visits.

Addressing delays in construction progress is crucial to reducing overruns and bottlenecks and keeping the entire project on track. Delays should be promptly communicated to the project manager and stakeholders. A plan should be put in place to identify the causes of delays, assess their impact, and implement corrective actions to get the project deliverables back on track.

Progress tracking should be done regularly in the construction industry, typically on a daily or weekly basis, depending on the size and complexity of the overall project. More frequent tracking is essential during critical phases.

Construction progress reports should include project budgets, milestones, completed tasks, ongoing activities, delays, issues encountered, resources allocated, and any changes made to the project plan.

About The Author

Chelsea Cole headshot

Chelsea Cole Chelsea Cole is a senior content marketing specialist at Buildertrend

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