10 advantages of keeping a well-organized record of construction projects
The construction industry continuously faces challenges to optimize project efficiency and quality.
One fundamental aspect to achieve this goal is to maintain detailed tracking of each construction project, using field management software that allows for a comprehensive visual and documentary record of the entire project history. This improves decision-making and results in terms of cost compliance, timing, quality, safety, and sustainability in construction projects, the five essential aspects that are inevitably addressed during project development.
To accomplish this, software developers have long been integrating digital tools that assist in achieving these objectives and bringing the construction industry into the fourth industrial revolution, a sector that has traditionally been hesitant to innovate in these processes.
Similarly, the advent of Building Information Modeling (BIM), the new collaborative working method in which the entire design, planning, construction, and project control team come together in a single process, further emphasizes the need to generate a well-organized virtual record of construction projects.
Below, we list the main advantages:
Here are the main advantages of maintaining a well-organized record of construction projects:
1. Real-Time Information Access:
Having relevant information instantly improves communication and enables immediate response to field errors or issues.
2. Progress Monitoring and Achievement of Goals in Costs, Timing, Quality, Safety, and Sustainability:
The five key aspects of a project require continuous monitoring with timely and reliable information for compliance.
3. Remote Decision-Making:
Centralizing control of all your projects on the web allows for virtual decision-making from anywhere, eliminating the need to be on-site. This saves costs and enables simultaneous management of multiple projects without the need for extensive travel.
4. Maintenance Memory:
Once projects are delivered, they undergo continuous wear and tear from use. Detailed information on all construction processes is necessary for swift response to damage or routine maintenance.
5. Conflict Prevention and Resolution:
Maintaining a comprehensive visual and documentary archive of a project helps clarify doubts regarding progress or commitments of each stakeholder, thus preventing conflicts.
6. Legal Support in Case of Litigation:
Despite exercising the utmost care in project control, there is always potential litigation risk. Having complete documented historical information on all processes allows for summarizing events and obtaining the evidence required by lawyers, forming the foundation of any legal defense.
7. Expedited Information Retrieval to Avoid Errors on Site:
Despite having information in the project files, it’s common to experience difficulty in locating it, leading to delays or errors on the construction site. Routines that integrate plans with chronologically captured field images enhance this information when issues arise.
8. Customer Relationship Management and Sales Support:
Maintaining effective communication with project clients is crucial, especially when they are involved in trusts, pre-sale schemes, or initial payments in installments. Clients want to be informed firsthand about project progress to ensure it aligns with agreements.
9. Improved Planning of Future Projects:
In the construction sector, it’s common to start each project from scratch without considering or applying experience from previous projects. Maintaining a project’s history allows for leveraging previous experiences in favor of new projects, avoiding repeat mistakes and planning costs, timing, and quality more accurately.
10. Support for Project Safety and Sustainability:
Field management software also allows for reviewing the safety conditions of a project and contributes to the analysis of procedures that support sustainability and minimize environmental impact.”