Construction software: Why it’s time for construction to quit Excel

At a time where the construction industry is growing ever-more competitive, we argue it is time to ditch the spreadsheets and embrace the power and potential of construction software built by and for professionals

Why does the construction sector love Excel?

In the mid-80s, Microsoft Excel was a huge step-up from estimators putting bills of quantities together on A3 sheets. The world-famous, adaptable spreadsheet software has evolved into a universal data solution for most professional sectors, and knowledge of Excel is required for most professional roles.

There are certainly benefits to Excel. It’s cheap, new recruits will know how to use it from day one and seasoned users can take advantage of advanced formulas and features.
However, in the new era of software development, many industries are moving away from generic spreadsheets to feature-rich software adapted to their specific industry, whereas construction remains hooked on Excel. A 2020 survey by LetsBuild found that 85% of the industry still track their finances and build estimates using Excel.

Data is essential to running construction schemes, and keeping it stored in error-prone Excel spreadsheets – many of them “legacy” spreadsheets adopted from employee to employee – can lead to major headaches and rework.

Despite construction being a huge sector, accounting for 7% of the UK’s GDP, it remains one of the slowest to adapt to modern technologies – leading to projects running over time, over budget and relying on razor-thin profit margins.

Spreadsheet errors are costly to businesses

Excel relies on human input, which leads to human error. In a research paper on spreadsheets, Dr Raymond R Panko of the University of Hawaii concluded that over 88% of spreadsheets contain errors.

Some of these errors can be infamously costly, such as energy company TransAlta’s £19.5m loss due to a simple copy-paste spreadsheet error and JP Morgan’s devastating £4.8bn trading loss in 2012, which was due to dividing the sum of two interest rates rather than the average within an Excel spreadsheet.

While readers will probably not be responsible for a spreadsheet error with its own Wikipedia page, it is clear how much a human error onExcel can impact a business. Logic errors, misapplied formulas and simply copy/pasting the wrong data can lead to errors which can negatively impact and delay a construction project. If estimates and costs are miscalculated due to error, it is the contractor that must bear the brunt of the mistake – usually in the form of profit loss.

How can time on Excel be better spent?

If a spreadsheet contains an error, it can take an exceptionally long time to run through lines upon lines of data, identify and correct that error. Overall, Excel is a time-consuming piece of software.

Building construction tasks such as bills of quantities on Excel can take days of work. Many estimators would admit that time spent copy/pasting item descriptions and prices into a new tender hosted on Excel is an extremely drawn out and repetitive aspect of their role.
Time spent on Excel impacts construction beyond the estimate stage. An increasing amount of construction companies are transferring to enterprise resource planning (ERP) construction software solutions to help track their supply chain and financial data and automating reports, freeing up time spent on administration tasks and putting together reports.

In The Access Construction’s State of Construction 2023 survey, 1,300 construction professionals were asked to rank the key challenges they face in their roles. The top two responses were a “time-consuming estimating process” (26% ranked as biggest challenge) and “time-consuming reports” (8% ranked as biggest challenge). Time constraints are clearly a leading concern across the sector and software solutions are available to decrease the time spent inputting data into spreadsheets.

A lack of visibility can lead to increased rework

Change happens, especially in construction. In fact, 30% of all construction work can be classed as rework. While issues that lead to rework can be uncovered at every step of the construction process, the leading causes of rework are document errors and errors in supply chain management.

Excel spreadsheets hold static data, which quickly leads to diminished accuracy. With a lack of real-time visibility comes the risk of miscalculation and miscommunication, which will eventually lead to costly rework.

Many Excel mistakes come from issues with version control – different individuals involved in a project editing their own versions of a spreadsheet and forgetting to edit the core spreadsheet a project or finance manager will work from. Once these different versions of the truth are created, it is very hard to find the correct version.

How can construction software transform your business?

The popularity of Excel comes from its universal application. But its flexibility can also be its downfall – software with features specifically developed for the construction sector can dramatically improve the productivity, visibility and, vitally, the profits of a construction business. Excel isn’t built for construction and can never have the rich features required for contractors to achieve their true potential.

Real-time data updates on a collaborative tool can decrease rework and automate reporting, while tools built specifically to build estimates can cut down the time spent building a bill of quantities by up to 70%. Changes in material prices, design dimensions or labour costs can be quickly adjusted instead of rebuilding clunky legacy spreadsheets from scratch.

Industry-leading construction software solutions from Access Construction

Access Construction’s 2023 Construction Survey of 1,300 construction professionals uncovered that dedicated estimating and pricing software was chosen as the top solution construction companies were looking to implement in 2023. We at Access Construction believe the love affair between construction and Excel is finally turning sour.

Designed specifically to meet the needs of the building sector, Access Construction’s two core products – ConQuest Estimating and EasyBuild, an ERP system for construction businesses – are built to tackle the specific issues that arise from a complex sector facing specific issues.

Explore Access Construction’s award-winning software solutions – chosen by over 1,000 contractors across the UK.