Why preconstruction can become a competitive advantage for UK firms during testing times, says Tom Noctor, manager, international strategic product consultants, Procore
With the cost of living crisis and soaring inflation impacting the construction industry’s long-haul recovery from the pandemic, many are questioning what the position of UK construction will be in several years’ time – especially considering its already uneven recovery of late.
However, many construction businesses aren’t in a position where they can afford to wait for circumstances to improve – or look to external leadership for guidance. The industry needs to take fate into its own hands and quickly act before any long-term damage is done.
To do this, there is one area that demands additional attention – and that’s preconstruction.
Preconstruction: A key enabler in difficult times
While most construction firms will have a preconstruction process in place, improved practices can drive better business and financial outcomes according to our State of Global Preconstruction report with FMI. With as many as 40% of contractors with above average preconstruction reporting higher client satisfaction, and 35% of above average organisations reporting fewer project delays.
Regardless of navigating the current economic headwinds, optimised preconstruction processes can help firms cope with industry-specific challenges such as the increased complexity of projects, accelerated delivery schedules and supply chain issues.
So, how can firms ensure preconstruction is working to its full potential? One way is by leaning further into the game-changing benefits of platform technology.
How collaborative document management supports preconstruction
Our study showed that two significant challenges to effective preconstruction are stakeholder collaboration and coordination, as well as hand-off from preconstruction to construction.
The most pressing challenge is ease of use. Traditional document management systems can be laborious to use, meaning they can only be realistically utilised by specialists. As such, they can become disconnected from the reality of a project, or worse, become a dumping ground for project information and files.
This is validated by the fact that as few as 38% of firms said they were highly satisfied with their preconstruction technology, with the majority of teams using isolated tools instead. With improvement needed, it’s vital to consider the level of collaboration and connectivity collaborative document management in the preconstruction stage can deliver.
A higher level of collaboration to avoid rework and inefficiency
The second challenge is fragmentation. Collaboration has come a long way in preconstruction, with owners and general contractors preferring, and often mandating, that project stakeholders use one centralised system to submit and access their project documents to create one source of truth for all projects.
Yet often other companies involved with a project, such as architects and speciality contractors, stick to their preferred tools. The danger here is when an updated design comes from an architect, it ends up being managed and accessed across tens of tools, despite all being used for the same project.
It’s also true that the way construction software is traditionally licensed impedes preconstruction collaboration by limiting the number you can have working on a project. This means if a main contractor wants to collaborate with a subcontractor on a drawing, they must procure software licences for the subcontractor that might go untouched or have to ask the subcontractor to pay for licences before they’ve received any payment for the project delivery. This is just one example of things that work well in other industries simply not mapping to the realities of construction.
A common data environment to unify teams
Any changes in the preconstruction process poses a challenge to both collaboration and data. However, many tools to analyse these impacts are siloed and subject to being updated by different people at various times across different devices. This makes it difficult to identify the latest instructions, drawings, observations, emails, or RFIs.
Leading Irish construction company Conack is one firm that has implemented a common data environment. At one time, working on a notable roster of projects, including Dublin’s prestigious Cherrywood development, Conack implemented construction management software to establish an easy to use common data environment, which transformed the company’s ability to unify the team when communicating across departments, uploading projects, managing and delivering information, and more.
Now whether it’s searching for the latest set of information on a particular project or managing increasingly complex compliance issues, Conack is in an excellent position to obtain up-to-date and accurate information.
Preconstruction delivers results, whatever the conditions
Preconstruction has provided real returns for construction firms. But now is the time to take preconstruction to the next level with collaborative document management. With this technology, construction businesses can ensure they are continuing to work in a connected way and are reducing the likelihood of project risks and increasing the chances of predictable and beneficial outcomes.
The old adage goes “measure twice, cut once” and by focusing their attention on preconstruction, firms can embody a sense of care, accuracy and caution to ultimately deliver results.
Tom Noctor
Manager, international strategic product consultants
Procore
Tel: +44 (0)800 368 7703
www.procore.com
