The COVID-19 pandemic caused disruptions across every industry, construction included. Along with the need to identify opportunities to win more work and generate higher profits, industry players must also navigate a complex construction compliance and regulatory landscape.
Given the multiple moving parts, managing projects from inception to completion while ensuring clear record keeping and clean paperwork can become a gargantuan task. There are a handful of issues that add to the construction compliance challenges. Complying with multiple existing regulations as well as new regulations introduced owing to the pandemic-induced safety mandates, taming the construction compliance beast can be a challenge even for the most experienced.
There are contractor and subcontract or agreements to manage, different payroll structures to navigate, safety regulations to adhere to, and risk management to negotiate. These contribute to compliance complexity in this universe. Add the lack of technology and digital adoption to the mix and you have a perfect storm that makes compliance onerous.
As with every industry, the too can find most of the solutions to these construction compliance challenges. Here are some of the compliance challenges solved by construction management software:
Clear documentation
construction players can use construction management software to keep their data and record trail clear and consistent for better compliance tracking. Relying on physical paperwork can build in errors to the system. Record-keeping becomes cumbersome, complex, and effort-intensive. These paper-based records also do not lend themselves to collaboration. The files can be easily misplaced or misfiled and versioning becomes an issue as well. It becomes a big challenge to maintain and manage the records. This is especially true if the company is negotiating multiple worksites and hundreds of employees.
Poor recordkeeping and unclear documentation also make it harder for clean and clear audits to take place. Archaic data collection and filing make desk audits a nightmare as all paperwork has to be passed over across locations. Any loss of data can lead to a penalty (or worse).
Construction management software enables better compliance tracking by providing a central repository of all essential information. The software allows companies to centralize and streamline all paperwork and documentation including signed documents, scope, and change orders.
Continuous construction compliance
Construction projects see their share of compliance oversights as they lack the capacity to stay on top of the ever-changing regulatory landscape. With constantly shifting regulations and new compliance norms to adhere to, staying ahead of the compliance curve remains aspirational for most. Physical records or siloed digital systems further make it harder to maintain continuous compliance every step of the way.
Construction management software makes this process more streamlined and error-free by providing clear and complete documentation of all protocols. A comprehensive construction management software removes all silos and drives interconnectedness that not only enables easier collaboration but also makes compliance-related documentation easier and less effort-intensive.
construction companies also get the tools they need to stay ahead of compliance issues before they arise with comprehensive construction management solutions. Detailed safety checklists, incident tracking, and OSHA reporting software enable a more robust compliance stance while putting safety at the forefront of the project.
Clear compliance tracking and insights
Clear compliance tracking, reporting and insights are essential for any industry. In the construction industry, this need becomes even more pronounced owing to multiple stakeholders, complex projects, and complicated project management demands. This industry deals with multiple data points simultaneously and has tough reporting conditions with multiple payrolls, union negotiations, etc. while also negotiating labor and cost materials, including concrete items master, trade agreements, payments, purchase orders, etc.
A comprehensive construction management software solves these challenges by acting as the central information repository. With all the project-related information in one place, including payroll, project management, construction equipment management, etc., reporting becomes simple and fast. Ensuring compliance adherence also becomes much easier with centralized information that is easily accessible.
Powerful construction management software further gives the company the ability to make better business decisions based on insights generated from the data at hand. The data is more current and often real-time which ensures that the company does not have to wait for the data to reach the office from the field. This further contributes to a better compliance stance.
Better equipment management and improved safety compliance
Construction companies can leverage powerful and comprehensive construction management solutions to make equipment management and maintenance easier and make the worksite safer for their workers.
Construction equipment management can become a complicated task since companies have to monitor rented and owned equipment both idle and at their job sites. With several sub-contractors in place, maintaining compliance can often become challenging. Construction management software makes sure that there are no errors in subcontractor management and helps maintain a robust reporting posture.
Equipment management and maintenance also become much easier with construction management software. Comprehensive construction management solutions deliver AI-powered insights to improve equipment utilization while ensuring better control over equipment usage, downtime, and allocation. This software provides timely alerts on upcoming maintenance and schedules repairs and upkeep between jobs. This thereby ensures equipment and user safety and greater compliance.
Robust construction management solutions are now available for construction companies to traverse compliance challenges and navigate the tumultuous regulatory waters with ease. Better project management capabilities, timely project completion, elevated worker safety, improved payroll management, clearer and data-backed insights to fuel decision making, and improved costs emerge as the subsequent benefits. Connect with us for a demo of the capabilities of this powerful solution.