5 Construction tips to keep your projects as efficient as possible

On any construction project, efficiency translates into better profits, more satisfied customers and a better reputation in your local area. Here are five construction tips you can use right now to improve project efficiency and boost results.
1. Maintain productivity: Being productive doesn’t mean that hammers must be swinging every minute of the day. It does, however, mean making the best use of you and your employees’ available time, avoiding costly errors and delays, and staying focused on the most important tasks. Keep meetings organized and on the topic. Trust your best employees to do their jobs without constant supervision. Prepare for troubles and delays and deal with them immediately.
2. Know your suppliers: Reliable vendors and suppliers will prove their value many times over. When you know you can trust your vendor to provide raw materials, site supplies, tools and other needed items, you’ll be able to keep your focus on the job.
3. Use mobile technology: Make use of smartphones, tablet computers and other sophisticated electronics to maintain communications with your home office, clients, suppliers and off-site employees. Use email, websites, file transfer systems and other tools efficiently. Important messages, documents and files can be viewed and responded to in the field without returning to the office.
4. Understand your competitors: Do your best to know what your competitors are doing and what types of successes and setbacks they’re having. Compare your performance with theirs by using benchmarking data from organizations such as the Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA) or the Construction Industry Institute (CII).
5. Learn from both mistakes and successes: Carefully evaluate what you can learn from your most successful projects and the ones that didn’t go as planned. Take notes on particularly good or bad events and use your experiences to modify procedures in the future.
Construction Monitor works with the construction industry to provide regular updates on permits granted and new building projects started in communities throughout the United States.