Best Construction Scheduling Software
Buyer's Guide
Delivering construction projects on schedule is an uphill task due to their complexities and broad scope. Robust construction scheduling software handles complex building projects while meeting deadlines and costs.
Construction businesses have to juggle safety concerns, regulatory issues, multiple teams, equipment rentals and more throughout project lifecycles. This guide will discuss core benefits, features and helpful tools that can simplify your software selection process.
Executive Summary
- Construction scheduling software manages resources, project phases, labor requirements and tasks while reducing unwanted errors.
- These solutions remove bottlenecks for smooth project progress while reducing delays and costs.
- Construction project scheduling software identifies obstructing factors while improving accountability.
What Is Construction Scheduling Software?
Many construction businesses still use pen and paper as their bankable tools. However, losing information is as simple as coffee spills and pen breaks, making it difficult for owners to remain connected with their staff.
Construction projects frequently miss deadlines due to project redefinition and scope changes. The pandemic aggravated this issue. As per a KPMG survey, 37% of the global construction businesses missed performance targets and budgets due to COVID-19.
Contractor scheduling software solutions help you keep project progress on track while improving information sharing, efficiency, quality, transparency and costs. They plan and organize project stages to avoid overbookings, meet deadlines and keep everyone in the loop while ensuring timely delivery.
You can define tasks and phases while matching them with materials, labor and resources required to complete each step. Most construction employee scheduling software programs use a critical path algorithm to calculate the minimum time required to complete projects based on tasks and dependencies.
Their user interfaces have Gantt charts, displaying jobs as line items while illustrating their order and duration with horizontal bars. More advanced programs support percent completion graphs, network diagrams and what-if scenario planning capabilities.
Primary Benefits
Adopting construction project scheduling software has many benefits. Below are the most important ones.
Manage Project Scope and Time
Construction projects include building plans, compartmentalization, wiring, fittings and more. Things can quickly go south if multiple stakeholders like trade contractors, subcontractors, project managers, employees, vendors, clients and contractual staff cannot communicate well.
Cloud-based solutions streamline all project communications like RFPs and calendars so things can operate smoothly. They track project progress accurately and help adhere to timelines.
Track Expenses
Tracking costs is an essential function of construction project scheduling software to hit target budgets. Scheduling applications regularly audit all project spending while providing insights about areas using your money.
You can identify factors that cause budget overruns and fix them. These programs help avoid manual accounting and invoicing errors while including payments and time-tracking features.
According to a recent Deloitte report, the construction industry will move closer to digitization this year, including data analytics, automation and user-based insights capabilities.
Foster Team Communication
These applications boost team communications and flexibility. You can track emails, import contacts, upload field notes, create daily reports and seamlessly communicate with every team member. In addition, you can get real-time updates and insights on all current projects.
They offer dashboards, calendars and priority settings to establish communication channels with external stakeholders for regular project updates.
They automate administrative functions while breaking communication silos among contractors, sub-contractors, owners, clients, employees and the contractual staff for better construction management.
Improve Customer Relationships
Scheduling applications streamline your organization’s customer relationship strategy making it easier to address client concerns. You can import clients, set up reminders, email correspondence and send invoices while resolving issues strategically.
Efficient project management and timeline improvements will eventually improve your customer relationships.
Key Features & Functionality
They manage and integrate new client requests, track issues and reschedule project timelines due to updated client requests and SLAs.
You can increase profitability by automating resource management across projects and updating schedules.
| Accounting | Construction project scheduling software tracks expenditures while integrating with third-party accounting modules. Managers can oversee multiple projects simultaneously depending on company size. It automates accounts payable and receivable, payroll and work order entry while adjusting to client needs. |
|---|---|
| Budget Management | Sophisticated systems manage forecasts and budgets. You can design project cost estimates based on historical performance data, resources and construction methods. They support job bids and expense management through budget dashboards, invoicing and time tracking. |
| Service Management | Scheduling programs set standard rates for your company offerings while defining contractor, supervisor and production manager wages. It tracks project timelines, creates invoices, generates purchase orders and produces actionable data to boost productivity. |
| Project Management | Construction projects have a long lifecycle making it impossible to attend to every project delivery detail manually. These solutions automate resource planning, team collaboration and progress tracking. |
| Job Scheduling | Job scheduling or workload automation helps users schedule tasks in the correct order and balance workload across projects. You can reallocate skilled workers and equipment when required. Contractor scheduling software sets project timelines, predicts labor and equipment interdependencies and notifies employees while adjusting schedules. |
| Reporting | Efficient programs generate analytical reports to strengthen intelligent decision-making by summarizing data into digestible pieces. You can generate architectural cost and budget reports to manage project data. These reports help you evaluate project status while identifying risks and underperforming areas. |
| Document Management | Scheduling programs improve processes and enhance contractor productivity by producing all workflow data from a single interface. You can integrate document management modules with external business productivity platforms like Excel. |
| Inventory Management | Inventory management helps you perform audits, eliminate write-offs, track assets on job sites, find lost inventory, and distribute resources and equipment. A lack of inventory and equipment limitation awareness can lure you into taking on more projects while failing to meet client expectations. |
| Equipment Management | Efficient systems allocate available equipment across projects while identifying repair needs. Advanced programs can streamline equipment maintenance schedules while ensuring consistent performance and boosting overall efficiency. |
| Accessibility | They support project data accessibility from job sites. One-the-go data access facilitates faster decision-making while reducing the need to return to the office for every project detail. |
Software Comparison Strategy
Adopting technology can be daunting to gain a competitive edge in the rapidly evolving construction industry. The US construction industry market size, which was $1.9 trillion in 2021, will grow at an AAGR of over 3% between 2023 and 2026.
Going with a generic list of features won't be helpful as every business has its own unique requirements. Approach your industry contacts and find out the programs they use. Try to understand the pros and cons of those applications and prepare a list.
The next step is to list the features and requirements you are looking for and parse through the vendor landscape accordingly. The features listed above can serve as the starting point.
Many scheduling programs provide essential project management capabilities like documentation and reporting, so it will be beneficial to find out whether you have any unique requirements. You can also try out the free-to-use plans that many vendors offer.
Cost & Pricing Considerations
Your deployment strategy will decide how much you will pay for your chosen platform. You can deploy your application on-premise or host it in the cloud.
A fully functional online solution that allows you to schedule, track and manage projects can range from $10 per user monthly to $300 per month for unlimited users. On-premise solutions have a one-time license fee ranging from $40 to $15,000.
Since cloud-hosted solutions have monthly or annual subscription plans per user, you should know how many users or projects you will have.
Besides the core functionalities, CRM, automation, sales and ERP features will cost extra. Customer support contracts and feature upgrades will drive the prices higher. Other factors to consider are support packages and integrations with popular third-party modules to streamline processes.
The Best Construction Scheduling Software
We have discussed the benefits, features and cost considerations of construction scheduling software till now. Let's look at some popular applications on the market:
Procore
Procore is an end-to-end platform that connects office administrators, field employees and developers. Organizations can manage project details, view progress and schedule tasks via a centralized dashboard.
It fosters team communication by breaking silos while offering a single information source. Employees can attach and share building plans, RFIs, field schedules, drawings and images.
Procore avoids billing delays by streamlining invoice collections and approvals.
Monday.com
Monday.com aligns teams, contractors, field staff and office communications. Organizations can get real-time project progress updates to fix delays and issues on time.
It generates in-depth reports to manage complex projects while offering a look at the bigger picture. Its customizable templates help build initiatives from the ground-up while tracking timelines, resources and budgets.
See our ultimate monday.com review.
Monday.com centralizes work processes to bridge silos and connect teams.
Smartsheet
Smartsheet is a cloud-based work management platform that automates processes while handling projects across portfolios. It offers workflows, views, dashboards and reports while scaling to meet organizational requirements.
It offers content collaboration, workflow automation, scheduling, activity logging, real-time data tracking and project management.
Smartsheet’s spreadsheet-like app offers visibility into projects across teams.
Questions to Ask
To Yourself
When adopting new software, start by asking what your team wants in a new solution. Identifying your requirements is crucial to maximizing productivity and efficiency. Some questions to ask internally are:
- Will the software make my work easier?
- What problems will the construction scheduling software solve?
- How many projects does my company handle?
- Will it improve accountability, tracking and real-time project management?
- How much budget can I keep aside to implement a scheduling program?
- How many employees and contractors will use it?
About the Software and Vendor
Answering the above questions will help you identify your requirements. You can then start shortlisting vendors according to how they operate and what support they offer. Start by asking the following questions:
- Is the solution transparent and provides solutions to industry problems?
- Is the UI intuitive and user-friendly?
- Is it scalable?
- Which other applications does it integrate with?
- What devices and browsers is the solution compatible with?
- Can it handle large-scale projects?
- What kind of training and support do you offer? Are the costs included?
- Will cloud-based or on-premise deployment work for me?
- Will the charges be recurring or one-time payments?
In Conclusion
Construction projects have a notorious reputation for running behind schedules. Some of the leading problems plaguing construction projects include scheduling issues, team alignment and inefficient work processes.
Scheduling programs are a necessary requirement due to growing project complexities and client expectations. Contractor scheduling software stores crucial project information for informed decision-making while providing real-time updates.
It judiciously manages two critical components, time and cost, while controlling projects. And let’s be honest, control is what we all want when it comes to money!
Additional Resources
Top 10 Construction Scheduling Software Leaders by Analyst Rating (of 52 products)
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