This 15-Minute Assessment Can Transform Your Construction Strategy
To live a healthy life, prevention is your first line of defense. While few of us actually enjoy visiting the doctor for annual check-ups and are reluctant to implement the needed, but sometimes challenging advice discussed with a healthcare provider, it’s essential for maintaining a balanced lifestyle.
Think the story is different when it comes to your construction business? We have news for you; it’s not. Assessing your construction health is essential if you want to remain competitive in the industry, hit key business goals and keep winning new business.
That’s not to say you’ll go bankrupt tomorrow if you fail to evaluate your firm’s well-being on an ongoing basis. But you will miss opportunities, overlook waste and inefficiency, and almost certainly fall short of your full potential. In some cases, not understanding the state of your company’s health can put stakeholders and workers at real risk of job loss and financial hardship.
Overall, much like you need an annual physical, your company requires regular health assessments. The good news: thanks to a newly released free tool from Autodesk, getting a fast check-up into your construction health has never been easier. Get the conversation started and take the assessment today:
The Construction Health Check is a free tool that takes only 15-minutes to complete. After four easy steps, you will receive a personalized report that shows how your team stacks up against others in the industry. You’ll also receive ideas on how to improve the way your company collects and analyzes project information. And we promise, unlike your personal preventative care check-ups, there are no painful processes involved in the Construction Health Check.
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The Problem with Other Construction Health Checks Today
Previously, there have been few useful tools to help the construction industry measure up against industry benchmarks. While there exist individual measurements like the Experience Modification Rate (EMR), Percentage of Labor Downtime and Cost Predictability, there has not been an easy way to get a holistic view of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) most relevant to business health.
Furthermore, there has been little work done to develop a standard performance check, making it challenging for companies to define success. Part of this is because data input can often be sporadic and at times, inaccurate. According to the Autodesk and Dodge Data & Analytics study on the KPIs of Construction, 50% of contractors fail to capture and review data consistently. As a project progresses, it makes it all the more difficult to find ways to measure health and make meaningful adjustments to a project’s performance.
The KPIs that Really Matter to Construction Health
Luckily, the Dodge Data & Analytics survey provided clarity on the metrics most relevant to a construction company’s health, including seven KPIs that successful companies use to minimize risk and downstream issues:
- Construction Documents: A sizable amount of wasted time and materials occurs because of errors, omissions or misunderstandings of construction documents, from the bid right through to handoff and beyond. By more frequently assessing documents for their utility and ensuring everyone has the access they need, your company will undoubtedly benefit.
- RFIs and Responses: The frequency of RFIs and their responses, and how the information is used, is an important KPI when it comes to risk reduction and overall performance.
- Change Orders: Change orders have a significant impact on a project’s efficiency and resource utilization. The collection and documentation of change orders, as well as ancillary metrics such as turnaround time, cause and schedule impact, have a lot to say about your construction firm’s health.
- Project Schedule: Schedules change throughout the life of a construction project. How quickly your team can respond to those changes has a major impact on how much error and rework a project will experience. Tracking updates, as well as other activities and outcomes related to scheduling, is a great way to assess performance.
- Safety and Inspections: No firm has good construction health if it does not maintain a vigilant approach to safety and inspections. However, as these processes are managed, it’s essential to use the best software and make careful records.
- Labor Productivity: A number of factors decrease labor productivity. Understanding what they are and managing them is one of the best ways to improve your construction health.
- Quality and Closeout: Firms that use top-quality software to manage punchlist and closeout activities outperform the competition and win repeat business.
For an interactive look at these performance indicators, head over to check out the graphic here.
Employing these above KPIs enhances firms’ performance through the intelligent use of data. The new Construction Health Check uses these exact categories of project activities to evaluate critical processes, while identifying blind spots and establishing strategies that can help improve the way information is recorded and used. These practices have been found to have the greatest impact on improving workflows when tracked and measured, and the Construction Health Check is an easy way to understand the health of your business while highlighting opportunities for growth and improvement.
Preventative Health for Your Construction Company
If you want to stay ahead of the curve – and identify potential business risks and opportunities – it’s time you start using KPIs today. With Autodesk’s free, comprehensive Construction Health Check, you can begin to measure your current processes in 15-minutes or less, giving you tips and insights to help you maximize performance, minimize risk and boost your firm’s performance right away.
If you’re ready to confront your company’s construction health head-on, then use this handy tool to get started today.
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