5 smart tips to boost your construction company’s productivity
Only a few months ago, the UK government announced its productivity programme which is anticipated to bring £15 billion savings per year. The title of the programme is Transforming Infrastructure Performance (TIP) and it highlights the productivity problems that construction companies are battling against.
It becomes evident, then, that both UK and global construction have a lot to gain if they manage to tackle productivity bottlenecks and focus on infrastructure investment. It is no exaggeration that this is the first and most fundamental step toward a more efficient and profitable building sector.
With that in mind, we decided to do some research and present below five powerful tips to boost productivity in your construction business:
1. Choose the right digital solutions
UK construction expert Mark Farmer published last year a very intuitive report entitled ‘Modernise or Die’. In his report, he underlined the importance of digital tools for the future of construction. It goes without saying that digitisation is one of the best ways for unlocking productivity in your construction business, as well.
Before you start implementing digital solutions in your business, make sure that you create a detailed list of the needs that your company wants to cover. In that way, you can make a more targeted research and find the tools that will allow you run your business faster and accelerate repetitive tasks. Furthermore, digital tools can help you to put your data in order and keep it protected.
2. Listen to your data
As we just mentioned above, finding the right digital solutions can provide you remarkable help with taking proper care of your company’s data. Data is already the backbone of the construction process and in that sense, you need to protect and use it in a smart and productive way.
Use every source of information you have in order to prevent costly mistakes, predict upcoming trends and build an insightful strategy for the future of your construction business. In other words, data is the key to better management and stronger decision-making.
3. A strong network is key
The building sector is rapidly shifting from the enterprise to the ecosystem approach. To put it simply, soon there will be no industry giants who will be able to accumulate all the profits and opportunities. A new system made by various smaller players will emerge.
As a result, a more collaborative model will be promoted and many different construction stakeholders will have to work in harmony in order to share profits and knowledge. In that aspect, you need two indispensable factors: a good network and data. You should pay attention to both of them and try to establish connections with other ambitious players of your niche. Like that, you can exchange business wisdom and powerful ideas which would allow you to improve productivity on and off site.
4. Build a strong team
Having a good network can simplify the process of putting together a competent team, as well. A solid team is one of the main pillars of a company’s present and future. The more experienced people you are working with the easier your job will eventually be. That’s why you need to bring by your side experienced professionals whom you can trust.
Furthermore, you want to make sure that the people that work for your company are familiar with digital technologies and share your company’s vision. Thank to that, you will be able to motivate them and get the best out of their performance. Lastly, always ask for references in order to minimise the risk of hiring someone that you have never worked with again in the past.
5. Stay close to your team
Once you have managed to put your team together, it’s essential that you create a good and proactive relationship with all of its members. Organise regular meetings with them and try to identify the challenges that they may battle against.
In addition, it goes without saying that you should keep in touch with the people working on site. In that manner, you can be confident that you have tried your best in order to solve their struggles and create all those conditions for a highly productive construction site.
Wrapping it up!
All in all, it is clear that boosting productivity in construction is a long and many times painful process. Nonetheless, with the right plan and a lot of hard work you can reach your goal for an efficient and profitable construction business. In any case, investing in competent digital tools is highly recommendable.
Anastasios Koutsogiannis is content marketing manager at GenieBelt.
