New e-tools that will keep jobs on target and on time 

Savvy builders know it’s essential to keep their competitive edges sharp, poised and at the ready, especially when doing business in an inundated market with economic conditions that are less than ideal. But because so much work occurs at various locations, involves countless variables, and requires extremely detailed coordination and planning with specialists and subcontractors, there are still plenty of ways for builders to become more competitive—and even turn a profit—thanks to the help of emerging technologies, high-tech products and services.

While numerous tools and software products are flooding shelves, catalogs and the booths of the high-tech gadget conventions, they’re not yet commonplace tools of the trade. In 2007, an International Facility Management Association (IFMA) trends report specified “underutilization of current technology” in a section on emerging technology, and a recent IFMA survey found that only 41 percent of respondents use facility software. Yet it is telling that the University of Texas at San Antonio recently announced it will be inaugurating a program in “Facility Management” next year. While many builders are still doing business the old-school way, the science of efficiently managing complex worksites seems to be spawning a 21st-century high-tech industry all its own. From design conception to scheduling work and securing sites and, ultimately, to closing sales, there are many valuable new tools available.

Designing a successful project

Building information modeling (BIM) typically manages building data with real-time modeling software, enabling better planning in design and construction. According to the IFMA’s 2007 trend report, “more and more buildings are being designed using BIM software, which links model-based drafting technology with a database of project information, creating a virtual information model that can be passed from design team to contractor to building owner.”

However, BIM can be expensive and time-consuming to learn, which is why companies like St. Louis-based KAI Design & Build offer their own expertise in the area in a consulting capacity. “BIM can be quite expensive and daunting from a cost and training perspective,” says KAI Design & Build’s BIM coordinator, Adam Lega. “Since KAI is an industry leader in BIM, that experience can be brought to bear in a consultant role, taking the challenges out of the hands of contractors, yet still allowing them to offer BIM services to the owners now requiring it on their projects.”  

KAI offers a service called “Build Before You Build,” which allows the creation of a virtual design and construction model customized to the level of detail specified by a client. KAI manages models that the firm creates in-house or that a third-party creates, and can also build models from supplied construction documents or shop drawings, but it is the management of such models that seems to provide the most for clients. With the model in place, KAI can use it to review work in progress, choreograph the work that yet needs to be done, and offer instruction on resolving issues.

“Ultimately, we create the virtual model to save the client—owner, contractor or designer—time and money on the project,” says Lega. “If we can catch a potential problem in a virtual environment, before it happens in the field, it eliminates downtime that issue would have caused on the job. One of our clients, a contractor, is quoted as saying, ‘One hour of BIM coordination saves 10 hours in the field.’”

Keeping time and scheduling work

The array of time management products on the market is enough to satisfy even the most obsessive of timekeepers. Among the many companies with competing lines of products is Batavia, IL-based TimePilot, which offers time and attendance systems and door and cabinet locks that can all be used with key-sized iButtons.

TimePilot’s Extreme time clock was designed from the ground up for the trades and rough environments to keep track of employee time and to track time on jobs or tasks for job costing. Employees simply use their iButton to clock in or out. Data is stored in the clock and retrieved using a standard thumb or flash drive and then uploaded to a PC. “It’s the simplicity of the system that cuts the cost of employment and helps builders and trade people keep their costs down,” says TimePilot president and CEO Doug Marsh. “Employees are no longer filling out time sheets or reporting their time verbally, which allows for cheating and mistakes. Saving 15 minutes per week per employee can very easily pay for the system within a couple of pay periods.”

The benefits of the company’s products extend beyond keeping track of employees. TimePilot’s line of “CrossOver Locks” uses the iButton for identification to keep facilities and jobsites secure. Marsh offers up this telling anecdote to illustrate the benefits, about a builder who used the battery-powered CrossOver lock on a house during construction instead of a traditional lock and lock box. “He provided his construction subs with iButtons and limited their access to specific dates and times of when they were scheduled to perform their work,” says Marsh. “This kept subs out of the house while certain tasks like floor sanding and refinishing were being performed. Too often, he has experienced subs tracking mud onto freshly sanded floors, which cost time and money. At the end of the job, he simply moved his lock to another construction site and set up new schedules within the lock. Each sub keeps their iButton for the next project, and a complete audit trail can be downloaded from the lock to show who accesses the site and when.”

Closing the Deal

In a culture with a steady appetite for automation, builders are finding ways to innovatively interact with prospective customers and streamline the final processes of their projects, which is exactly what is offered by Baltimore-based Builder1440.  “We provide homebuilders with Sales1440, the leading Sales, CRM and Configuration application in the U.S.,” says the company’s vice president, Matt McShane. “Sales1440 tracks homebuyer leads from the time they visit a builder’s website or sales center through the close of the sale. Sales1440 provides demographic tracking for marketing and home configuration management tracking.”

McShane explains that home configuration can be managed and tracked via Sales1440’s unique and proprietary “Options Rules Engine,” which empowers builders to dictate what options can go on what homes, what lots and what options can be chosen with other options. For example, if a certain lot or unit has an odd shape, and only two of the builders’ three standard plans can be executed there, the Options Rules Engine will not allow a builder to select the home plan that doesn’t fit during the sales process. Similarly, if selecting one in-home option (an island in the kitchen, for instance) eliminates the possibility for others (the large-size oven), the system will reflect these restrictions.

Additionally, Sales1440’s front-end options selection tool allows a builder’s prospects and customers to shop through a builder’s lot, home plan inventory and available home options online.

“Any decent system on the market will print a contract,” says McShane. “That part is easy. By allowing builders to innovatively interact with buyers through the options selection tool My1440Home, and by virtually eliminating costly mistakes through the Options Rules Engine, builders using Sales1440 are truly able to maximize their profits. Rather than buyers spending hours in the sales center looking through pages and pages of options, they are able to browse options conveniently online, and on their own schedule. They can create ‘wish lists’ of options, share them with family members and other decision-makers, and the sales rep can focus on what the customer actually wants and prepare up-sell suggestions.”