Regardless of where you live- whether it be sunny California, rainy Washington or snow ridden Colorado- winter provides challenges to the site that no other season offers. In addition to subpar conditions, there’s less hours in the day, making efficiency on site increasingly difficult. Any experienced builder has ways around this; here’s some tips from experienced contractors on how to maintain efficiency, even through the winter months.
Plan Ahead for the Weather
Planning around the weather is the most beneficial task any GC can do for keeping winter building efficient. Depending on how far into the project you are, rain can completely shut down a site, hence rescheduling and moving the project timeline is critical in times like these. There are simple construction management softwares that provide weather forecasting along with project timelines; this allows you to easily reschedule elements of the build while sharing these details with the client so that there’s no confusion on site.
Remaining flexible during uncertain conditions is key to maintaining efficiency during poor weather. A project’s schedule can change day by day during these months; being able to easily rearrange the schedule and communicate this to clients is best accomplished through utilizing construction management softwares.
Keep Employees Safe
Safety on job sites should always be the top priority of general contractors. As the person overseeing the crew’s efforts, it falls to you to ensure that the amount of personal risk to each of your employees is minimal. Construction comes with a certain level of risk at any time of the year, but it is greatly heightened during the winter months. Extra precautions should be created and regularly enforced. This not only protects your workers — it also keeps your project moving along at a good pace to meet your deadline and increases overall efficiency.
Especially during cold weather, increasing the amount of breaks can increase efficiency. The cold causes sluggishness and lower dexterity; allowing them to take a break and heat up improves dexterity and coherency, making your workers safer and more productive.
Keep Materials Warm
Perhaps one of the fastest ways to lose out on potential profits for the company is failing to protect your valuable materials. General contractors know just how important it is to save their materials, as the initial price bid given to the customer is dependent on how much material will be used, and how much it will cost. Failing to store and maintain the materials at the appropriate temperatures will affect the bottom line, causing big profit loss, or even losing money on a project.
So why not avoid the disappointment and get it right the first time? Whether it’s paint, epoxy, plaster, concrete, gases, or any other materials you work with regularly, get them covered so they work for you when you need them most.
Scheduling deliveries of materials can be easily managed, once again, through the utilization of construction management softwares; various forms of technology in the construction industry allow for efficient delivery and scheduling of materials, minimizing the amount of time supplies spend sitting at the site without being used. Especially during cold weather, minimizing the amount of time these materials spend sitting around.
Takeaways
Any business, no matter the industry, will always increase profits by increasing efficiency. Especially during time-constrained periods, such as construction in the winter, finding methods to maintain and improve levels of efficiency are paramount to the success of projects.
There’s a reason every single major company utilizes some form of communication software; they know that communication errors are the most common culprit of inefficiency. Adopting these types of softwares is widespread across all industries, but slow to be adopted by general contractors, who could benefit tremendously from project and client management softwares.
Come visit us at our website and request a demo to find out just how efficient you can be by utilizing management software.
