The sole purpose of any business is to create wealth for its owner/shareholders. In construction, business wealth is created based on the number of successful projects and the percentage of profit made from the project. Errors and inefficiencies in the business leads to decline in profits. Good construction management software should eliminate the errors and inefficiencies and lead to higher profit. Business owners must analyze the savings and make decisions based on how much more profit they will get by using the software. This will also determine the cost one is willing to pay for the software.
Efficiencies comes in many forms:
Time – If using software will save 15% of the time for an eight-employee company, that translates to 1.2 employees. At an average annual salary of $50,000 that translates to $60,000 per annum.
Error Elimination – Errors occur with data recording or data modification on spreadsheets or paper-based management. There are no checks and balances to catch these errors. Charging more for a product will most likely be caught by the client but charging less or forgetting to charge will not be reported. For most businesses these errors go undetected and when they are detected they are left unreported by employees because of negative consequences. Eliminating or reducing these errors will lead to higher margins.
Communication – Lack of clear communication and the lack of ability to track the communication, leads to inefficiencies and lower satisfaction in clients. For example, ordering the wrong colored item over the phone or via email or verbal communication with a client that leads to unrealistic expectations that cannot be tracked. Software that provides a mechanism for clear communication that can be tracked eliminates the order errors and leads higher client satisfaction, higher retention rate and higher profit.