Construction management mobile apps target common problems managers face throughout the project development. When the construction project meets today’s technology, possibilities for inadequate risk management, lousy forecasting, unrealistic expectations, poor communication across different teams, and other problems fade away.
Construction app development helps you centralize all the information with real-time access. It gives the ability to dive into in-depth information and have a bird’ eye view of the whole project. Besides, keeping track of which, where, and when resources are being used becomes effortless.
Overall, advanced construction tech helps complete the project at lighting speed regardless of industrial, civil, commercial, or residential building development.
Therefore, with the increasing number of disruptions in today’s workplace, construction companies are turning to mobile app development platforms. Because it helps them bridge the gap between project development and enterprise mobility.
According to McKinsey “Imagining construction’s digital future” report, construction companies with mobile app development can save up to:
- 20 hours of staff per week
- 75% of the time to generate reports
- 90% of the time for information and document sharing
Why Does the Construction Industry Need To Develop A Construction Mobile App?
Every construction project comes with unique challenges, testing the sanity of experienced business owners. In that case, not being able to manage fundamental tasks can increase project complexities. So let’s see what the pain points of the construction industry can be alleviated with app development.
- Not able to plan efficiently for enormously large-scale projects;
- Delays in sharing information between back office and field result in poor coordination between them;
- Keeping traditional paperwork documentation for blueprints, designs, supply-chain orders, equipment lists, and reports;
- Not being able to measure work done, working hours, and materials used leads to inadequate performance management;
- Inefficient risk management and shortage of skilled labor;
- Time and cost overruns;
- Escalated competition
In contrast, let us see how digital transformation can help construction companies confront all the above challenges:
- Digital data— Mobile apps facilitate electronic collection and analysis of data. The data works well for identifying and solving inefficiencies and other organizational pain points;
- Automation— Technologies used in app development drive autonomy in the process, self-organizing systems, and improve safety, quality, and labor costs.
- Connectivity— A mobile construction app enables fast connection and synchronization between formerly separate activities and organizational elements.
- Digital access— App development permits remote access to the internet and internal networks. It makes it possible to collect, sync, and connect data.
Furthermore, there are other advantages of having a mobile app for your construction business that we’re exploring in the next segment.
Reap Extra Benefits With Construction App Development
Construction projects’ success is all about efficient team collaboration across suppliers, workers, and contractors. From managers to field workers use smartphones, which means they are equipped with a connected and compatible device. As smartphones help people connect with one another, you can connect your construction team at work.
Information updated in the app becomes available for every user immediately. Instead of running back and forth, workers can directly get updates from the app for information about materials or else. Hence, there couldn’t be a more effective solution than a mobile construction app.
What else does it have to offer?
- Enhanced communication and collaboration between back-office and field workers;
- Keeps everyone on schedule;
- Replace outdated paper documents with digital forms;
- Accelerate workflows and productivity;
- Gather everyone on the board: people, assets, processes;
- Can track and report remote teams’ activities;
- Track material availability, manage vendors, and increase construction speed;
- Better visibility and risk management in the project;
App Features For Accelerating The Construction Business
Scheduling:
The feature can solve problems such as missed deadlines, underutilized workers, and inadequate performance management by allowing you to:
- Create, assign and prioritize tasks in real-time
- Send work plan to all field workers
- Mobile notifications about the shift changes
- Align the priorities for an entire team
- Optimize capacity utilization
- Reduce of downtime
- Timesheets
Performance management:
The feature will enable simultaneous processes and activities through complex project planning since you can:
- Keep track of performance and work progress across teams and work locations via dashboards
- Generate reports
- Monitor active working hours
- Teams status updates
- Quality management
Document management:
With this feature, you can eliminate poor coordination between back office and field, delays in information sharing due to traditional paperwork by:
- Uploading and distribution of documents
- Reviews, verifications, and approvals
- Unified project document search
- Incident reporting
- Payroll processing
Materials management:
It’s a must-have feature for mobile construction applications. It tackles issues like cost overruns, underutilized assets, inappropriate materials estimations as it takes care of:
- Estimation of materials needed
- Inventorization
- On-time data of materials location
Safety and risk management:
Inefficient risk management can cost you more than money. On the other hand, having the safety and risk management functionality can save you by:
- Reporting immediate incidents
- Monitoring of safety issues
Logistics:
Poor management of supply chain vendors can lead to underutilization or overutilization of infrastructure. However, integrating logistics into your construction app can automate:
- Materials and goods warehousing
- Utilization of construction vehicles
- Organization of every aspect of the logistical chain
- Efficient use of infrastructure
Procurement management:
Pain points such as poor vendor management, confusion with paper orders and receipts can be eliminated by managing procurement via your mobile app. It also has other benefits like:
- Purchasing, Tracking of orders and supplies
- Suppliers management and rating
- Streamlining the supply chain
- Ensuring deliverables arrive just when they are required
Other features to ensure seamless operations across construction sites:
- In-app messaging to ease coordination between the back office and field;
- Access to real-time project information to view essential details from the field;
- Customizable and analytical dashboard;
- Push notifications for real-time reminders;
- Budget management by entering transaction details to estimate and forecast budget requirements;
- Registration and profile set up for workers across the project;
- Security measures pertaining to sensitive information.
Right Way To Approach Construction App Development
Many business owners perceive developing an app as an intimidating undertaking. However, if appropriately managed by hiring professional mobile app developers and a project manager, the outcome always meets your expectations and requirements. In addition, different software architectures and methodologies help define the root characteristics and behavior of an application.
Talking about developing a construction mobile app, Agile methodology would be appropriate for such projects. Since Agile supports iterative development, making changes in your application will be less painful. Besides, there’s a flexible mobile app development process that we recommend following to startuppers. It goes like follows:
- Create A Lean Canvas Model Pertaining To Your Business Model For Construction App;
- Prepare A Product Requirement Document;
- Create Wireframes & Prototype
- Select Technology Stack For Your App Development
- Break Down The Project Into Deliverable Milestones
- Carry Out Frontend And Backend Development
- Quality Assurance And User Testing
- Receive Feedback And Iterate Your Technology Product
Pro tip: rather than developing core construction app functionalities from scratch, use ‘Application Programming Interfaces.’ APIs will save you tons of development time and effort.
Estimate The Construction App Development Cost
When you calculate the cost to develop your construction app, consider every development aspect individually. Because from developers’ expertise and locality to app features and maintenance, anything can make a difference in the budget. Though if we were to mention the primary factors causing the app development fluctuation, will be:
- The number of APIs to add functionality like GPS, Camera, Storage, etc.;
- The number of app features;
- Design iterations;
- Operating systems you develop an app for, e.g., iOS & Android;
- Native or Hybrid mobile app development approach;
- Hourly rate of developers that differs country to country;
- Lastly, support and maintenance.
Wrapping up
All things considered, mobile app development profoundly impacts the construction industry and transforms the working environment, making it more productive. Given that your competing construction companies have already started digitizing their workflow with mobile apps. So if you do not want to be left behind, you better be off hiring professional app developers right away!