How One Home Builder Navigates the Dos and Dont’s of Construction Management Metrics

The modern building environment needs metrics for better business outcomes. This means many firms are moving away from manual administration practices (think: spreadsheets and piles of paper). In their place, they are implementing the digital solutions necessary to deliver real-time insights.  

Put simply, construction management software lets you automate daily tasks in a central system. This allows you to better understand efficiencies, performance and outcomes for your business, partners and customers. It’s how you deliver a modern future-proof construction system.

We talked to Visioneer Builder’s construction manager Tim Callaghan about how the company navigates the dos and don’ts of building construction management metrics.

Established in Melbourne in 2007, Visioneer is an award-winning home builder responsible for a range of architecturally unique projects. It focuses on bespoke and complex renovations, additions and new builds across high-profile residential, multi-residential and commercial developments. 

Put simply, construction management software lets you automate daily tasks in a central system.

“We realised the stand-alone spreadsheet system we were using across multiple sites was only updated on an ad-hoc basis. In many cases, not even by a spreadsheet ‘expert’. What we ended up with were information silos that weren’t transparent and frequently not current. And we were adding to this further by spinning up a new spreadsheet every time we needed a transmittal for drawings—the chaos never seemed to end,” he said. 

There was really only one solution for Visioneer—to improve and automate the construction management system.

Tim emphasised the one-stop-shop nature of Procore.

“Procore was the natural choice for Visioneer because of its broad customer base in the construction industry, its high-energy vision for future development, and its ability to encompass everything done on-site—drawings, RFIs, quality and safety, and instructions.” 

Three Dos of Construction Management Metrics

1. Identify what the largest challenges you need to solve are, and work from there. “Our drawings and safety systems were paper-based and archaic. To make matters worse, incorrect data entry of variations and an inability for site managers to easily see and understand design and construction updates put unnecessary pressure on the bottom line,” said Tim.
2. Plan for a phased, company-wide implementation. Visioneer onboarded its full team of project and site managers with drawings to make sure they were comfortable and proficient with Procore. Stage 2–4 of the implementation included RFIs, quality and safety, and finally, instructions.
3. Adopt a real partnership approach and focus on the future. The team at Visioneer found the Procore development roadmap ‘inspirational’. The shared outcome and goal focus between the two organisations delivered confidence for future success.  

These ‘dos’ are responsible for transforming how Visioneer works. 

Building bespoke homes and managing complex renovations meant Visioneer needed a way to address the architectural design updates, intricate and detailed plans and variations, as well as track different luxury finishes within any project. 

Visioneer also learnt from its implementation.

Three Don’ts of Construction Management Metrics

1. Don’t ignore the unexpected benefits. For Tim, it was all about learning how Procore could continue to transform the team. “Remember that you are only a click or two away now from understanding who is using Procore and who needs more support. Don’t forget to configure the director’s dashboard to monitor compliance for quality and safety, and measure responses to RFIs and defects.”
2. A central construction management system without the right tools is wrong. Make updates easy, equip everyone with an iPad or tablet so that they can update information on and off-site. This way, the information stays up-to-date, and you manage to keep printing and associated costs down.
3. Avoid having multiple platforms running. Sometimes when firms go digital, they think various apps will be as good as one central platform. However, this means more work and higher costs. Stay focused on the concept of one central platform.

“Procore has created a new level of professional independence for the company,” said Tim. “Today, our people have access to professional construction management software and training support to ensure they know what to do all day, every day. We have set new performance benchmarks and are ahead of the game. This has freed us to focus on the strategic growth of the business.”