Specialty contractors are at the front lines of delivering projects on time and on budget. However, they face unique challenges that frequently stand in the way of maximizing profits and productivity. Among them, the use of outdated and manual processes.
It’s no secret construction lags its peers when it comes to technology adoption. Construction companies spend an average of 1.68% of their revenue on technology each year, compared to around 4% in other comparable industries. There’s also reluctance among some industry veterans to introduce the changes—they’d much rather keep doing their jobs the same way they’ve been doing them for decades.
As a result, many specialty contractors are still using a complex web of offline, siloed services to track project data to manage their projects, like Excel spreadsheets, endless email threads, or various disconnected cloud storage providers. Moreover, others are still heavily reliant on pen and paper. Procore, however, provides specialty contractors with a full suite of project management tools that keeps workflows, communication, and project data under one system. Thus, teams can work more efficiently across multiple jobs.
Procore provides easy, immediate access to key project information from anywhere it’s needed. For instance, specialty contractors can access payroll and productivity reports with Field Financials, ERP integrations via the Procore App Marketplace, and Field Productivity Labor Tracking. The platform easily integrates with accounting systems like Quickbooks, Foundation, Sage 100, Sage 300, and more, giving specialty contractors a real-time look at everything from job costs to profitability.
“We’re making less and less margin on jobs because customers are more demanding on schedules. Our option is either to make less or to come up with more efficient ways to run our work, and we’re seeing people finding ways to do that through the tools they use,” said Nate Tockerman, Procore’s Partner/Manager for Subcontractors.
Taking the Work out of Labor With Procore
Labor is where the majority of the risk lies for specialty contractors since it can often be difficult to predict. Getting a handle on it is required for keeping projects on target. Procore provides real-time insights into productivity and labor costing, helping specialty contractors maximize resources and improve outcomes while proactively managing risk to guard against cost overruns.
Those real-time insights enable teams to immediately identify potential at-risk scopes of work and pivot to align with the demands of the project schedule. For instance, Procore users can see the budgetary impact of labor costs or productivity as soon as a timesheet is submitted, making it easier to track productivity, manage their labor pool, and adjust their plans on the fly. This also eliminates the need to juggle multiple apps and manually transfer data by collecting and displaying all relevant data in one interface. This streamlines many processes around labor by improving visibility into how it will impact a project budget.
“As a former PM, I always said we owe the field the tools, information, and materials necessary to make them productive and effective, minimize rework, etc. If you’re not doing that at its most basic, you’re not long for this world in construction,” Tockerman said.
Procore’s Ecosystem Strategy Allows for Highly Customizable Integrations
Procore’s technology integration partners include a wide assortment of tools and software designed to make specialty contractors’ lives easier. Different specialty contractors may have some areas of overlap, but no two are exactly the same even within the same trade. That’s why it’s crucial to have a diverse ecosystem of purpose-built tools at your disposal. Procore offers a wide range of tools through its extensive App Marketplace and diverse range of integration partners.
One of Procore’s strengths is that it’s highly customizable, allowing specialty contractors to add or remove tools and adapt according to their changing needs.
“The open API and the app marketplace allows you to take the solutions you like and the things that work for you and apply them and keep expanding what you’re doing with other corners of your business that a solution might not solve,” Tockerman said.
“So when you talk about StructShare for procurement or materials management, combining that with LaborChart and ArcoroHR for workforce management, and then add all of that functionality to Procore, you’re really getting this ability to build whatever menu offering you want for your company’s specific demands, needs, and interests.”
What’s Next for Procore and Specialty Contractors?
No matter how they use it, Procore helps specialty contractors better manage their people, their processes, and their projects, ensuring all the data needed is always up to date and accessible from anywhere. Businesses are always evolving, and Procore evolves right alongside with them. Procore is continually adding new tools and technologies to make it a best-in-class, one-stop shop for all project needs, both now and in the future.
With hundreds of technology integrations already in place today, Procore’s partner marketplace continues to grow. Its goal is to ensure specialty contractors always have access to new, industry-leading solutions that will help them keep up with the constantly changing workforce and give them a competitive edge. Procore is changing the way specialty contractors deliver success across the construction industry and is helping businesses drive toward a new future.
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