ConstructConnect Blog

Lean construction is all about efficiency. Construction firm owners should care about it because it has the potential to saves firms time and money. Lean construction accomplishes savings by allowing teams to complete jobs faster with less waste of materials, time and labor. This is especially important to construction companies after the end of the recession.

Lean construction is based on a simple concept: create value for the client and minimize waste. Implementing lean thinking into construction can be difficult because it requires adopting a different mindset and approach to construction from traditional methods.

As a construction professional, it’s probably difficult to imagine no longer using paper in your daily activities. We’re talking no more hard copies of plans and specs, invoices, contracts, time sheets, punch lists, contracts or bids.

So, you’re a general contractor bidding a project and the contract requires an MBE participation goal of 8% and you aren’t sure where to turn. Maybe you’re a minority or woman owned company working in the realm of the construction industry and want to find more work. Today we’re going to look at some of the various programs available for contractors, subcontractors and construction suppliers that are women and minority-owned business enterprises. We’ll discuss programs from the federal level all the way down to local municipalities.

What is the biggest current challenge facing the construction industry? It’s certainly not demand—in fact, the worldwide demand for construction is quite high. According to professional services provider PwC, global construction output is projected to grow 85% by 2030, with an average of 3.9% per annum up to 2030, which outpaces global GDP by a whole percentage point. Much of the recent growth in the construction industry can be attributed to both developed countries recovering from the 2008 recession and undeveloped countries continuing to industrialize.

Whether you have a construction fleet of five or 500, the key to keeping your company’s vehicles and heavy equipment operational is implementing an effective preventive maintenance program. The average cost for a piece of heavy equipment is over $20,000. Depending on how much heavy equipment your company owns, a large percentage of your company’s assets could be in construction vehicles and heavy equipment. Regardless of whether you outsource your construction equipment maintenance or do it in-house, a proper preventive maintenance program can extend the useful life of your equipment, prevent costly repairs and reduce downtime due to equipment being out of service.

It’s been about five years since the construction industry started its slow recovery from the Great Recession. Flash forward to today and the industry has rebounded nicely with construction spending at an all-time high and demand for construction is strong. The only problem? The industry is still dealing with a skills gap and labor shortage caused by layoffs and a mass exodus of skilled workers who retired or chose to seek greener pastures when the economy tanked.

Construction equipment theft continues to be a major concern for business owners. Stealing construction equipment is a low-risk, high-reward opportunity for thieves, especially on unsecured construction sites. Less than 25% of stolen construction equipment is recovered each year.

One of the things I love about the construction industry is that it's filled with so many honest, hardworking people. One of the things I find frustrating about it though is that a lot of those same people often avoid technology that could make their jobs so much easier and more efficient. I see this mistake most frequently when it comes to their marketing efforts.

For construction professionals, one of the biggest benefits of cloud-based software and storage is mobility. Being able to manage any aspect of your business anywhere you have an internet connection and a mobile device such as a smartphone, tablet or laptop is vital these days.