How to Cut Construction Costs

What you spend as a business owner is directly proportional to how significant a profit margin you can create. This is true across all industries and for all businesses of all sizes. Still, it’s an especially pertinent lesson to remember when you own a construction business or you’re a general contractor, and it all starts with cutting construction costs.

Minimizing constructions costs isn’t a one-and-done approach, either. It’s the proactive, ongoing application of several strategies, and it requires owners and contractors like you to bend but not break as you traverse a seemingly ever-changing landscape. While the pandemic has genuinely put the construction industry to the test, it’s also allowed for the innovation of tools that we have been slow to adopt.

Regardless of what the future may hold, there are necessary steps to be taken to shore up the processes you have in place, cut operating expenses, and ultimately, help your construction or contracting business grow.

Switch Suppliers

It’s an obvious fact that the supply chain looks nothing like anything we’ve seen before. The vendors and suppliers you had even just one year ago may have very well changed business models, cut back on inventory offered, or have raised prices. Although so many suppliers face challenges, there is also the same number who would be happy to have the business of a new customer who is pleased to be saving money themselves. 

Check the Equipment

Owning a fleet of construction equipment saves money and time for construction businesses that tackle high-dollar projects. Still, that return on investment starts to wane as the equipment becomes less efficient. A slowdown in productivity or downtime due to disrepair can also drain the bank account of construction business owners, so a preventive maintenance plan is necessary to keep everything working as it should.

Think About Tech

There are a growing number of tools to help with scheduling construction projects, and that hesitancy to implement new tech tools could slow down timelines. The truth is that tech has never been easier to integrate with current workflows, and there are teams of experts that can help train employees on how to use the tools efficiently. Additionally, these tools help construction teams adapt to a “new normal” — the standards and guidelines that help everyone stay safe and healthy and ensure that jobs are being completed on time.

Perfect Project Management

Have you tried the critical path method for planning your projects? Simply put, the critical path is the journey between the start and finish of your project. It’s the method you use to determine how long each required task takes before it’s finished and includes project phases and the time periods for each step, along with the project tasks and duration. Using the critical path method means you can mitigate or even avoid overruns that eat into your profit margins.

Don’t Skip Scheduling

We can’t stress this enough: Scheduling will make or break a construction project and its productivity. 

“While 56% of trade contractors also cite poor coordination and communication as having a negative impact on productivity, over two-thirds (68%) claim that poor schedule management is the top contributor. This makes sense, as subcontractors’ work is more likely to be impacted by schedule changes on a daily basis.”

Outsource What You Can

Construction project scheduling is critical in achieving overall success. A realistic, logical calculation of the best-case, likely, and worst-case scenarios gives the project team an accurate schedule. At the same time, delays are mitigated or avoided by precise planning and management. With an expert on the ground, your project moves as seamlessly as possible through all stages of development.

When starting a project with TD Wilson, you have the benefit of not only our decades of experience but also our expertise with today’s top CPM software products. Our approach to developing a well-defined project schedule leaves nothing to chance — and you can rest assured that you’ll be able to curb construction costs for your business.

TD Wilson begins by developing a schedule to manage the work efficiently and cost-effectively and to minimize delays. Our comprehensive schedules are created to reflect realistic data from technical calculations based on years of experience and seasoned judgment. Our daily, weekly, or monthly updates ensure accurate reporting and facilitate enhanced communications, so contact us today to get started!