The working life of a subcontractor can be challenging. You rely on other businesses to approach you to help them complete a job. You need to make sure the workmanship you deliver is of a high standard or you might be overlooked for future work.
No work means no income.
To ensure you still are ahead of your competition and routinely continue to get approached to help with the most lucrative contracts, there are a few things you can do. This includes:
• Always delivering your services or goods on time and to a high standard,
• Supplying detailed job quotes including project schedules, staff capabilities, task timelines, cost estimation reports, and
• Maintaining high-quality record keeping with up-to-date compliance certificates, financial statements, and licenses.
Because most subcontractors are small businesses, achieving and keeping these standards can be challenging. However, this has now become much easier by utilizing modern subcontractor software to automate project planning, task tracking, cost reporting, and document management.
Subcontractors who rely on manual methods like Excel risk creating inaccurate project schedules and cost estimates. This can lead to project delays and budget overruns.
This will then affect your reputation and your chances to gain further contracts.
Here is some key information to help subcontractors understand how subcontractor software can benefit your business.
What Is Subcontractor Software?
This software helps with the creation of proposals with cost estimates (materials and labor costs) when bidding for a contract. When you gain a contract, it helps you track the daily tasks of your employees, ensuring that the project is on schedule and progressing as expected, managing both pre- and post-contract activities.
Common Features Of Subcontractor Software
This software includes tools to help you with the following:
Document management – one place to track all versions of documents used like construction plans, RFIs, change orders, submittals, and compliance certificates.
Project tracking – where you assign and track the people, resources, and equipment involved in a project.
Project scheduling – Where you track the progress of each job to ensure the project still is within both the budget and the timeline.
Equipment tracking – where you track which employees are using which specific equipment while also detailing the maintenance history of all equipment.
Proposal generator – for reviewing cost estimates and creating accurate and professional-looking bids.
Job costing report – for tracking actual project costs compared with the initial estimates, creating, and sending purchase orders, executing change orders, scheduling, and tracking payments/invoices as well as submitting and approving time sheets.
API integration – for integrating third-party tools and API extensions like accounting software and customer relationship management (CRM) solutions.
Key Considerations
Depth of functionality – closely examine the features offered to ensure you but software with what you need and are not paying for features you will never use.
The ability to upload and edit images on a mobile device is a key requirement for many construction teams. And you will also want the tool to work on both iOS and Android devices so that users don’t face device compatibility challenges.
Task tracking – tracking what each employee is doing gets harder to track as teams get larger. You will need detailed tracking with automated reminders, and preferably with time tracking functionality.
Cost – a cloud-based solution usually has a monthly or annual subscription fee which suits smaller businesses while on-premises models come with a one-time license fee, data backup costs, and maintenance charges.
But many cloud-based solutions charge for training and phone support, and if the software functionality depends on third-party add-ons, total costs of implementation and customization can increase considerably.
