How to scale your construction business with technology

Balancing different worlds

Larger construction companies usually have one area of focus for their business, whether it’s the residential, commercial or infrastructure.

Smaller businesses often have to serve many sectors to keep the money coming in. This might include a business with a steady commercial contract servicing HVAC units at a grocery store chain that’s also taking emergency calls from homeowners. This mixed mode of working is a great way to grow, but it’s a difficult balancing act.

When a local plumber grows from one truck to a small fleet, the old ways of doing things start to break down. It’s no longer just about answering the phone and writing in a call log.  The owner has to figure out which technician has the right skills for each job, their current location and if the truck has the right parts. They have to optimize dispatch management, managing projects with competing timelines and limited resources.

When you’re serving multiple streams, the paperwork is challenging.

For smaller jobs you give a price, do the work, get a signature and then chase the paperwork to recover expenses and bill the customer.

Project work is different. You may have to:

• review detailed drawings
• build cost estimates for parts and labour
• prepare a bid

When the bid is won:

• you need time to plan
• order materials
• coordinate delivery
• schedule skilled labour, equipment and trucks.
• Collect review and approve project progress reports, timesheets and equipment run-times, then charge them to the project

Delays can often have a cascading effect on other work as workers get pulled away from other jobs, leaving customers waiting.

Cash flow also gets harder to manage in bigger jobs. You often need to buy materials and pay your crew weeks before you get paid.

These internal struggles are happening while the whole industry faces bigger problems:

• The retirement wave: Over 245,000 Canadian construction workers are expected to retire by 2032.
• A lack of skills: It is becoming harder to find people with the right training to replace those leaving.
• Falling productivity: The construction industry has actually become less efficient than it was a few years ago.
• Old school tools: Most trades invest in hard tools like equipment and trucks, but they often ignore the digital tools that could save them time.

Using technology to connect the pieces

Many business owners feel they lack digital systems or use too many disconnected apps. However, new tools are making it easier to link these systems together, often without needing an in-house IT expert.

Digital automation tools are making it easier than ever to bridge the data silos between systems. With low-code and no-code automation tools, a business may be able to digitize and automate workflows, creating efficiencies. Automations can read emails and create service requests in a job system or extract timesheet data from one system and enter it into a billing system. The human’s work shifts from the mundane to oversight. These automations can be quick wins, helping to boost productivity and the bottom line.

5 technology projects ideas for construction companies

1. Investing in cloud computing

There comes a point when the old systems just don’t cut it and new investment is needed. Modern digital systems provide new tools for seamless workflows.

For instance, technicians can open a digital job file, read instructions, log parts used and capture before and after images. This may include snapping a photo of an expense receipt, entering their time in a log and collecting a customer e-signature using a smartphone. Digital capture in the field means better billing accuracy and cash conversion is accelerated. Customers often express higher satisfaction leading to repeats and referrals.

2. Better bidding with AI

Estimating how much a job will cost is one of the hardest parts of the business. AI can help speed this up. Electronic take-off software can “read” digital blueprints and count exactly how many light fixtures, junction boxes or metres of pipe are needed.

When these tools connect to price lists from suppliers, they can create accurate quotes, faster. This means a senior person doesn't have to spend all day doing math—they can just check the final numbers and spend more time coaching their team.

3. Seeing the future with BIM

In big commercial projects, building information modeling (BIM) is becoming the standard. This technology creates a digital twin—a 3D model of the building that shows everything including what’s inside the walls.

One of the benefits of BIMs is that they can help catch mistakes before they happen. For example, the model might show that a pipe is going to hit a heating vent. Fixing that on a screen saves money. Fixing it on a job site is expensive. Once the building is done, access to that digital model saves money. If a repair is needed years later, a technician can quickly look at the digital files on a tablet to see exactly what is behind a wall before they start cutting. The work is done faster, with less waste so technicians can complete more jobs in a day.

4. Smarter project management

Modern project management tools make it easier to record actual labour and material costs. They can now send alerts if a job is starting to go over budget. Some can even look at the weather and predict how a rainy week in February might delay a project, allowing the owner to talk to the client early and manage their expectations—and also reroute their labour to other projects, if possible.

5. Off-site construction coordination

Another way to save time is to build things away from the job site. Prefabrication and modular construction can cut building times in half and lower costs by 20%. By building parts of a project in a controlled shop, you get better quality and fewer mistakes.

This does require better planning. Coordinating the delivery of a giant pre-built section must be done much more carefully than a load of lumber. New supply chain software can help plan and track these deliveries to make sure everything arrives exactly when the foundation is ready.

How to get started

Technology only works if the people using it are ready for the change. The best way to get more efficient is to start is with a plan:

1. Map out your work
   Look at how a job moves from a bid to a final bill. Find the points where you are wasting time, scrapping materials or not billing accurately.
2. Pick a target
   Decide where to focus—do you need a better way to track time, bid on jobs or manage your billing process?
3. Check your current systems
   See what is working and what may be slowing you down. Are there any new automation features or embedded AI tools your software has and you aren’t using yet?
4. Get the right gear
   Make sure workers have the right tools like ruggedized tablets and the right training they need to use them in the field.
5. Call in the digital pros
   If you need to skill up in automation tools, build agents or invest in new digital systems, find a partner you can trust to help you protect your data, invest wisely and move quickly for real returns.

The industry is changing, and the tools to help you grow are becoming easier to use every day. By making small, smart investments in technology, you can spend less time on paperwork and more time building your business.

With you every step of the way

At BDC, we can accompany you with expert advice to help determine the right strategies and solutions for your needs. We also offer financing to digitize your business without harming your cash flow. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.