As I discussed in my last post, construction may have slowed, but it hasn’t stopped altogether. Regardless of the sector and level of construction activity, one thing is consistent across the board: everyone is interested in controlling and reducing construction costs. This is the No. 1 reason that e-Builder is seeing tremendous success during the current economic downturn. The three reasons why controlling costs is so important follow.
Companies can’t get additional financing.
Today, most public entities and many private corporations still have projects that need to be built, but they can’t just throw money at them. And they certainly can’t go over budget. They need to hit their numbers. And credit isn’t as easy to come by now. Even the American Institute of Architects in its semi-annual Consensus Construction Forecast cited tight lending standards as a continuing problem for new nonresidential projects.
Staff have been cut back or eliminated.
A lot of developers, companies and public entities have had to reduce staff to cut overhead cost. Sure, some projects have been shelved or pulled from the pipeline - but there are still many projects moving forward or in early stages with lots of work to do. In addition, the tight economy creates an environment of increased internal and external scrutiny. That also creates more work for the remaining staff. In short, the people that are left to do the work are overwhelmed and they have to figure out how to do more with less.
The need to hit budget and schedule is greater than ever.
Gone are the days when nobody cared that a project was built for much more money than the budgeted amount. The more a project is delayed, the more it costs. When time and money are tight, it’s important that projects don’t exceed the budget or the schedule.
Construction project management software can help. Organizations that use e-Builder to manage their capital projects see a 2- to 4-percent reduction in overall cost without any impact to scope or schedule. The right software can enable a project manager to keep a tighter rein on expenses, shorten the project lifecycle by leveraging best practices and consolidate all project-related documentation in one centralized online location.
So how exactly does a software company that serves the construction industry experience double and borderline triple-digit growth during a recession? It’s simple – by helping repeat builders become more efficient and more effective when the economy demands nothing less. Stay tuned for more.
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