Time management in construction: The case for a shorter work day

The construction industry can seem like a never-ending cycle of deadline after deadline.

As projections forecasting high demand for construction work, it’s all too easy for those deadlines to equal longer hours – and higher labor costs – for your construction crew and office team.

Longer hours don’t necessarily result in higher productivity. When productivity suffers, it can come with cost overruns and delays. Even if jobs are getting done on time, it may be at the cost of employee burnout and turnover.

There’s good news, though. Effective time management can help you improve productivity. That way, you can accomplish the same number of tasks in less time – without sacrificing quality of work.

In this blog, we’re making the case for a shorter work day by improving time management in construction. For even more information on this topic, download the recent State of Residential Construction Industry report, produced in partnership with the Association of Builders.

What is the labor productivity formula in construction?

The construction labor productivity formula can be calculated by dividing output of work by the number of hours employees worked.

What affects productivity in construction?

Productive job sites are typically more profitable ones. Labor costs and timelines can be controlled more easily when crews and staff are completing tasks efficiently.

There are six main areas that can impact productivity among construction workers, project managers and business owners alike.

1. Number of projects or assignments to complete

Managing multiple job sites is a common occurrence in the construction industry. If those projects are managed manually, there are lots of opportunities where productivity can fail.

Details get lost, project needs get swapped and people at the job site can burn out if the amount of work is unrealistic and overwhelming.

2. Dependent resources

Home builders and remodelers can only complete projects on time if you have all the resources to do so. That means equipment rentals, supplies, materials and all necessary paperwork has to be in hand for each step of the building process to go smoothly. With recent supply chain delays, projects are often losing productivity due to resource shortages or material delays.

3. Weather conditions

While many builders try to anticipate weather conditions as much as possible when estimating a construction timeline, the elements can still delay scheduled work. Weather can impact worker safety and make structural work, like pouring foundations, impossible. Severe weather can also damage work that’s already been completed, impacting long-term productivity.

4. Construction labor shortages

In construction, labor can be the deciding factor for productive jobs or unproductive ones.  Even if construction supplies and materials are delivered on time, every permit is pulled without issue or the home buyer requests zero change orders, projects can fall behind fast if there’s no one there to physically manage or work the job site. Continued labor shortages have led to job overruns and overtime costs, which can impact employee satisfaction.

5. Administrative tasks

While the labor productivity formula is often viewed as a tool to measure the effectiveness of construction crews, it can also be a handy tool at the administrative level.

Often, construction business owners wear multiple hats. They’re needed at the job site as much as they are the office, which can lead to inefficiencies in business operations. In fact, it’s been reported that 61% of construction businesses allocate less than 25% of their time to work on their business, rather than in it. Ineffective office management can contribute to inefficient jobs.

6. Number of hours worked

Builders are busier than ever. This has led to longer working hours – at the job site and the office – to meet demand. The problem is, these longer hours aren’t necessarily leading to business growth. Instead, it’s what they’re putting in to maintain their current work. Long-term, this can cause negative effects to productivity.

How do working days impact productivity?

The number of working days can increase or decrease productivity, especially when added days are also adding overtime.

Studies have shown that overtime, especially extended overtime across many weeks of a project, can negatively impact job performance and productivity. As such, there’s a case to be made to shorten the number of daily work hours. 

Does working long hours increase productivity?

No, working longer hours does not necessarily increase productivity.

Longer working hours have been shown to increase:

• Employee stress
• Health issues
• Employee turnover in construction
• Performance mistakes
• Safety risk

These factors can actually decrease productivity. Plus, if productivity isn’t increased, longer hours can actually deal a blow to your bottom line. Federal overtime laws require overtime to be paid for non-exempt construction workers. So, any non-growth in productivity that fails to cover increased labor wages can actually hurt your profits.

Are shorter working days more productive?

Construction is a busy industry. Depending on the type of project and timeline goals, it’s common for construction crews to put in long hours and weekends. Even so, shorter working days can improve focus and task prioritization, increasing productivity.

Shortened hours should also be considered when managing your construction office.

For many builders and remodelers, construction is a 24/7 job. It can come at a cost of missing out on other aspects of your life. By improving the way your construction business manages your work, though, you can gain back control of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences you might be missing out on.

Tom Henning, director of construction management at Westminster Canterbury Richmond, achieved this balance after gaining years of expertise – and Buildertrend’s help. Using Buildertrend’s construction software tools, he’s able to keep a pulse on job statuses while still developing relationships that are important to his business, without missing out on what matters most: his family.

“My son told me…you never missed a track meet. You never missed a cross country meet. He’s seeing what it means to be a dad. The Buildertrend piece helps you take care of your family – both the one waiting at home, and the one who is working so hard to deliver on projects.” – Tom Henning, Westminster Canterbury Richmond

7 tips to improving time management in construction

While there are clear benefits to shortening the workday, it’s a task that’s easier said than done. Here are seven tips to improve time management in construction and help you shave hours off of your day.

1. Develop timelines and schedules

To finish a project on time, you need to create a plan. Every step of the construction planning, execution and closeout phases should be included. Once you have eyes on everything that needs to be completed, you can more realistically assign due dates and share a working timeline and schedule with everyone involved in the project.

This documentation can help office workers manage expenses, keep subcontractors updated on when to call different crews and contractors onto the job site and help project managers prioritize work to fit within condensed working hours.

2. Put everything in (digital) writing

Digitizing documentation can improve time management for builders and remodelers.  

It may seem counterintuitive to add steps to your workflows, especially if you’re used to paper-and-pencil processes and filing systems. In reality, managing construction projects with technology reduces rework from manual errors. Communication tools share information with the people you need to share it with in real time. Daily logs keep you updated on job developments at the click of a button. These improvements decrease the number of calls and paperwork updates that would otherwise take up crucial time in your workday.

3. Establish daily huddles

Everyone’s time is valuable. That’s why it’s important to make sure everyone is always on the same page. It reduces rework and saves projects from the danger of overruns.

Still, it can be hard to find a time that works for every person involved in a construction project to connect, even if it’s just for 15 minutes. This is why having buy in from your crew and staff on a software solution is so important. It can serve the same purpose as daily huddles.  

Use construction software to help establish touchpoints with your team. If there are changes to a project’s scope or timeline, send a notification to keep everyone in the loop. Provide home buyer feedback. Dedicate a few minutes to addressing questions that might have come in through your communication portal.

Huddles don’t have to be in person to be effective. By dedicating a few minutes a day to discuss project status, roadblocks and opportunities, you can save more time later on.

4. Have a clear understanding of roadblocks

Sometimes, external factors add obstacles to a construction project. Late deliveries, equipment and permit issues can impact other tasks. When things get back on track, you may need to extend hours – or add working days – to make up for the delays.

The key here is to plan for these obstacles ahead as much as you can. Using project management software, document every step of the planning process. Use features like dependencies to tie tasks together, clearly showing what tasks are being impacted if something goes off the rails. Using this knowledge, adjust independent tasks where you can to keep work moving and reschedule dependent tasks to fit a new timeline. That way, you can still keep your project on schedule without impacting hours.

5. Template work when you can

As you work to digitize your construction project workflows, take advantage of opportunities to make tasks easily repeatable in the future.

Let’s look at an example. Say you’re a home remodeler. Each project always starts with demo, waste removal and structural repairs. If you know these tasks will always occur, you can create a template within your construction software. That way, you don’t have to manually enter each new job from scratch. It’s a process that can easily shave hours off project management work and get jobs underway even faster. Think about creating templates for schedules, task lists and checklists.

6. Automate tasks

Just as it’s important to delegate during a project for better time management, it’s also important to automate tasks so no one has to think about them.

For example, project takeoffs can be labor-intensive and time consuming to complete. By using combined takeoff and estimating solutions, you can plan and estimate projects 33% faster than using manual measuring processes.

The same can be said for reporting. Customer and subcontractor portals can be leveraged to store, send and receive documents. This cuts down on time spent chasing down paperwork, allowing you to redirect your attention to more critical tasks.

7. Prioritize tasks that can help future work

It may seem backwards to recommend the addition of tasks when you’re trying to save time. Still, it’s important to make sure steps that can help improve project quality and performance in the future are accounted for in your workflow.

For example, many construction companies might not take the time to conduct performance appraisals of crew members and other staff. This kind of feedback can help improve processes in the future, though, further adding time savings to new projects.

Take the time to establish key performance indicators for your team and establish these check-ins with your team. Bonus points: templatize the KPI process to make your time even more efficient, while still getting and giving the feedback you need to make your future jobs even more successful.

How Buildertrend can improve time management and productivity

Buildertrend improves time management by making every step of the construction process easier to track, manage and complete.

Every product feature in Buildertrend is designed to bring value to construction companies, whether that’s by speeding up tasks, giving more visibility into statuses or improving communication. Use Buildertrend to:

• Complete project takeoff fast
• Send estimates with a click of a button
• Create project timelines and schedules
• Manage project tasks
• Account for task dependencies
• Templatize processes
• Message clients and subcontractors
• Store and share project documentation
• Request signatures and approvals
• Collect payments

Plus, so much more.

Are you ready to do more with less time? Contact Buildertrend today.