Many construction projects suffer low productivity. For the past 20 years, productivity in this sector has grown only by 1%. That’s quite low compared with the 2.8 percent growth of the entire world economy and 3.6% growth for the manufacturing sector.
Furthermore, a survey revealed that less than 25% of construction firms in the sampled countries have measured up to the productivity growth witnessed in the overall economies in which they work.
Low productivity affects construction projects negatively in many ways. One of the main outcomes is that you can’t remain competitive. This means that your competitors will always be ahead of you in terms of the contracts they win and the profits they get. For that reason, improving efficiency should be a top priority for subcontractors. This article explores productivity issues on construction sites and provides tips you can use for better efficiency.
What Is Construction Productivity?
In the construction industry, productivity is a measure of how cost-effective and time-efficient the project is. You can look at it as the ratio of input versus output. An example is the amount of concrete poured in one hour by one worker. Or the number of bricks laid per day by a team of masons.
A number of metrics come into play when analyzing construction productivity. The key metrics include:
- Costs: The total amount of money invested in the project, including direct costs like labor and materials and indirect costs like equipment depreciation and administration.
- Labor input: This measures the amount of human work needed for a project. It can be measured in hours or labor days. It shows the size of the workforce and how much effort they use to complete a project.
- Material input: This measures the amount of raw materials used for construction, such as ballast, sand, cement, water, or rebars. It can be measured in units like pieces, tons, or cubic yards, depending on the type of material.
- Capital input: The amount of money invested in the equipment and technology used at the construction site. It includes the purchase and maintenance cost of machinery and tools.
- Energy input: This measures the amount of energy used during the construction project, usually calculated in kilowatt-hours or British thermal units (BTUs). It includes electricity and fuel.
- Indirect costs: This includes expenses that are not directly tied to the physical construction but are essential for supporting the project. Examples include project management, safety measures, insurance, and regulatory compliance costs.
Take Back Control of Your Time Keeping
These details are recorded for a set time period and then compared against work completed to determine their level of productivity. For example, an electrical contractor may establish that their team takes an average of 70 hours to rewire a 1400 ft. building. This can be a benchmark against which they can gauge other projects. If some emerging issues are impacting this average output, the contractor can conduct another assessment to determine a new reasonable average. Examples of issues that may alter construction productivity levels include extreme weather conditions, regulatory changes impacting project planning and execution, and safety incidents on the construction site that lead to downtime.
Contractors can track construction productivity on micro and macro levels. This means they may focus on one project at a time or even one stage of a single construction project. Alternatively, they may measure construction productivity across multiple projects simultaneously.
Common Barriers to Construction Productivity
The construction industry suffers low productivity because of the following six main reasons:
1. Ignoring Construction Digital Tools
Construction projects are typically complex, making it challenging to keep track of all the changes that occur on a daily basis. Using traditional tools like paper and pen sets you up for errors, delays, and miscommunications, which can impact project budgets and timelines.
A typical construction project can have a dozen to hundreds of workers. Without digital tools, managing such a large crew can be challenging.
2. Poor Communication on the Jobsite
Miscommunication and inaccurate data led to a whopping $31 billion wasted on rework. For this reason, verbal communication can no longer be the only way to relay information on projects. It’s important to have a more advanced system where documents are updated in real-time. You also need a centralized platform where workers and other project stakeholders can ask questions and pass information.
3. Coordination Issues
With hundreds or thousands of workers on site, each with different roles and goals, it might sometimes be difficult to ensure all of them work in perfect harmony. Such lack of coordination might lead to mistakes and, consequently, a waste of time and money.
4. Inefficient Use of Time
According to Fieldwire, workers spend only 30% of their time on actual buildings. The remaining 70% goes to preparing for tasks, gathering equipment and materials, and sometimes waiting for instructions on what to do next. This is already an inefficient use of time, meaning contractors must put in place measures to increase the percentage of time going to the actual building in comparison with the preparatory tasks.
5. Lack of Context When Managing Tasks
A common mistake in construction sites is giving workers tasks without enough context. When you tell a worker what to do but don’t provide all the necessary information, they may spend a lot of time trying to understand what is required of them. For example, suppose you tell a worker to install drywall, but you don’t specify the exact rooms they should prioritize. In this case, they might choose to start in an area that is not yet ready for installation. This leads to delays and extra work. Or if you ask a worker to prepare a site for concrete pouring but you don’t give details of the exact location and what the preparation involves. They might set up the forms incorrectly, leading to a waste of materials and time.
6. Human Factors
Several human factors affect construction productivity. Below is an outline:
- Safety: If the site doesn’t feel safe, workers might spend more time on any particular task as they struggle to protect themselves from harm.
- Inappropriate behavior: Deception, corruption, theft of materials and tools, and conflict of interest among team members can lead to a lack of morale, which consequently affects construction productivity.
- Environmental conditions: How good or bad the area around the jobsite is can also affect productivity. The presence of hazardous materials, excessive noise, too much dust, inadequate lighting, poor ventilation, and general site disorganization can slow down workers.
- Other human factors: There are several other human factors that can directly affect construction productivity. Inadequate breaks may leave workers tired, slowing down their pace of work. Long distances to sanitary facilities waste time and may make workers uncomfortable if they stay for long without releasing themselves. Late arrivals, early departures, extended breaks, and strikes leave little time for actual work. Lack of recognition and discriminatory work practices leave workers demoralized.
Take Back Control of Your Time Keeping
Construction workers are one of the biggest resources in the construction industry. Therefore, you must take their interests into consideration for success. Addressing the human issues outlined above makes workers feel more satisfied with their jobs, leading to high construction productivity levels.
Strategies to Enhance Construction Productivity
Update Construction Inventory
Poor inventory management is a major cause of low construction productivity. Most construction projects have a large inventory, which you must update regularly. Examples of inventory in construction projects include building materials like cement, bricks, and steel bars; tools like hammers, drills, and saws; equipment like concrete mixers and cranes; safety gear like helmets, safety boots, and visibility jackets; and electrical supplies like wires, sockets, and switches. Don’t wait until workers notify you that they have run out of a particular material. Stay ahead with regular inventory audits—restock materials before they run out to keep the job moving.
Use inventory management systems like BuilderMT or CoConstruct. These can help you track materials from order to delivery and can alert you when supplies are running low. They can also automate reordering to ensure you don’t run into shortages. And for proper planning and forecasting.
Employ Technology for Better Workflows
You can boost construction efficiency directly by adopting relevant technology. Consider integrating project management software. To start with, tracking time in construction isn’t always straightforward. Not that there aren’t advanced tools to help with this aspect of management. It’s just that many contractors still stick to traditional methods that weren’t specifically designed for the construction industry. These include mobile apps, fingerprint scanners, ID cards, and iris scanners. Construction workers are known to give plenty of excuses not to use these time-tracking systems. Some will claim they don’t have a phone, complain about a poor internet connection, inability to leave fingerprints, or nonfunctional devices.
SmartBarrel took these claims into account and designed an easy-to-use hardware timeclock solution for check-ins and checkouts. This time-tracking solution uses AI-powered facial verification to automatically verify the times workers get to the site and leave. Workers simply key in their phone number, have their picture taken, and they can start their shift.
SmartBarrel generates automated reports for every project, eliminating paperwork. It also integrates seamlessly with top construction project management platforms like Procore, CMiC, and PowerBI. This saves a lot of time on manual data entry.
The SmartBarrel system is easy to set up. It’s a plug-and-play solution, meaning you can start using it as soon as it arrives on your site. It effectively solves the all-time menace of buddy punching and ghost workers typical of construction sites. It also minimizes payroll disputes, given the accuracy of recording employee presence on-site.
Make the Workplace Flexible
Workplace flexibility can boost productivity. Remember, construction work is labor intensive. It’s good to ensure that your workers are adequately rested. When they’re in top physical and mental health, they operate machinery with the desired precision and complete tasks faster.
An excellent approach is creating flexible work shifts, ensuring your workers have the much-desired work-life balance. Also, assign manageable tasks at any given time so they don’t always feel under pressure.
Train Employees
Investing in the workforce’s skills is indispensable. Technology in the construction industry is rapidly evolving. New tools and software are introduced every other day. A good example is the use of drones for surveying sites and the integration of Building Information Modelling (BIM) software. Training your workers on these technologies can improve their efficiency and accuracy in construction projects.
Government regulations also change from time to time. For example, the local government may revise safety protocols for sites once new equipment is introduced. Workers need training on the operation of such new machinery and how to keep themselves safe to prevent injuries.
Integrate Data and Analytics Systems
Every new construction project is an opportunity to gather insightful data and analyze it. This enables better decision-making and efficiency. Analyze trends from current and past projects to be able to predict potential delays, optimize resource allocation, and enhance scheduling accuracy.
Use advanced analytics tools capable of evaluating productivity aspects such as material usage rates, labor productivity, and equipment performance. In the long run, you’ll be able to reduce wastage and improve project timelines.
Consider also real-time data collection. This will help you adjust strategies as soon as you identify areas of improvement.
Develop a Culture of Continuous Improvement
Create a culture that encourages continuous improvement. Encourage workers to share their thoughts on how the work process can be improved. You can hold weekly or monthly meetings where workers can discuss the challenges they are facing and suggest what can be done about them. You can also place suggestion boxes around the construction site for workers to submit their ideas anonymously. A proper feedback loop is a sure way to promptly identify inefficiencies and areas for improvement.
In the same regard, reward employees for their contributions to process improvements. Offer bonus payments for those workers who contribute ideas that lead to cost savings and time reduction in projects. You can also introduce employee of the month awards or give the deserving workers additional time off. This will motivate the entire workforce to seek ways to increase productivity. The end result is faster project completion and reduced costs.
Implement Lean Construction Principles
Lean construction techniques focus on minimizing waste, be it materials, time, or labor, and optimizing processes. Apply principles like value stream mapping and just-in-time inventory. Value-stream mapping is a visual tool that illustrates the flow of materials throughout the construction project. It shows you where delays occur and which processes can be improved. Just-in-time inventory is a strategy that ensures materials are delivered just when they are needed, not before. This way, you don’t have to store large amounts of materials on-site.
Another thing is to plan collaboratively to ensure every part of the project is aligned with the overall goals. Involve all stakeholders, including architects, engineers, and clients. Also, hold regular meetings with all these stakeholders to discuss how the project is going, the challenges faced, and how best to move forward.
Maintain Safety
As mentioned earlier, unsafe sites slow workers down as they spend more time on tasks to protect themselves from harm. A safe jobsite keeps projects moving.
Regularly update safety protocols and conduct training sessions to ensure you comply with legal standards. Doing so also reduces the likelihood of accidents on-site. When workers feel safe, their satisfaction and productivity levels increase. Furthermore, minimizing injury-related downtime directly enhances overall project efficiency and effectiveness.
Optimize Supply Chain Management
Efficient supply chain management is crucial for uninterrupted construction processes. Lock in reliable suppliers to keep materials flowing.
Use supply chain management software for better visibility into the entire procurement process. This helps you forecast needs and manage orders effectively. The result is reduced risk of project delays due to material shortages. The workflow also remains steady, thereby increasing overall project productivity.
Take Back Control of Your Time Keeping
Measuring and Optimizing Construction Productivity Over Time
Measuring and optimizing construction productivity over time is essential for continuous improvement and competitiveness. Set clear metrics like actual vs. planned timelines, cost performance, and labor productivity rates. Regularly gather data on these metrics so you can track progress and identify trends or deviations from planned outputs.
Use digital tools that provide real-time data. These allow you to make informed decisions promptly. Real-time data keeps projects on track, preventing delays and cost overruns.
Another important thing to do is conduct periodic reviews and compare current projects with historical ones. This will help you identify areas for improvement.
Analyze data regularly to help you improve your general approach to the construction project, allocate resources correctly, and adopt new technologies or methods that boost efficiency. Doing this often maintains productivity at a high level, ensuring you complete the project on time and make profits, not losses.
Conclusion
Maintaining high levels of productivity on construction sites is challenging. Many factors slow down work, including poor communication, using outdated technology, and failure to meet the needs of workers. You must find ways to solve this issue to make sure workers do their jobs fast enough. For instance, you can use project management software to gain control of every aspect of the construction project. This includes monitoring when workers get to work and what time they leave for their homes. There’s no better way to do this than installing the SmartBarrel timeclock solution for check-ins and checkouts. It is designed to address the common shortcomings of other time-tracking solutions. Contact SmartBarrel now for a demo of their device, and you will certainly improve productivity.
