7 Key Challenges in Construction Schedule Updating and Reporting

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Russell Bollig

Multivista Senior Director of Solutions
VISIT BIO

In the construction industry, delays often feel inevitable. Supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, materials scarcity, weather events and other external factors all have the potential to shift timelines and push out project completion dates.

With so much uncertainty, construction scheduling and progress tracking is vital, but it can also be a big challenge—especially when it’s done manually.

Here, we’ll discuss seven key challenges around progress tracking and scheduling on construction sites and offer some strategies for mitigating them.

1. TRACKING PROGRESS IN NEAR REAL TIME

Being able to track accurate progress in near real-time creates a solid foundation for managing project deliverables, including forecasting, scheduling, payment processing, and updating stakeholders. When you’re able to compare your project’s planned intent against current as-built real-world data, you gain better visibility over the project as a whole and can make better-informed decisions in a timelier manner.

However, many organizations still rely on manual processes to track progress. And it can be challenging to walk an entire jobsite then translate what you see in the field into actionable information. Manually calculating the percentage of work completed by multiple trades, by scope, or by each individual floor takes a lot of time and often doesn’t capture the complete picture because of the time required to do things properly. By the time you finish reporting on the last floor, things have changed on the first!

Artificial intelligence (AI) can be a game-changer for your jobsite. By leveraging AI-powered analysis working off high quality as-built imagery captured by Multivista documentation specialists, you can measure progress in near real-time, so you can make decisions based on accurate, up-to-date information. For example, Multivista’s Progress Reporting analyzes 360° photos against the project’s BIM model or schedule and—within a short turnaround—can provide progress reports that showcase the percentage of work complete for the major trades categories, like mechanical, electrical, plumbing, drywall and framing.

2. RESOURCE AND SCHEDULE FORECASTING

When it comes to construction planning, you need to know where you stand today to determine what you’ll need tomorrow. Planning for when you’ll need specific raw materials, labor resources, and machinery can make or break your budget and timeline.

Unfortunately, scheduling and resource allocation are tricky, especially when you’re working with data that isn’t accurate or up to date. One scheduling mistake can create an unexpected delay or lead to costly rework, creating a chain reaction of wasted resources.

It’s easy to underestimate the amount of time it will take to complete an aspect of a project, and unexpected delays — like material shortages, scheduling conflicts, inclement weather, and more — are always possible. It’s vital to have buffer or float time built into the schedule to account for those unknowns.

One way to create that buffer time is to base your scheduling and resource allocation on accurate data from a single source of truth. Leverage AI-powered technology to get accurate, consistent, and detailed updates on construction progress over time. By keeping a close eye on work velocity and productivity, you can make scheduling updates as needed and set dependencies based on which work has been completed.

3. ANALYSING AND REPORTING ON PROGRESS

Setting clear goals is crucial for measuring success and ensuring that your construction project stays on track.

When there is no standardized process for tracking progress in construction projects, inconsistencies may arise. These inconsistencies can lead to delays and misunderstandings, as different parties may have varying methods of measuring success or interpreting data. It’s also more challenging to hold various teams and individuals accountable for their portions of the project when there are no clear goals or standardized reporting processes.

To mitigate these risks, it is important to establish clear guidelines and protocols for tracking progress across all aspects of the project and ensure all stakeholders understand how to use them. Having schedule and work-completed reports contained in the same location as the supporting as-built imagery means progress can be analyzed and updates shared more easily with all stakeholders. A single source of truth for the entire team helps ensure consistency and simplify training.

By defining your metrics and standards for measurement from the outset, you can establish a roadmap for progress and enable effective tracking throughout the project lifecycle. You can also make necessary adjustments along the way to improve efficiency and keep the project on course.

4. MANAGING DEPENDENCIES

Within each construction project, there’s an order of dependencies based on logical steps. What must be completed before the next step can begin?

If HVAC, plumbing, and electrical need to be completed before drywall, it’s not helping anyone if  your drywall team shows up as scheduled but the other components are not finished—you still must pay them for their time even if they can’t begin working.

As well, often times these dependencies aren’t well-defined or properly tracked, so teams don’t show up when they’re needed. Constant last-minute scheduling changes lead to wasted time and resources for everyone involved, so it’s important to keep a close eye on the schedule and make changes as early as possible.

One way to manage dependencies more effectively is to ensure you’re measuring progress accurately on each walkthrough. Stop relying on best-guess estimates or secondhand information—if you think your project is 95% done but it’s really only 80% done, you’re likely going to bring in the next team too soon. As previously discussed, comprehensive AI analysis tools can help you measure progress with greater accuracy more consistently, and they’re user-friendly so it’s easier than ever to use them to help map out your dependencies more efficiently.

5. PAYMENT APPLICATION ACCURACY

Managing the payment process can be a challenge every month, especially when multiple subcontractors are completing work with dependencies. Progress Reporting can address this issue, shifting billing so it’s based on progress made, ensuring payments coincide with actual work completed rather than a fixed monthly amount.

By implementing billing systems based on progress, construction project managers can avoid situations where monthly payments exceed the actual progress made. This helps maintain financial stability for the project and ensures everyone is still paid promptly and fairly, but also accurately.

When Multivista captures your progress and provides timely AI-powered insights, it acts as a 3rd-party, single source of truth for referencing all work completed. This can be crucial in progress billing, as it provides an objective measurement of progress and serves as evidence during payment negotiations or dispute resolutions.

Progress-based billing is also beneficial for subcontractors, who can reference the single-source of truth to substantiate invoiced amounts for faster payment each month.

6. FIELD COORDINATION AND COMMUNICATION

Effective communication and field coordination are crucial to ensure smooth project execution and avoid rework. Despite extensive planning and regular meetings, miscommunications and scheduling errors can still occur, particularly when relying on manual tracking methods.

When all stakeholders—including General Contractors/Construction Managers, subcontractors, architects, engineers, and project managers—work from the same project update and progress info, it greatly reduces the chances of miscommunication. Increasing collaboration between stakeholders using the same accurate information promotes better alignment between teams and overall project efficiency and transparency.

7. DOCUMENTATIO AND RISK MITIGATION

Visual documentation of your jobsite is a crucial risk management tool. Incomplete or outdated documentation can leave your organization vulnerable to litigation, while accurate and readily accessible documentation can offer protection in the event of a claim or dispute.

Here are a few construction documentation best practices to follow:

  • Track progression consistently, at a cadence that works for your site.
  • Capture as much detail as possible. Using 360° photos in conjunction with AI analysis can enhance detail and give you more critical insights.
  • Leverage a single source of truth to ensure your documentation is widely available, even to off-site stakeholders.
  • Ensure each documentation session is time-and-location-indexed appropriately and correctly, and that all metrics are properly archived for future reference.

 

Following these best practices can prevent rework, give your organization valuable evidence in disputes, keep decision makers in the loop from start to finish, and power post-project analyses to identify opportunities for improved efficiency in future projects.

Delays may be inevitable on a jobsite, but as the construction industry begins embracing AI technology, new solutions and efficiencies are coming into play. Combining Multivista’s 2+ decades of working alongside project teams to capture the right jobsite data at the right time with comprehensive tools like AI-driven Progress Reporting can help your project stay on track, and in touch.

It’s an exciting time to be building. To learn more about Progress Reporting, book a demo HERE.