Supporting general contractors at every level of the project lifecycle with iFieldSmart

Introduction

Acquiring greater coverage to win bids can be overwhelming and disorganized. Hence, general contractors need to leverage a fully integrated online application that helps them at every level of the preconstruction lifecycle. The preconstruction phase is one of the most crucial phases wherein GC’s need to educate clients on what would be the requirements to make a project fully functional and financially feasible.

Identifying the right sub-contractor serves as the foundation of a robust preconstruction plan, with modern software applications, GC’s can search for the right sub-contractors from a database of thousands. With updated information, it gets easier for GC’s to prefer the right sub-contractor or sub-contracting company. What GC’s want is a process or application that can handle the entire bid management process from point A, right up to the finish line.

Pre-construction services that GC’s can leverage

Various AEC firms that render pre-construction services analyze options, refine project schedules, build robust partnerships, and present realistic financials. Moving further pre-construction companies optimize workflow, look at critical project points, outline milestones, ensure on-site safety, and more.

With the construction boom in full effect, General Contractors do find a lot of work that needs to be outsourced to subcontractors or vendors, viz. bidding, negotiating contracts, submitting proposals, design-build projects, and more. Bid management is a time-consuming process as sending Invitations to Bid or ITB to various subcontractors. This is followed by emails & follow-up calls for each project.

General Contractors have the liberty to leverage pre-construction services like –

Engineering Judgment – Analysis of existing space and conditions for a project. For example evaluation of HVAC systems to understand if they would be sufficient or functional for optimum conditions.

Create a Pilot Design – Pre-construction professionals help create an initial layout that clients can view to know if all the elements like furnishings, equipment, etc.

Preliminary Budget – A budget is developed based on the schematic design. This budget is based on spaces and estimates. A bid document would be created based on the construction documents, and the final design. 

 Responsibility Monitoring – Pre-construction services also include the identification of deliverables from various trades, vendors, etc.

Building a Schedule – After the entire scope is laid out, a schedule is created to identify lead times, sequence construction, and estimate the time of completion.

Moving to an Efficient Digital Path

Keeping track of information can get tedious, thus General Contractors are moving toward using an online digital approach to send automated invites and monitor the status of the process from a single location- this includes project designs to closing the bid. With bid management software it takes less than ten minutes to initiate and monitor the entire project from a centralized location.

With information being the principal driving force for generating bids, bid management software use tools and features like bid leveling to compare bids and find the best possible subcontractor through collaboration. This creates a working platform that is quick and efficient to leverage great results, GC’s can leverage this software whilst leaving decisive notes to collaborate and stay organized at every level of the project lifecycle.

With advanced analytics & reporting, GC’s can make well-informed decisions through performance tracking and critical metrics. Moving forward, GC’s also adopt apps or APIs to manage prequalification and risk management. This facilitates GC’s with vendor or subs details to evaluate the risk factors. This is calculated by taking into account various parameters viz. finance metrics, performance, backlog capacity, and operational experience.

In Summary

It can be concluded that GC’s carrying modern and efficient tools under their belt can leverage technology to adopt bid management that streamlines the entire bid management process, and also takes the pressure off of estimating professionals. Accessing an enormous database pool of subcontractors saves on time and acquisition. With iFieldSmart at the helm, these applications can be accessed from anywhere, and at any time.    

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