10 Common Mistakes of Contractors and How to Avoid Them!

We have prepared this guide to highlight the 10 common mistakes of contractors and how can we avoid them. Every project that is carried out will involve a certain level of risk. Starting from the safety issues to cost and estimation challenges that are prepared for such risks that will help smoothen the most complicated projects.

Unfortunately, the majority of contractors make common mistakes when they are going to implement their daily workflows. Some of them ignore essential safety measures whereas some others will rely on manual processes for preparing budgets and designs.

You need to be aware of the following mistakes in your project cost estimating process to avoid them in the future:

1-Poor Accounting Practices

By keeping a track of your finances in a real-time will be one of the best ways of avoiding high costs. However, most of the contractors are left behind in proper accounting practices. No matter what, whether you are using spreadsheets or taking too long for reporting your expenditures, these kinds of mistakes will reduce your ability to meet your financial goals.

You should consider using the accounting software for automating manual processes and eliminating all human errors. Note that hiring an accountant or accounting firm will be the best solution for you to avoid this problem.

2-Not Hiring Professionals

The construction industry needs professionals to get the work done properly and on time. However, the majority of talented professionals are moving to other sectors like finance and technology. The innovative tools like AI, automation, and data analytics have become more common in construction. Due to this, hiring expert construction estimators with proper experience becomes necessary for the implementation of the new technologies. If you are hiring the wrong people, then this will increase costs and will lower productivity.

3-Ignoring the Site’s Safety

Safety is very crucial in any workplace. The construction industry is very much affected by accidents and injuries. The contractors who ignore safety have to bear high costs and disruptions to the projects. Note that even a single slip or fall accident will result in serious injury or death of an employee. Due to this, the contractors should keep safety on top of their priority list.

Safety will start by having the right tools that include heart rate monitors, wearables, interconnected devices, and more. There should be proper training for the employees to use that equipment. Furthermore, don’t neglect proper risk estimation to avoid problems during working.

4-Inaccurate Budgeting

Construction budgeting is a very important part of construction work. Your company should be able to estimate project costs by considering the material, labor, and supplier. In this way, you will provide more accurate quotes to your customers and will avoid underestimating your expenses. Estimating software can be very helpful as you can get the right estimate by entering specific details that include cost per square foot of material or the cost per hour of labor.

5-Not Use of Construction Software

Note that if you are still dependent on manual techniques for budgeting, estimating and preparing your building plans, you are making a big mistake. Legacy systems will limit your increase costs, productivity, and will lower the quality of work. Construction cost estimators need to be aware of the digital transformation by shifting their expertise to the construction management software. Due to the presence of numerous tools, you can access the 3D models, real-time communication, automated budgeting, and other things.

6-No Proper Care of Equipment

Whether you are going to rent or own construction machines, predictive maintenance will be required in construction cost estimating for reducing costs over time. A common mistake done by the contractor is that they neglect their equipment but they expect that they will be in working condition.

No Proper Care of Equipment

You can avoid unnecessary downtime by developing the maintenance schedules for your cranes, bulldozers, excavators, etc. Another better approach is to use the sensors that will be transmitting the signals in real-time. This will be allowing you to find out when the specific machines will need maintenance.

7-Bidding without a Strategy

Many construction projects are won due to competitive bids. Due to this reason, you will need to develop a strategy for presenting your competitive prices to the customers. But remember that this does not mean that you should simply offer the lowest price available. The unrealistic low bids by the bidding estimators will only result in further costs down when you will find out that you are not able to stick to the quote that you have provided.

So, you need to focus on areas where you can cut costs without compromising on the quality. You will be having access to discounted prices for some specific material or you may specialize in a building process as compared to others. You need to use a competitive advantage for attracting clients and projects.

8-Lack of Quality Management

The majority of the contractors are not having checks and balances for ensuring the quality of their workflows. In the absence of proper controls in place, you are not able to achieve consistency and customer satisfaction with every project. Ensure that you develop a framework for quality management starting from top to bottom.

9-Inefficient Subcontractor Management

Your subcontractors are the reflection of your company’s overall job quality. The majority of the contractors try to save your costs by hiring the cheapest subcontractors available that will ultimately decrease the quality of your work. Due to this reason, for construction estimating work, you should carefully screen your subcontractors by checking their previous projects, reviews, and standard of customer service.

mistakes of contractors

10-Not Attention to Customer Concerns

Finally, contractors are ignoring the specific demands of their customers. If you will not be paying attention to client concerns, then you might end up with unsatisfactory projects or even worse due to unhappy clients. Even if you are confident about your construction experience, you need to take out some time to listen to your customers.

Conclusion

It is important for a business to be aware of all the common mistakes of contractors and find out an effective solution to resolve issues. It will be best for you to get familiar with the digital solution as this will be solving most of your problems when you will be switching to digital estimation from the manual.