A new feature has been added to the Evercam platform.

The weather feature allows users to access historical weather data from the Live View and Recordings tabs. Save time and improve productivity by reviewing the construction site weather conditions with only one click.

The weather data is a piece of critical information for project managers and quantity surveyors to control and investigate specific environmental conditions that may have affected productivity and working conditions.

Go back in time and verify if the weather was the cause of the delay and review the amount of precipitation, rainstorm or snow that may affect claims or liability, including temperature, humidity and wind measurements.
Use the new weather feature, by clicking the weather icon in the lower right corner of the Live View or in the recordings tab.

To find out more about using Evercam for Project Management visit our features page.

Simplify your processes with your team by connecting Evercam to the online collaborative platform SharePoint by Microsoft. Sharepoint provides a one-stop shop for your document management and work streamlining needs, with its renowned collaborative tools and communications solutions.

About SharePoint

SharePoint is a web-based collaborative platform and intranet solution integrated into Microsoft Office, allowing sprawling teams to share documentation, plans, reports, and more in an intuitive and highly customizable package. 

SharePoint is used for:

• Managing your workflow and automate processes using Microsoft�s Office 365 tools
  
• Content management through integrated document libraries and lists
  
• Creating an all-encompassing Intranet solution for your department

• Manage your projects with all relevant information and analytics at your fingertips

• Seamless integration with Microsoft�s Power BI platform for all your business analytics needs
  

Integrate Your Construction Camera with SharePoint

With the Evercam integration, you can access a live view of your project embedded in your SharePoint dashboard. This gives the user access to Evercam�s Live View within the SharePoint application, providing a smoother and more streamlined project management experience.

Share with the entire team or keep your cameras private. Evercam�s integration can only be seen by the users you choose.

Why integrate my camera with project management software?

• Keep Your Teams Connected: Seamless file and document transfer reduces friction throughout your project
  
• Verification: Add an image, file or task to your lists to keep your workflow efficient and keep validation times to a minimum
  
• Seamless Handovers:  Use images to verify the data within your PM software & support the status of the project
  

Discover our other project management software integrations here.

To integrate Evercam with SharePoint, contact us today.

Adding a construction camera to your site, is it worth it?

The construction industry is often misunderstood as a slow adopter to digitalization. Over the past few years we have seen a number of factors such as hiking insurance costs, tight margins and the COVID-19 pandemic accelerate our industry�s adoption of new technology to solve problems.�

Making the switch from physical to digital solutions may be difficult, but according to a McKinsey study in 2018, �[in] organizations with fewer than 100 employees, respondents are 2.7 times more likely to report a successful digital transformation than are those from organizations with more than 50,000 employees�, which gives a huge advantage to smaller companies in making the transition to digital solutions.

We at Evercam want to help you make this transition as seamless as possible for you and your company. So where do construction cameras come in and how are they solving problems on our sites?

How can construction cameras benefit you?

On a construction project, there are three main resources; money, manpower and time.�

Time is one of the most valuable resources on a job site, and with our feature set, you will save heavily on the one resource you can�t get back.

With construction cameras, your data will be saved locally and to the cloud where your project�s stakeholders can have instant access to their most important information at a moment�s notice.�

Gone are the days where you would have to set up a meeting to communicate minor project changes. Having a visual reference can minimize the amount of miscommunication-driven conflict within the team.�

Avoid wasted site visits

You will also no longer need to constantly visit the site to verify or inspect the work in person, especially if your time is wasted with the work to be inspected ending up unfinished by the time you�re there. With your construction camera setup, you can make sure that the work is finished before getting on the road and doing the in-person inspection.

These small productivity changes can help you bridge the $1.6 Trillion construction productivity gap (McKinsey, 2015), giving your company a competitive edge on the global construction scene.�

Eliminate rework

One of the biggest enemies of a successful construction project is reworks. According to a 2018 statistic, the US construction industry alone loses $31.3 billion each year to rework. So what causes this to happen?

The main culprits for rework are poor communication (either between the end user and the contractor, or between the contractors themselves) and poor on-site data and information.�

Having construction cameras remedies these issues by giving you a live view of the whole site, allowing you to back instructions with actual visual aids. With construction cameras, you can also overlay your BIM model on the active site, giving you and your entire team an instant visual of the project�s status versus the schedule.

Protect your data and share it securely

camera view of a construction site from evercam cameras

You may be thinking that this is simply an updated version of the good old security trailer everyone�s familiar with, with the one worker watching 10 CRT monitors with a joystick to move the cameras around. However, these traditional methods of image capture can be easily damaged, lost or stolen, meaning data is lost.

Evercam stores your entire project both locally and to the cloud with full access guaranteed for you and any member of your team that you wish to give access to.�Your data will always be regularly backed up, always up to date and always secure.

Improve Accountability�

Disputes, accidents, and conflicts on a job site often boil down to a he-said-she-said situation, and protracted inquiries and investigations, which means more idle time on-site with activity shutting down until the investigation wraps up - a huge cause of wasted time and money. Construction cameras provide you with a clear timestamp of who did what and where. You can pull up the relevant videos at a moment�s notice and clearly display what happened exactly.�

Ensure that everyone is doing their job correctly.�

Did the tipping truck bring the amount of gravel that was agreed upon? Was the rental crane used for four days or five? Did the subcontractor hired for muck away do their job correctly? No need for protracted questions or disputes. All the relevant information including our AI-generated gate report can be pulled up through your dashboard, in 4K video.

Choosing the right construction camera provider

How do you know whether a provider is trustworthy and worth your engagement? As with any investment, you have to check user reviews and testimonials. You�ll get a good and honest image of what your experience as a user will look like, without the bells and whistles.

You will also have to see how the access structure and functionality of the camera you have chosen, and whether they�re suitable for your needs on a given project.�

Here are a few questions to keep in mind for when choosing your construction camera:

• Are you investing in construction cameras for promotional purposes and time-lapses or for a broader set of goals?
• Is your project short-term or long-term?�
• Do you need direct access to the camera�s feed?�
• Are the features compatible with your needs?�
• What sort of add-ons and options are available for you?�

Explore and learn

Construction cameras are a tool like any other on a construction site. They serve a purpose. And as any construction worker will tell you, to use your tool properly, you have to know it inside out. To really make the most of Evercam, get started by booking a demo with your customer success manager, and be sure to check out our tutorials.

Evaulate and share insights

To analyze your usage of the construction cameras, and attach monetary values to the savings and gains you�ve made from using them. Assess your non-monetary gains as well. Consider how the introduction of construction cameras to your site has changed the workflow on your site and the speed at which things run.

The reduction of workplace conflict can go a very long way for the quality of the project. A less tense workforce works better, and is less likely to make mistakes.

After you�ve compiled your insights, share them with Evercam, so we can use your feedback in the development of new features and the updating of existing features.

To learn more about our construction camera software, book a demo today.

Streamline your communications by connecting Evercam's project management cameras to the project management software you are already using. Power BI provides data collection, visualization, analytics, and collaboration on one platform for entire construction teams.�

About Power BI

Power BI is a hybrid project management software and a common data environment that is partially implemented on-location and partially in the cloud via Office 365. This software is designed to enhance efficiency by providing ease of access to the latest information and analytics for your project, from your PC or mobile device.

Power BI is used for:

• Accessing and storing massive amounts of data consolidated from multiple sources
• Custom reports with the drag & drop module system
• Sharing your dashboard at a moment�s notice
• Monitoring trends or anomalies in your data analytics
• Easily accessible Power BI dashboard for up to date reports on the go

Integrate Your Construction Camera with Power BI

With the Evercam integration, you can access a live jobsite view of your project embedded in your Power BI dashboard. This gives the user access to Evercam�s Live View within the Power BI application, providing a smoother and more streamlined project management experience.

Share with the entire team or keep your cameras private. Evercam�s integration can only be seen by the users you choose.

Why integrate my camera with project management software?

• Keep Your Teams Connected: Seamless data transfer reduces friction throughout your construction project
• Verification: Add an image to your snag list, observations or RFIs
• Seamless Handovers:�Use images to verify the data within your PM software & support the status of the project
• Discover our other project management software integrations here.

To integrate Evercam with Power BI, contact us today.

• This is the first investment by DBIC Ventures� new �23m early-stage fund
• Funding enables AI-powered construction software company, Evercam to:
  • Double global staff to support expansion in the US, Australia and Middle East
  • Continue the global roll-out of its ground-breaking construction analytics services
  • Advance the platform�s Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence capabilities
  • Strengthen its research and development, sales, and operations teams
• Evercam captures time-lapse high-resolution video of construction projects and using
  capabilities, significantly improves construction site productivity and visibility�

Dublin, 14 December 2020 � DBIC Ventures, the venture arm of Dublin BIC, today announces details of a co-investment in AI-powered construction software company Evercam, representing the first investment by DBIC Ventures� new seed and early stage fund which is backed by Enterprise Ireland and a number of leading Irish technology entrepreneurs and business leaders.�The investment round totalled �600,000 and will support the creation of 50 new jobs and the company�s continued strong growth in international markets. It is the first investment by DBIC Ventures� new fund which plans to back around 30 leading high growth early stage Irish tech companies over the next four years. Elkstone, Ireland�s leading multi-family office, is a co-investor in the round.

DBIC Ventures is targeting business to business software companies across a wide range of sectors including healthcare, fintech, transport, cybersecurity, and cleantech, as well as Class I and II medical device companies.�

Founded by 15-year business partners Marco Herbst and Vinnie Quinn, Evercam enhances construction site productivity by improving project visibility with verifiable intelligence from high-resolution time-lapse cameras located on client sites. Evercam uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to help clients capture information from video time-lapses to ascertain real-time project status and site activity. The company currently has 50 employees in offices in Ireland, the UK, Australia, the US, Pakistan, Algeria, Poland, and Canada.�

The investment will expedite the ongoing roll-out of Evercam�s construction analytics services, including its recently-launched Gate Report analytics service�� designed to automatically identify all vehicles�that enter and exit a construction site. Evercam�s Gate Report provides in-app and PDF reporting to enable more efficient construction site project management and support dispute resolution. Evercam helps clients reduce dispute-related costs by delivering a time-stamped log of all vehicles entering and exiting a construction site. Clients can also track the flow of materials to and from a construction site to control project costs and inform cost and budget projections.

Investment is being used to enable the company to expand its range of analytical services, add to its US sales team, establish operations in the Middle East and will result in Evercam doubling its global staff.

DBIC Ventures, as part of the Dublin BIC group, has access to a rich pipeline of high potential early phase businesses across Ireland and its fund aims to deliver strong financial returns for its investors, while also enabling increased economic output and skilled employment opportunities in the companies that it backs. The DBIC Ventures team have extensive experience investing in early stage companies in Ireland and the UK, and have backgrounds working in tech start-ups and MNC�s internationally across many of the Fund�s target sectors.�

Richard Watson, Managing Partner DBIC Ventures said: �Evercam has a very deep understanding of the intricate challenges and needs of large-scale construction projects. They have developed a highly evolved software platform employing advanced data analytics, which deliver significant cost and time savings, as well as a range of other benefits to their construction clients. Construction has lagged many industries in terms of the adoption of digital technologies and Evercam is well positioned to become a leading tech solution provider in this space.�

�We are delighted to have Evercam as the first company to showcase our new fund and look forward to working closely with the team to support their continued growth.�

Marco Herbst, CEO of Evercam said: �Having doubled revenue year-on-year, and coming off our strongest quarter to date, Evercam is enjoying strong growth that is set to continue. With this funding, we look forward to broadening our AI and ML capabilities, expanding our global team and continuing to help our clients work smarter, save money, and control costs.�

�Construction sites are inherently high-risk areas, so when something goes wrong, the costs incurred can be significant � underlining the pronounced need for verifiable intelligence around construction site activity. With Gate Report, we are providing our growing client base with a much-needed degree of clarity, while helping them improve project efficiencies across the board.�

About DBIC Ventures

DBIC Ventures, the venture arm of Dublin BIC, launched its new fund in late 2019 with the backing of Enterprise Ireland together with a number of leading Irish technology entrepreneurs and business leaders. The fund is in active investment mode and is mainly targeting B2B software companies

across a wide range of verticals including healthcare, fintech, transport, cybersecurity and cleantech, as well as Class I & II medical device companies. Over the next four years, the fund will invest in highly scalable, early-stage tech companies in Ireland that are positioned to become the next generation of Ireland�s leading technology companies. The fund has the ability to invest up to �2.5m in a company through multiple investment rounds and seeks to actively co-invest with other investor groups in each round. The fund is expected to reach a final close of at least �30m.

www.dbicventures.ie

About Dublin BIC

Dublin BIC is a public-private business support organisation focused on helping entrepreneurs to start and scale by providing a comprehensive range of programmes specifically designed to advance the ambitions of early-stage companies. It provides programmes across four core areas:�

(i) Investor-Ready Preparation � 85% of Dublin BIC investor-ready start-ups receive funding

(ii) Access to Finance � 350 start-ups have received funding through Dublin BIC

(iii) Incubation Space � managing two of Ireland�s leading start-up and co-working hubs

(iv) Community & Collaboration �In knowledge-sharing, business opportunities and networking

www.dublinbic.ie

About Evercam

Evercam is a provider of construction site camera software that is used for project management, marketing and dispute avoidance. By recording every minute of the construction progress project to the cloud, Evercam enables clients to stay in control of their projects from start to finish.�https://evercam.io/about/

Media Contact:

Lorcan Byrne

Comit Communications & Marketing

0830154480

lorcan@comit.ie

Evercam is in the business of increasing construction productivity. Our goal is to empower communication and collaboration in construction with project information. We build tools that capture the big picture and outward the details.

We are very excited to announce our Procore Integration. Procore is a cloud-based construction software used within the construction industry worldwide. Procore users have a varied suite of project management tools in one system and Evercam is now part of its cohort. We are there to help construction companies maintain visibility into projects from anywhere and anytime.

Find�all of your Evercam features including�Live streaming,�X-ray view,�BIM Compare, and�Gate Report�in one place�within your Project Dashboard in�Procore.

Visit the Procore marketplace�and click on "Install App". Once you have added the Evercam App to your project view simply select the app and login with your Evercam credentials.

Once you have added the Evercam App, go to your project view Select > Apps (3) then App Management (4)

Select > View Evercam (5)

Select > Configurations (6) then > Create Configuration (7)

Choose which Projects (8) you want to link to Evercam to. Add a Title (9) then select > Create (10)

For any questions, feel free to�reach out to us.�Happy integration!

You can also check the full list of our Construction project management software Integrations

2020 has been full of surprises that no one asked for, a year unlike we've ever experienced. A year marked by huge disruption to the construction industry comes to an end. Take a moment and look back and explore our 10 most popular construction time-lapses of the year.

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We covered some amazing blue skies throughout the year. Here's a clip from the Intercontinental Hotel Dublin Airport, by Stewart Construction.

9

We are a fan of all modular construction time-lapses, check out this video of the Addiscombe Grove housing development in Croydon by Pocket Living.

8

Stunning time-lapse footage capturing the progress at Horgan's Quay in Cork by Bam Ireland.

7

Our favourite internal fit-out this year in Burra Place Shellharbour by CARAS. We love what happens when you combine construction time-lapse with our BIM integration feature.

6

Modular built homes over car parks & land that cannot otherwise be developed. This innovative project by ZEDPODs and Bristol City Council will deliver much needed social housing in St. George.

5

A construction time-lapse with a cause. Simonds Homes have supported My Room Children�s Cancer Charity by donating a house for the annual 2019 and 2020 �Home for a Cure�. This year's home is located in Satterley�s Arcadia Estate in Melbourne�s south-east.

4

Church Street Regeneration: Bouygues UK are using Evercam construction cameras to capture the development of 168 new homes on London�s Luton Street, as part of Westminster City Council�s Church Street regeneration programme.

3

Covering projects overseas: The Palms at Cardinal is a residential development in Beaumont Texas. Check out this construction timelapse capturing the progress being made by OneForce Construction.

2

Clancy Construction are working on the restoration of the roof of the legendry St. Patrick�s Cathedral located in Dublin. This �9.2m process involves removing the existing slates and reinstating a new slated roof finish.

1

Last but not least a beautiful sunrise over the Bonham Quay mixed-use commercial development in Galway, Ireland.

All in all, perhaps 2021 looks a lot more positive than once thought. We�re ready to lead you into the future of construction cameras!

Integrate your BIM Model with the real-time image.

Evercam is a video project management tool for the construction industry. Our software records everything that happens, and then makes that information available instantly online. We have been�working with clients to develop new features such as overlaying 4D BIM models on top of real-time images and time-lapse video. Comparing the project as-built with the BIM model at any point in time helps you to track progress and quality.

WHY INTEGRATE YOUR BIM MODEL?

- Verify that your project is on-time by comparing real-time footage to the BIM model, or fast forward to see where your project should be in two weeks.

- Win more business from your client by utilising the BIM model to showcase project progress and by proving a timeline of completed works.

- Increase Profit by saving time and preventing delays. Make sure you know what is happening and when it should happen. No Surprises.

The real power of Evercam is the ability to integrate the BIM model�This allowed our client to get a feel for what the finished office would look like and gave the ability to track progress against the final product. ��Niall Byrne, General Manager at CARAS

Work with multiple teams by adding unlimited users to your camera or by sharing an image or video. Keep stakeholders informed and reduce site visits. The BIM integration feature gives everyone a clear update of the status of the project at any point in time.

Here is a sneak peek how our BIM Integration feature works.

Contact us�if would like to add BIM integration to your project.

As one of Ireland�s most successful real estate developers, Bartra has successfully carried out six social housing and nursing home projects in the country up to date.

Clarity and transparency is the key to keep everyone updated on the construction progress. From the start of each project, Bartra signs a completion guarantee with the contractor to ensure the project is completed on time and with high quality. The group purchases investment and the investor holds the mortgage on the project and Bartra guarantees full repayment.

"It�s great providing our clients transparency and keeping them updated 24/7."
Jay Cheung - Bartra BWAL Marketing Director

As the development of their projects involves multiple stakeholders effective communication is a key element. By using Evercam, Bartra can communicate with a visual reference that translates the construction progress in a much more effective way.

Evercam promotes efficiency & transparency and we are proud to work with Bartra to improve their project communications with the right image at the right time and the ability to share live & immediate access to their cameras anywhere.

We're currently working with Bartra on the Beaumont Nursing Home, Stoneybatter social housing development and Northwood Nursing Home. We have also worked on the successfully completed project: Loughshinney Nursing Home which involved the full new�build construction of a 5900m2 state of the art nursing home�in North County Dublin.

�

(Evercam footage being used for Marketing Comms)

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Our Monthly time-lapse videos tell the story of the project, showcase project milestones, engage stakeholders and illustrate the positive impact of your project:

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If you are interested in the benefits of adding Evercam to your next project, get in touch today.�

CONTACT US

It�s almost a cliche these days to note that the Construction Industry suffers from low productivity. We�ve seen the principles of Lean and Kaizen venture out of their automotive and manufacturing roots into many other industries generating gains in everything from insurance claims processing to fast-food service but significant yields have remained elusive in construction. 

The past decade has seen massive improvements in digital technologies developed for the industry - ConTech - to improve collaboration, enhance design and scheduling, data capture and management. These tools combined with Lean analyses have led to the identified potential benefits in increasing levels of standardisation, modularisation, pre-fabrication and off-site manufacturing. These approaches are likely to produce big gains in productivity, and reductions in costs, and schedule as well as generally lowering project risk profiles. So it seems many of the building blocks for improving performance are there but how to identify where and when to adopt them on your projects can still be a challenge. Smart site cameras may provide a useful tool!

A few years ago when the solar boom was in its early stages I found myself responsible for a team tasked with developing the capability to deploy tens of thousands of large (~12m/40ft diameter) parabolic dishes across vast desert sites. To validate our proposed assembly methods, calibrate our production models and verify output capacity we built a Demonstration Scale project comprising a �building block� of 60 of the dishes. I took on a full-time videographer for the project who took photos and video of the entire build. We also had him set up time-lapse stations to allow us to record all the assembly activities so that we could analyse our efforts to fine-tune the assembly line and also provide due-diligence material to various stakeholders. 

Video of each step in the entire assembly in the field (above) allowed us to develop an assembly line approach (below) and calibrate our time-in-motion assumptions in our production models. The exercise also helped identify ergonomic issues and come up with improvements (credit NoLittleRedKid).

We had a very particular need which justified the cost. Getting the build right - and having the evidence to back it up - was critical since nobody had ever completed a project with this type of assembly at this sort of scale. We had bucked external advice from both the construction and manufacturing sectors and developed our own hybrid production system. We estimated our approach would be considerably lower cost than the approaches proposed using more conventional means and this was critical to achieving our cost targets. But we knew we would have to convince everyone our system would work. We also had a feeling the recorded material might yield other benefits too, especially in terms of identifying opportunities to improve both our field assembly processes and the product itself.

The design of the dish had been optimised for low cost manufacturing but little attention to that had been paid to assembly in the field and we felt there was definitely room for improvement that would provide further potential cost-savings. So we invited the design team to come out on site and participate hands-on with the assembly of the first dish - which we recorded. We also had white boards in the site office and encouraged everybody involved to write up any issues they encountered or ideas for improvement before they left site every day. By the end of the build, in addition to collecting the material we needed for validating our assembly methods, we had collected several hundred design improvement suggestions across the system, spanning foundations, support structure, parts management, M&E and commissioning. 

When we returned to the office that list, coupled with the video and time-lapse material, enabled our team to complete the validation of our models and convince stakeholders - including our own board and investors, the Department of Energy and our customers - that our assembly system would work. It was also instrumental in moving to a more integrated design approach and an ongoing continuous improvement exercise that identified savings worth millions of dollars to the two lead projects.

Perhaps just as valuable was the volume of great quality footage that was available for our PR team. Photos, videos and time-lapse sequences were featured on our website, in investor presentations and company reports and in various media coverage. They say a picture speaks a thousand words and that certainly helped when conveying the essence of the technology to non-technical audiences. Having the footage helped generate support for our systems and projects and in some cases, win over would-be doubters.

Now, that all sounds great but that project was a little out of the ordinary - to say the least - validating high-volume assembly methods for a solar technology (that is sadly now already obsolete). How does that relate to applying LEAN in the general construction industry?

Coming from a Civil Engineering and construction background myself I was very taken by the benefits we achieved by bringing Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering thinking to provide a fresh perspective for site-based challenges we faced. Leveraging the Experience Curve on repetitive tasks, understanding the relationship between ergonomics and efficiency, Design-for-manufacture, identifying and eliminating waste using Kaizen, and so on. But Construction isn�t Manufacturing - projects are usually different from one to the next, they are built outdoors, exposed to the elements, the workplace is, by its nature, temporary and ever-changing. But despite all those obvious true-isms I believe changing our perspective, taking a longer view and starting to incorporate a design-for-manufacture approach at an early stage in projects will yield huge benefits in safety, quality and cost. 

Part of the problem is perspective and I can�t help feeling that the idea of using video and timelapse is part of the key to identifying and unlocking some of the broader opportunities for improving construction operations and enhancing efficiencies and productivity. Being able to watch, re-watch, zoom in, markup and so on, facilitate a deeper level of understanding that may be missed simply observing directly with all the distractions of being on a busy site. To quote Bill Bryson: �...the biggest part of seeing isn�t receiving visual images, it's making sense of them.�

The camera technology we used back on that solar project was pretty standard but the set-up was costly. Generally we had little or no access to real-time material and extracting the value from the recorded material captured on site was difficult and took hundreds of hours of trawling through un-indexed video footage and data bases of picture files to extract the useful elements. Once we had those further efforts were required to make them suitable for the various uses we had in mind. 

Fast-forward to today and I�m going to make a somewhat shameless plug for one of my clients, a company called Evercam who provide construction site cameras with a difference - and for a fraction of what we spent. While the technology for site camera set-ups these days is generally far more advanced than what we had, Evercam has developed some unique and sophisticated software and AI overlays that make the job of making sense of site video footage and extracting value from it incredibly quick and easy. Having something like this for our solar project would have saved us weeks of costly engineering time in our original validation and process improvement objectives. Beyond that it would also have provided useful tools in project management, work planning and keeping anxious stakeholders better informed.

In terms of supporting innovation and Lean, I can see many useful applications of Evercam�s technology for instance in assessing ergonomics and identifying design improvement opportunities, refining repetitive activities or spotting elements that could be prefabricated or assembled off-site in more controlled environments, reducing cost, schedule and risk. Think of being able to review how the first floor of a multi-story development was completed and being able to clearly see how to improve as floors are repeated. Think about carving out elements to be prefabricated off-site and how to optimise that prefabrication. Think about finding ways to standardise processes and standardise design elements. All of this is made easier when you can easily access video feed of your build, capture, mark-up and share screengrabs with your team.

Published by

Justin Elliott - Arcadia Green Solutions

Managing a construction project is not a walk in the park. The large scope, number of project participants, and inherent risks pose a lot of challenges to project managers. Here are some of the issues that project managers face in a typical construction project. 

1. Lack of well-defined  goals

One of the first challenges in construction that project managers face is poorly defined project objectives. Completing a project is indeed the general goal of project managers, but going about achieving it tends to be a difficult task. Each project has its own specific constraints which make setting goals regarding the timeline, task delegation, and final delivery unique to it. A single construction project can have multiple participants and a lack of a clear goal will translate to a lack of coordination between them. 

Overcoming this challenge is easy. Project managers should do their due diligence in asking the right questions from the clients and the contractors to ensure that everyone is on the same page. 

2. Minimizing delays

One of the biggest challenges that construction project managers face is dealing with time constraints. Delays due to defective work, scheduling conflicts, and accidents at work can snowball into more delays and additional costs. External factors such as considerations for lien notices also affect work schedules when contractors refuse to come to the site because of their unpaid previous work. 

Unfortunately, there is a lot of risk and uncertainty in construction projects that make delays inevitable. That is why project managers should put project scheduling and tracking systems in place to ensure that things are on the right track. Monitoring work through construction cameras also enables project managers to see any flaws, defects, and workflow issues that can result in further delays. 

3. Limitations of the budget

Like any other project, those in construction also have their problems when it comes to managing finances. Because of the large scale of construction projects and the amount of time it takes to complete them, it can be easy to go over the allotted budget. 

This project management challenge can be addressed by tempering stakeholder�s expectations. Project managers should ensure that deliverables are properly identified in order to have realistic cost estimates. The budget should also include allowances for things that are beyond the project manager�s control, especially supply chain problems, labour shortages, and more recently, the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic impacting the operations of many project participants. More importantly, project managers should always review the budget especially if there are change orders and scope creep that can lead to expenses going out of control. 

4. Impossible deadlines and unreasonable requests

Speaking of tempering expectations, a lot of construction project managers sometimes have to deal with unrealistic deadlines and requests from clients and stakeholders. While this is not as huge a concern as project delays and cost overruns, it does affect the productivity and morale of a construction team. Indeed, the construction industry is competitive and stakeholders will understandably protect their business interests. 

However, project managers should use their communication skills to manage the expectations of superiors and give their feedback if they think what the client asks for is unrealistic. They should be able to sufficiently explain why and provide more reasonable alternatives that everyone can agree on. 

The challenges that project managers face vary from one construction project to another. However, they all have one thing in common. They all require strategic understanding, tactical expertise, and skillful communication on the part of project managers to ensure successful delivery. 

About the Author: 

Patrick Hogan is the CEO of Handle.com, where they build software that helps contractors, subcontractors, and material suppliers with late payments. Handle.com also provides funding for construction businesses in the form of invoice factoring, material supply trade credit, and mechanics lien purchasing.

Evercam Co-Founder Vinnie Quinn featured as a guest on the Livecosts.com podcast, where he spoke to Ciaran Brennan about construction cameras, site productivity and the benefits of integrating site cameras with BIM.