The number of new housing units planned for the year went up from around 583,000 in 2009 to 1.55 million in 2022. The construction industry is expected to grow at the rate of 35% in the next 10 years.

The construction industry is growing at a fast pace, making for an opportune time for new entrepreneurs to enter the market.

But what makes a great construction management company?

Whether you are just starting out or already established, we have come up with a handy guide to help you manage your company more efficiently and reach new heights. Read on to know more.

What makes a great Construction Management Company?

Industrial and commercial construction usually involves lengthy projects that are huge in scope. They require planning and dedication. This coupled with being geographically restricted makes construction a tricky business.

To get ahead and be successful, you need to control all the elements of your business. The primary elements of a construction business are your team, projects, clients, contractors, and the market.

Managing them along with other elements such as marketing and safety regulations helps you succeed in the long run. Let us dissect each aspect of making a construction management company great in detail.

1.   Building a team of skilled individuals

Many entrepreneurs, newer ones, in particular, are under the assumption that projects and clients are the most important factors of successful construction management. That is not true. A great construction management company is built on the foundation of a great team.

So, first and foremost, you need to assemble a diverse team of highly skilled individuals. Here are the different kinds of professionals you will need for various kinds of projects:

• Project managers
• Architects
• Estimators
• Safety inspectors
• QA/QC inspectors
• Surveyors
• Administrative assistants
• Machinery operators
• Crew

You may need the help of other professionals such as lawyers or consultants depending on the nature and scope of the project. The idea is to build a team of knowledgeable, experienced employees that bring the best out of every project.

Agendrix construction schedule software helps you manage and keep track of your team across multiple job sites and projects, no matter how big or small. Schedule their tasks and track the time they spend on each project to pay them accordingly.

Maintaining and managing your team should be a continuous process. Always be on the lookout for top talent and reward them from time to time to help them stay motivated on the job.

2.   Effortless management

Every factor that contributes to the functioning of your business needs to be managed with focus to achieve success. An effective way to go about it will be to separate each element and focus on it individually.

This helps your track every operation performed by your business with clarity. You can gain insights into what is working and what needs improvement, prepare reports to work on them and examine the effect one department has on the performance of the other.

a)    Your team

As stated above, your team is the most important aspect of your business. You should strive to recruit the most skilled team that suits your operations effortlessly. Moreover, you should also make sure that you reward them consistently to create a positive work environment.

b)   Your projects

Your experience and success as a company are defined by the projects you complete. This is why you need extremely intricate and advanced project management to stay on track. You should be able to detangle the complicated logistics within no time to move forward.

Processes such as rendering and prefabrication can prove to be major boons to simplifying and streamlining the projects. Both processes attempt to simplify the project in the pre-production by way of visualization.

You also need top-notch equipment, machinery, and technology to be able to build the most optimal structures. Make sure you have access to needed resources as well as your team is well-equipped to make use of them.

c)    Your contractors

The construction industry is unique in the sense that it relies in large part on good subcontracting work to function smoothly. Big projects vary so much in scope, size, and nature that you simply cannot go project to project with the same team.

You need to build a reliable team of contractors that you can depend on to complete jobs with conviction at relatively short notice. It's a tricky area to manage as they need to be both skilled and professional as well as available at the right time for them to fit in a project schedule.

You should try to create a large pool of contractors you can summon based on the nature of the jobs that need to be performed. This would also help counter the issue of availability from time to time.

d)   Your clients

Building positive relationships with customers and clients is imperative to the success of any business, not just construction. There are many software that can assist you in managing your clients and projects in a more proactive manner.

Your focus should be on acquiring new clients and retaining the ones you have. Actively communicate with your clients in every step of the project, reel their inputs in and let them know their opinion is valuable to the working of the project.

3.   Commitment to safety

While you are surely going to commit to producing nothing but the most top-quality structures for your clients, you should also place the same focus on the safety of the people involved. All construction projects carry a distinct possibility of mishaps and accidents.

1 in every 5 deaths among US workers happens in the construction industry. As a business owner, you need to put special emphasis on providing safety measures to protect workers from falls and other fatal accidents for each and every operation performed.

Visualization before starting a project helps workers understand their role in a clear manner. They can also be trained via safety programs for the same. Encourage workers to watch out for their peers and report any issue at the earliest to avoid future mishaps.

4.   Deft communication

It may sound clichéd, but communication truly is the glue that binds all business operations. With your company working with various projects of varying sizes, it's important to establish clear lines of communication to avoid any miscommunication.

This goes for everyone from your clients, workers, and contractors to different departments of your company. Begin by establishing a communication channel that allows both group and private communication options to everyone.

Then, take the time to train your team and explain to your clients how to use the channels. Do it even if the communication channels are easy to use or common enough, such as text messaging.

5.   Acing the market

Many business owners put the effort into mastering the basics of the work itself. But going a little further and learning about the market you operate in goes a long way in helping your business grow.

Having a firm grasp of the market you operate in helps you predict future opportunities or roadblocks in advance. You can easily capitalize on the opportunities with adept preparation and avoid roadblocks by preparing for them in advance.

If you can afford to do it, designate a team to study the trends in the market. You yourself can also keep up with the trends with the help of social media or additional reading. This kind of knowledge helps you greatly distinguish yourself from your competitors.

6.   Proactive marketing

With the geographical restrictive nature of the construction business, many entrepreneurs don't place a lot of importance on marketing and advertising. This is a missed opportunity. The argument is that advertising your construction services to someone in another country will be futile.

However, you can simply adapt your marketing efforts by making them local instead of not paying attention to marketing at all. On-the-ground marketing is a very effective way to garner the interest of the local community.

Some on-the-ground marketing techniques that you can use include:

• Posters
• Banners
• Bus advertising
• Hoardings
• Leaflets
• Newspapers (local)
• Local radio station

Other than that, you can also advertise on digital platforms such as local community pages and forums and social media platforms.

7.   Focus on growth

Every company begins with an exciting vision to bring beautiful ideas to life. The goal of your company should be constant and consistent growth, no matter how slow. Ask your clients for honest feedback that will help you improve.

Share feedback with your team on a regular basis and reward them when they perform well. It helps create a positive environment amongst your team. Additionally, seek investments that will help you build wealth over time.

Conclusion

Running a construction management company requires you to keep a tab on many aspects of extensive production at the same time. You need to be on your toes and proactive at all times to be successful in your endeavors.

Having a clear workflow helps in simplifying things to a great extent. Separate all the important elements of your business i.e., your team, projects, contractors, and clients, and manage them separately to avoid confusion.

Remember that your goal is to complete more and more projects and grow your business. Be open to feedback and keep an eye on the latest trends to mold your business operations accordingly.