Software Strategies for a Profitable Year in Construction

RE-FLOW - Financial Year

When it comes to managing their teams, construction leaders often share the same concerns: 

  • The need to efficiently manage complex multi-stakeholder projects
  • The pressure to maintain profitability while staying compliant with regulations
  • The strain of keeping up with rapid technological changes
  • As 2025 approaches, learn how field management software can help companies have their best year ever… 

1. Focus on higher-value tasks

Field management software streamlines and automates tedious administration tasks. The software handles it all: from scheduling to quoting; from asset management to defect reporting; from form filling to making reports for customers…

And everything in between.

  • For operations managers, the accumulated data – configurable to company and client needs – provides visibility of job progress at a glance, peace of mind, and the opportunity to focus their energy elsewhere. 
  • For admin, the drag-and-drop scheduler connects to the company database. With a click of a button assets autofill. Staff can see if operatives are available and qualified. Timesheets and compulsory forms from operatives can be uploaded and made available to office staff instantly, obliterating time-wasting bottlenecks. Actions (like an operative reporting a defect through the app or reporting a near miss) trigger automated notifications to the relevant managers. 
  • For operatives previously tiresome form filling becomes quick and easy. Streamlining features include auto-filling drop-down menus, simple photo uploads, and timestamping. The app does most of the work and operatives get to move onto the tasks they’re paid to do. 

Breedon Group, a surfacing company based in Scotland, reported a 60% reduction in time loss in their recent ‘Re-flow review.’ That improvement over hundreds of staff has resulted in a huge number of work hours spent more productively. [AW1] [AW2]

2. Minimising errors and maximising efficiency

Some companies still use spreadsheets or smaller-scale management software for their operations, which makes them vulnerable to costly mistakes.

But these software options aren’t built with infrastructure businesses in mind. As a result, they’re not capable of dealing with specific industry challenges all at once:

  • Task scheduling and assignment 
  • Resource and inventory management
  • Location-based monitoring
  • General workforce management (holidays, qualifications, and so on) 

Laura Kean, senior account manager at South Coast Renewables put it well. ‘Before we got Re-flow, it was really hard to track the guys’ certificates. We needed to make sure all certificates are in date and pre-empt any training they might need.’

Re-flow removes this inefficiency by maintaining a database of real-time information. Through form data submitted by operatives and input from office staff in the dashboard, the scheduler knows everything about a business down to the very last cone or vehicle defect. 

There’s no need to search for anything – when staff need to know something, the info will be there in the software. Potential errors and delays disappear.

3. Better compliance, safety, and data collection

Operatives not completing (or losing) forms and other examples of poor compliance can affect accreditations and client relationships – and lead to fines and accidents. 

The solution is to use the Re-flow app to streamline and speed up compliance and form filling. With customisable forms, companies can say exactly what data they want to collect and with drop down menus, errors become non-existent. 

As Sarah Duffy, safety administration manager for M.V. Kelly said, ‘Re-flow has impacted the culture massively. Our operatives always used to see HSE as a burden. Re-flow has made completing forms easier. The operatives now realise that these forms are a benefit to them as much as they are to us in the office. Now they want even more forms on site.’

4. Staying up to date without any effort

Our support, onboarding, and accounts teams are the key to our continuing relevance. Day in, day out, they engage with industry leaders, current and potential customers, providing the foundation for new updates and features.  

Our latest free update added fatigue tracking in reaction to the Working Time Directive and previously integrated AI reporting to the platform. 

Re-flow’s flexibility and scalability is a design feature. Using the software, companies like Breedon Group have been able to roll out the software to other businesses they’ve acquired over the years. 

Breedon’s national managing quantity surveyor, Iain Johnston, said, ‘Re-flow’s innovation is clear. As a piece of software, it hasn’t stood still. What it’s bringing to us and other customers looks as if it will continue into the future.

For those looking to future-proof their business, try for free today.

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