Best Way to Track Construction in Progress

Are you looking for the most efficient way to track the progress of your construction project? 

Traditional tracking methods can be outdated and riddled with issues that lead to significant problems and delays. 

In this article, we will explore the drawbacks of traditional tracking approaches and why it may be time to take a different approach...

Need a better way to track your construction progress? Try Track Free
(it's completely free).

Why the Traditional Approach of Using Spreadsheets to Track Projects is Limited

No Audit Trail

Using spreadsheets to track your construction projects may pose several issues, including a lack of a clear audit trail, making it difficult to establish accountability and openness. Although you can see when changes are made, it's not always clear who made them. Overall, this is not the best way to track construction in progress.

Sablono offers a better solution, providing a digital audit trail that automatically tracks every aspect of the project from start to finish down to even the individual level of which named person completed a task and who signed it off. With this feature, mistakes can be identified and corrected promptly, and every change is accounted for, ensuring accuracy and transparency throughout the project.

Hard to Collaborate

If you are using spreadsheets to track a project, chances are there are multiple different trackers floating around. As a result, it is almost impossible to keep track of what is actually happening on your project and establishing what’s true and what’s not.

Not only does this sort of working create silos, but it also leads to trust issues, as it is hard to know whether data has been recorded accurately.

With Sablono, everyone working on your project is connected through a single system, which makes it easy to collaborate in real-time. 

Trades report their tasks in the moment and complete compulsory QA checklists, attach relevant images and documents. 

Then, project managers review and accept or reject this according to whether the work has met the predefined standards. And because everything is connected, the proceeding trade will only be notified to start their work once the work of the previous trade has been signed off. 

All this data is automatically fed into the single, central tracker which provides one version of the truth at all times. Sablono provides next-generation communication management in construction projects.

Ready for a better way to track your construction progress? Try Track Free

No Proof

When you use a spreadsheet as a tracking form for construction projects, there is no way to attach other documents for further proof of the work stated. For example, you can’t quickly attach any relevant imagery or documents or any updated quality assessment checklists.

With Sablono, you can simply require your trades to attach them once they complete their work directly in the Sablono app - from photos to QA documentation, you can be assured that you have all the proof you need without having to go back later to do this. 

Basic Data That Lacks Detail

Using only a spreadsheet to track your construction project may limit you to only capturing basic details, preventing you from obtaining rich information that helps you to really understand what is happening. 

If an issue arises on-site and you are relying on an Excel document to track this, you’re not only limited on how much information you can record, which can lead to further problems - but you will often find you documenting these issues in hindsight rather than proactively working to prevent them.

With Sablono, you can capture an unprecedented level of detail about your project with minimal effort. You can drill down to the most granular level of detail of your project to understand what is truly happening and stop issues in their tracks. 

With root-cause analysis, look-ahead planning and automated reports and dashboards at your fingertips, you can streamline your plan and track your project with confidence. How detailed you go is up to you. 

Want to discover first-hand how Sablono can help you track your construction projects more easily? Try Track Free (it's completely free).

How to track construction projects

Now that we have established why the traditional approach to tracking a construction project is not feasible in modern construction, let’s analyse the key steps of how to track a construction project and how Sablono can help.

Map out the entire project

Before you start, it is important to map out the entire project from start to finish - this gives you a clear standard to work towards to increase the chances of a successful delivery. 

With Sablono you map out how you want your project to go before you start, this plan is connected to your progress data, so as trades update the status of works in the field via the Sablono app, you can easily see whether you’re on track to achieving your plan.  

Create standardised sequences of works and quality standards based on what the data shows is best in advance. And as your project progresses, adapt your look-ahead schedule based on your progress data if necessary. (Learn more about how Sablono can help you plan your project here.)

Break the project down into all of its pieces

Once you have established where you want your project to go, it is important to break it down into smaller, more manageable components. After all, a successful project is simply the smooth implementation of the many steps that make it up. If you can streamline each individual activity, you will be on your way to successful delivery. 

Think of all the tens of thousands of activities that will go into making up the final project, then you’ll want to track these with precision. 

With Sablono, you can track over 200k activities right from the Sablono app. Whether it's understanding the daily progress of a specific trade, the status of work for a specific component, or ensuring work is being executed to the right quality. 

With the simple-to-use mobile application, you can easily switch between a birds-eye picture and a granular view of each and every activity that takes place on your project in real-time for smooth and uninterrupted project execution. 

Connect time, quality and cost to your progress data

When it comes to managing costs, using traditional methods of tracking opens up the potential for human errors, which can impact your predictions significantly.

Sablono takes out the guesswork as time, quality and cost are connected to your progress data. Your budget and timings will automatically update as each aspect of the project is ticked off. Cost-load your activities and gain automated valuations based on real-time progress. 

You can also automatically update your teams on any changes that might impact the timeline at the push of a button through the Sablono app. 

Ditch multiple spreadsheets for a single construction tracker

One challenge that can arise in tracking progress during a construction project is a lack of collaboration. In traditional tracking methods, the project manager is often responsible for updating spreadsheets to ensure that information is always correct.

However, this can reduce the time available for other valuable tasks and can also lead to inaccuracies because the information is not coming directly from the source.

With Sablono, collaboration is made easy by enabling everyone involved in the project to report their progress directly in the Sablono app. This approach improves transparency and accountability, and significantly reduces the time spent chasing information and updating spreadsheets. 

Learn exactly how Sablono compares to Excel trackers here. 

Track projects 'in the moment'

Outdated data is one of the main causes of delays. Far too often issues are spotted too late and inaccurate data leads to even bigger issues down the line. The best way to prevent this is to track the project in real-time as it is completed.

With Sablono, you can capture the status of each on-site activity in real-time. Trades report their progress as they complete work in the moment and project managers can flag any issues immediately. This provides immense clarity into daily happenings for informed decision-making.

Conclusion: The best way to track construction in progress

You now have all the information you need to upgrade your construction project tracking system. Want to start improving right away? Try Track Free (it's completely free).