2021 is the second year where the Philippines has been utilizing community lockdowns and quarantines as the country continues to deal with the COVID-19 Pandemic, which is forcing the majority of the workforce to adjust to their respective workplaces.

Unfortunately, unlike other industries, the construction industry is one example where it does not have the luxury of working remotely.

But despite these conditions, the construction industry has been consistently growing this year. According to Doris Dumlao-Abadilla of Inquirer.net, “the local construction industry is seen to grow by 24.2 percent this 2021 and 16.1 percent in 2022...”

Read more: https://business.inquirer.net/330577/strong-rebound-in-ph-construction-seen#ixzz77BPqfaZZ

Given these circumstances, there are still a few adjustments to construction workplace culture and some important reminders that may help you in starting or growing construction businesses during the pandemic.

So, let’s break them down with the following:

1. Before the construction
2. During the construction
3. After the construction

Before the construction

Similar to other industries, it would be wise for a team or a whole company to plan out before starting the job. It even comes to a point where the majority of the work comes in during the preparation phase.

1. Importance of having the technical skills and knowledge on managing a construction project

In each project in any industry, it is vital to either be equipped with technical skills and knowledge or hire someone who is. It is crucial in specific projects where your team’s expertise may not be enough and may need support from other experts.

This decision will translate into either the team preparing on their own for this specific project or just hiring someone who already has more experience with the job and may help as soon as possible.

2. Knowing all the necessary details before starting and creating the construction plan.

Just as it is important for a construction team to be equipped with proper manpower and knowledge for a job, it is also important to understand the project in more depth. As mentioned in an article from Indeed, “The more details you have, the better you can manage the project and prepare for challenges.

Read more: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/construction-management-tips

And with the pandemic still being a huge hurdle for our workforce, this may also include learning and following the proper health protocols to ensure the safety of your employees.

These steps may be as simple as they could be, but with the number of details and crucial information that a construction company must acquire, it could sometimes still be an issue of missing out on a few details, especially when disseminating to all of your employees.

After these are all set, the team is now ready to begin building!

During the construction

3. Communicate efficiently and constantly

While working, each department and employee will be assigned to their respective responsibilities, and communicating with each other will not be as easy during the planning phase. Conducting proper planning and strategy will help initially as long as these instructions are shared with the rest of the team.

But in the construction industry, some parts of the job may suddenly change upon conditions that were not available during the planning or elsewhere, it is important to be flexible and be prepared for this. As Abimbola Joseph of Explicit Success mentioned in her article, “Make room for evolving, more developments and unexpected situations as they occur. Things don’t necessarily have to go exactly the way you’ve planned it when you do start construction.”

Read more: https://explicitsuccess.com/construction-site-management/

A lot of messaging platforms are free and available, like Facebook’s Messenger or Viber, but these are limited as to what they are supposed to be - messaging platforms. For a company that has multiple job categories and is engaging with multiple tasks at once, it would be important to also be able to consolidate documentation and communications.

For these scenarios, the company may benefit from using task management platforms with an all-in-one function such as monday.com, which is a cloud-based platform that allows companies to communicate effectively either as a whole or in groups and is also able to consolidate important information or documentation that can be set privately or can be shared with the whole company.

4. Keeping up with technology

Being in the construction industry is not as easy as it seems. It starts with managing the team and making sure your equipment is enough and working, and many others. This may take a toll on different employees if these factors are not organized properly.

It is one thing to make sure that your equipment is up to date. This may help employees in terms of work efficiency. Old rusty ones would require more effort that may also affect the safety of your employees, knowing construction sites may have unfortunate accidents.

But it is much more crucial to manage your team than your tools and equipment. Instructions are vital during the planning phase, but it is almost impossible to keep in touch with your employees most of the time and may take up a huge portion of your schedule if you wish to ask for an update.

monday.com offers to aid companies in allowing them to list down responsibilities for each employee or manager and be able to update them once done. This allows both the employees and the managers to be able to update each other without the need to conduct full meetings to talk about the progress on their projects.

5. Properly Leading the team

It goes without saying that for a team or a company to be successful, it has to have a great leader that has a vision for the company, a sense of compassion for the employees, and has full responsibility for the team.

The saying, “a good leader is a good follower” may be a cliche at this point, but it is a cliche for a good reason. Some may still hold it in high regard. A leader, in any field, should:

1. Be able to distinguish whether an employee is doing well or may need help.
2. Be able to accept if an employee has a better idea or proposal than the ones you have.
3. Be able to understand his members’ own strengths and weaknesses.

This is why understanding the job or project is as important as knowing and understanding your own team.

After the construction

After a long hard work, the project is finally complete.

Congratulations! But... not just yet.

6. Automate Reports and Analysis

As a service provider, you will still have to update your client with what occurred and other documentation requirements.

This process may take a lot more from your time, which could be utilized to look out for other prospects elsewhere. That is why it would be more efficient to automate these tasks depending on what automated tasks may help you and how frequently you need them.

monday.com may help you to trigger tasks automatically to inform you or your team members of any accomplished or upcoming tasks for everyone to be updated. monday.com is also capable of multiple integrations with different apps that you may connect seamlessly which helps save time learning other platforms as you go.

As mentioned in the same article from Indeed, “Automation can save construction managers time and allow them to focus on overseeing the project. Use automated reporting systems and delivery tools…” And in addition, “These systems can reduce the amount of correspondence you do per day and improve workflows.”

Read more: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/construction-management-tips

These are just a few reminders when starting or growing a construction project, and there's so much more. But it is very important to know and measure your team well and ensure their safety.

If you see yourself being able to work better with monday.com, don’t hesitate to reach out to us as we can help you learn more about the platform.

Stay safe out there and start building!