Hi, we are experiencing major problems communicating with construction teams; supervision is not efficient and real time updates are hard communicate. Therefore, we are considering using a platform that enables real time 'smart' communication with construction team. Any thoughts, recommendations?
I know right? I'm always on site giving directions and listening to the trade's solutions. It's easy for us, in the comfort of our office, to throw-up a few lines in pdf and write balkin'esque essays, but the guy swinging the hammer does not have the same luxury. Common-ground = equal on site discussions
May 7, 18 2:05 pm ·
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randomised
The guy swinging the hammer doesn't even read those pdf's anyways.
May 7, 18 2:14 pm ·
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Non Sequitur
^ correct.
May 7, 18 2:23 pm ·
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Almosthip7
That's nice, but most of my projects are over 5 hours a way. I usually only get to site twice per project. Email and pictures. About as real time as you can get
May 3, 19 11:47 am ·
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Almosthip7
I even have a job in Manitoba, and my boss does not fly.
May 3, 19 11:49 am ·
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Non Sequitur
We fly out to projects every 2 weeks when they are outside our city. Client pays for it.
Bluebeam is becoming more popular for real life communication and it works pretty well. This is literally just real time access to PDF documents.
Other than that you don't give enough information to receive more specific feedback. If GC is not communicating and they are CM on the job, then no software solution will help you.
In my experience, my contractor was on the over communicating side. We used Slack (I failed to use it), SmartSheet, Bluebeam Studio Session, Autodesk B360 Field, and PlanGrid.
Smartsheet is a basically an online excel spreadsheet but it sends automatic updates if an item is answered or becomes overdue. It also sends a weekly report on how many items are open. You can create an item and assign it to a particular person to answer. We used this program through CD to coordinate among the trade partners. Since the job was a design build and there were lot of knowledge gaps in between the design team and the EORs. If everyone buys into this process, this can be an effective platform.
Autodesk B360 Field, I think it is a great field software that allows you to create comments and pin it to the particular drawings, then assign people to answer it in certain time period. I used an iPad version, which worked great in the field. We actually used it for a site walk every week to report issues. My contractor was proactive to set this meeting up to have me walk with them every week or multiple times a week.
PlanGrid does similar thing as B360 Field. It provides a document control and saves multiple drawing issuances that you can go back and compare in between IFC, IFB, IFP, etc. In my opinion, PlanGrid was better at reviewing drawings in the field whereas B360 was better at recording and tracking comments in the field. Now that PlanGrid is a part of Autodesk, there may be a hybrid software in future.
There is a BlueBeam Studio too, but PlanGrid works faster on tablets..
May 3, 19 12:22 pm ·
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Communications with construction team
Hi, we are experiencing major problems communicating with construction teams; supervision is not efficient and real time updates are hard communicate. Therefore, we are considering using a platform that enables real time 'smart' communication with construction team. Any thoughts, recommendations?
Thank You
What a novel idea.
I know right? I'm always on site giving directions and listening to the trade's solutions. It's easy for us, in the comfort of our office, to throw-up a few lines in pdf and write balkin'esque essays, but the guy swinging the hammer does not have the same luxury. Common-ground = equal on site discussions
The guy swinging the hammer doesn't even read those pdf's anyways.
^ correct.
That's nice, but most of my projects are over 5 hours a way. I usually only get to site twice per project. Email and pictures. About as real time as you can get
I even have a job in Manitoba, and my boss does not fly.
We fly out to projects every 2 weeks when they are outside our city. Client pays for it.
Bluebeam is becoming more popular for real life communication and it works pretty well. This is literally just real time access to PDF documents.
Other than that you don't give enough information to receive more specific feedback. If GC is not communicating and they are CM on the job, then no software solution will help you.
What works best is house visits, in the middle of the night preferably. Do you know where your contractor lives?
In my experience, my contractor was on the over communicating side. We used Slack (I failed to use it), SmartSheet, Bluebeam Studio Session, Autodesk B360 Field, and PlanGrid.
Smartsheet is a basically an online excel spreadsheet but it sends automatic updates if an item is answered or becomes overdue. It also sends a weekly report on how many items are open. You can create an item and assign it to a particular person to answer. We used this program through CD to coordinate among the trade partners. Since the job was a design build and there were lot of knowledge gaps in between the design team and the EORs. If everyone buys into this process, this can be an effective platform.
Autodesk B360 Field, I think it is a great field software that allows you to create comments and pin it to the particular drawings, then assign people to answer it in certain time period. I used an iPad version, which worked great in the field. We actually used it for a site walk every week to report issues. My contractor was proactive to set this meeting up to have me walk with them every week or multiple times a week.
PlanGrid does similar thing as B360 Field. It provides a document control and saves multiple drawing issuances that you can go back and compare in between IFC, IFB, IFP, etc. In my opinion, PlanGrid was better at reviewing drawings in the field whereas B360 was better at recording and tracking comments in the field. Now that PlanGrid is a part of Autodesk, there may be a hybrid software in future.
There is a BlueBeam Studio too, but PlanGrid works faster on tablets..
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