7 Ways Real-Time Resource Management is Helping Construction Firms to Fight Back Project Overruns

In today’s market, it is very common for construction projects to exceed their original budget and timescale. Even minor construction projects are complex, so there are many ways project overruns happen. From delays caused by internal and external factors, inefficiencies within company policies and procedures, as well as poor coordination between teams involved, even small issues can spiral out of control. For managers overseeing all of this, managing resources can be overwhelming. And if the management team isn’t in a strong position, they can find themselves exceeding their targets quickly. To help them, many businesses are starting to make use of software and systems that allow real-time resource management to assist. Here are 7 ways they are finding it helpful. \ Better Labour Allocation A big risk to project progress is how poorly labor is allocated. Using real-time resource management to allocate labor helps ensure that teams are assigned based on their real-time availability, not on loosely assigned timeframes. This system helps avoid teams being either overstaffed or understaffed. These changes mean that staff have less chance of being idle and remaining productive throughout a project. This increase in productivity also helps limit delays and ensure a higher overall productive contribution by staff. \ Faster Response to Delays When a delay happens, the longer it takes to be addressed, the worse its effects can be. With real-time updates, managers can see issues as they are happening, and in many cases before they have happened. This enables them to adjust resources or take other actions immediately. In construction projects, delays cannot be entirely avoided, but being able to react more quickly means that small delays don’t have a chance to escalate. By taking care of them faster, the risk of them causing an overrun is lower. \ Reduced Equipment Downtime Construction requires lots of equipment, and when it’s not being used, progress isn’t being made. With real-time understanding of how and when equipment is being used, or not, managers are better able to build and change schedules. This prevents conflicts between teams and ensures that equipment will be available when it’s needed. This flexibility and understanding help maximize the use of equipment, boost productivity while minimizing the wasted cost as machines go unused because teams didn’t have the clearance. \ More Accurate Project Tracking Since construction projects are constantly changing and evolving, managers need to know what’s going on. Real-time updates across teams, especially those in the field, mean that managers have a better understanding of the progress actually being made and reduce the wait time of decision-making, as well as progressing to the next stage of a project. With this knowledge comes fewer surprises, which boosts a manager's decision-making ability and ensures that when there is a problem, they know about it and can take decisive action sooner, preventing delays. \ Improved Scheduling Flexibility Due to sudden changes to client demands or changing conditions, a construction project needs to be flexible. With Real-time resource management, schedules can be adjusted dynamically as things change. Preventing them from being locked into an outdated plan that can hinder a team’s ability to work. This change means that staff can respond better to changes, build around them rather than be slowed down or stopped because of them. This means that even with a new plan in place, deadlines have a better chance of being met. \ Less Duplication and Manual Coordination To ensure smooth progress, communication is vital, and the way this is done can either help or hinder a project. Real-time resource management helps reduce the reliance on phone calls or emails from one staff member to another. The ability to share data across teams instantly and simultaneously removes the risk of wasting time with duplicate information and waiting for manual confirmation. This change means less admin for the staff, helping free up time from repetitive and [low-productivity tasks,](https://thorbiq.com/resources/wasted-time-in-construction-is-out-of-control/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20Construction%20Industry%20Institute%20(CII,(non%20value%20added).%E2%80%9D) and helps boost the accuracy of the reports for future use. Keeping running costs and completion time of tasks lower. \ Earlier Identification of Resource Bottlenecks Even with careful reporting, construction projects can run into bottlenecks as they approach certain points of the process. Real-time resource management helps managers notice emerging patterns sooner. With this, they can start to flag issues before they have an impact, enabling the team to take action and prevent the bottleneck. This proactive approach gives management the time to figure out an appropriate and reliable prevention plan, preventing costly and temporary reactive fixes that could cause more issues later on. Real-time resource management helps project management by increasing the visibility and understanding for staff, not just on the management level, but throughout the project. This helps reduce friction within the project and helps stay flexible and adaptable, no matter what happens. Project overrun is hard to prevent, but knowing what’s going on in real-time gives your team the best chance at fighting it.