How to save time and steer clear of costly mistakes: 3 top tips for builders

Worried that you might be making mistakes because you’re rushing from one task to another? You’re not alone. Many small to medium sized builders report feeling the same way. Hopefully, you recognise that your time is a valuable commodity - “time is money”, the old saying goes. So, take a moment to step off the hamster wheel and think about how you’re currently “spending” your time. Are there ways you can save time or make more time available for the critical tasks? We’ve got 3 top tips that might just help…

1.    STOP DOING THINGS BY HAND - USE SOFTWARE TOOLS

Software tools can help with many tasks that you currently carry out by hand, on a piece of paper, with a calculator or on a spreadsheet. Using construction software tools, tasks such as estimating, designing and generating health and safety documentation and building contracts can be completed in far less time.  

Spending a few hours getting to grips with the software programmes today will save you days and weeks in the longer term. Plus, there are time-savings to be made when you use multiple software tools. UK-based software house, HBXL Building Software, offers a suite of software for builders, including estimating, CAD, Health & Safety and contracts software. What’s special about their offering is that the programmes share the data so you only have to enter it once.

 2.   ESTIMATE PROJECTS QUICK AND ACCURATELY USING INTELLIGENT QUOTE TEMPLATES

Our second tip is all about estimating. Many builders spend several hours preparing each quote they deliver to prospective clients; it’s a massively time-consuming process. However, using estimating software tailor-made for UK builders can change that.

With a programme such as EstimatorXpress, which features 100s of pre-populated quote templates, you simply have to enter the dimensions of your project, and check the specification choices. You can estimate a simple extension in minutes and the software will give you a full breakdown of the project costs – down to the last tin of paint and hour of decorating – as well as providing material order schedules to send to your merchant.

 3.   PLAN YOUR MATERIAL ORDERING - SAVE ON VISITS TO THE MERCHANT

This brings us nicely onto our next tip. You can save hours every week by planning your material ordering at the outset of the project. This is a task which can be done by hand but is much easier using software such as EstimatorXpress which automatically generates a number of material reports based on your estimate. Email the material order schedule to your merchant and negotiate the best deal, based on your overall spend for the project. Then call the items off so they’re available on site in advance of when they’re required. Working this may means far fewer ad hoc trips to the merchant, fewer delays on site and more time for you to focus on tasks which will make your business more money.

We should also mention that EstimatorXpress generates a build programme, timber cutting list, labour schedule, cash flow reports, profit forecast and many more reports… Loads of really useful documents that will ensure your projects run more efficiently and ultimately help you make more money.

 TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE – MAKE THE CHANGE NOW

If you’re keen to avoid expensive makes which inevitably occur when you’ve got too much on your plate, you can start a free 14-day trial of EstimatorXpress today.