Job cost is one of the main concerns in the construction industry. If you are a construction project manager, you may already know that gaining a comprehensive and transparent overview of your project can be extremely challenging. In order to avoid a pay or bonus cut, it is wise to implement an efficient and easy-to use construction cost tracking software.

1.
Still using spreadsheets (Excel)

Tracking your project job costs, documents, budgets, expenses, sub-contractor’s performance, and contracts on different spreadsheet pages can be bulky and unwieldy, as all project data is then sitting in different folders or sub-folders somewhere on your computer. Managing your construction project like this is torture; a fact you will realize sooner or later.

However, with the right tool, project managers can directly upload spreadsheets with estimated costs, among other documents, to a centralized database with easy access in real time.

Planyard budget and job cost tracking image
2.
Reporting the same cost documents multiple times

With your sub-contractor’s scope of work, job costs are likely going to be re-entered into a main spreadsheet from various other spreadsheets and sub-folders. It is a very time-consuming process with high risk for manually inserting errors and data mismatches. Moreover, the project manager cannot make relevant decisions because of data delay.

By processing your expenses with cost tracking from Planyard, you will have complete visibility for every single article, from estimate through to contract until actual costs. Whenever any cost is submitted, Planyard automatically updates the budget and sends articles and costs straight to accounting.

3.
Data is inaccurate or incomplete

There is a high chance that human error and missing data can occur right from the start. If there is no system to confirm that data is authentic, these errors will be discovered later by the project manager; an extremely painful discovery, as this will negatively impact project budget profit.

Planyard ensures your project budget and job costing data is punctual and matches your uploaded estimation from the beginning.

4.
Data delays: project manager is not able to make decisions
pensive young man with business plan concept
Data
delays can cause longer project duration and budget overrun. It is
crucial that project managers are aware about ongoing project
processes and can take immediate action whenever an error occurs. Planyard
provides a comprehensive overview about your project data in real
time and keeps your project processes streamlined. 5.
Manual sub-contractor commitments
Using
spreadsheets, project managers need to manually calculate contracted
costs, sub-contractor commitments, download files, create folders and
update accounting. It all grows gradually messier, while any extra
work that comes up causes further changes in orders. Inevitably,
extra works for project managers means more time and energy for
calculation and paperwork.

Planyard gives access to sub-contractors so that they can submit their own amount of work, extra work and contract change orders. The project manager simply needs to check that the work submitted corresponds to the actual cost.

6.
Sending information to accounting system via e-mails or on paper
Another
time-consuming activity is saving information and documents to your
computer and then manually sending them back and forth to your
accountant.

Planyard integration allows approved costs and accounts to be sent straight to your accounting software, eliminating double data entry and also mitigating the risk of error. This is another major advantage where the project manager and accountant both can reap the benefits by using an efficient and reliable software tool.