How photo documentation and schedule adherence can build stakeholder trust

In any professional industry, large projects require various stakeholders, each of whom has had a vested interest in the success of a project.

In the construction business, the owner, architect, and contractor represent the core stakeholders in the success or failure of a project, which always comes down to schedule adherence. Since about 69% of owners say poor contractor performance is the single biggest reason for project underperformance finding ways for these stakeholders, especially in their Owner-Architect-Contractor (OAC) meetings, to be aligned on schedule in real-time can help keep a project on time, and most importantly, on budget.

Technology such as OnSiteIQ’s schedule adherence dashboard will make it easier and predictable for construction stakeholders to look at project schedules objectively, and use that data to build trust amongst each other as they all put forth their respective efforts to create the best product possible.

According to OnSiteIQ’s Nick Muir, “Everybody should have responsibility for the success and delivery of the project.” Furthermore, Muir endorses that using technology to prioritize schedule adherence can build trust, communication, team comradery and ultimately create a successful project.

Here is how we’d position using objective data such a photo and video documentation to facilitate communications:

Muir quotes, “There are a lot of shiny tools and software programs in the market but imagine a scenario where a piece of technology can help identify potential and already occurring delays to a project. Now imagine that same piece of technology feeds a dashboard, which is being used across the communication hierarchies of each construction stakeholder, and allows them to objectively discuss the next steps and solutions to the problem before they become too far gone.”Although the owner, architect, and contractor each have their specific interests within a project, the larger accomplishment is collaboratively creating the nicest, safest, and most profitable construction project possible. In this scenario, everyone wins.

Here is how technology can improve the inter-relational communications between these three stakeholders, and build trust as a result.

‍Improved Communication Between the Owner and Project Management Team

An owner or developer is responsible for overseeing the schedule and bottom-line budget in a construction project or portfolio of projects. This owner works with their project management team to ensure that actionable data is being discussed at their 1:1’s, and the associated risks and opportunities with moving forward under any specific direction.

The project management team will then take these action items to the General Contractor’s team, and/or architect, to push these items forward.

In today’s world, information can be fragmented and not necessarily timely. Therefore, objective data through technology such as photo and video documentation can be incredibly helpful in estimating current or projected delays, an owner can feel confident that what they are discussing with their team has relevance and immediate impact in regards to the schedule of the project.

In this scenario and communication stream, the owner and entire project team win by having the support of objective data and the trust of knowing they are putting their best foot forward.

Improved Communication Between the Owner and the General Contractor

Establishing trust between an owner and a general contractor can be tricky. The owner wants the project to be timely and profitably, while the general contractor wants to look out for the safety of their team while ensuring that they are being properly compensated for the work performed. The best way to ensure these interests are met, and communications to achieve them remain appropriate and project-focused, are by a collective understanding of how the team works together, communication amongst each stakeholder, and immediate knowledge of potential delays.

With OnSiteIQ’s technology, each party is looking at the same set of objective data and using that to inform their meetings. This allows the owner and contractor teams to feel that they are on the same page and building trust as a result. Any subjectivity can be taken out of the equation and replaced with objectivity because when objective data is the baseline of decision-making, the interests of each party can be accomplished.

In this scenario, both the owner and the general contractor can feel like they’ve won, and the project moves along on time as a result. Everyone wins.

Improved Communication Between the Owner and Architect

In the world of construction, variables occur. This can include changes to scope, a new idea crafting a vital pivot in the project, or even errors that didn’t get caught earlier on in the design or review processes. These variables can often find their way into the project mid-way and cause costly delays.

When this happens, having a piece of technology that each stakeholder can look at to assess scheduling impact immediately not only helps on a project level but on a trade level because trust and confidence that the error can be managed appropriately brings peace of mind.

Consider the advantage an architect gains by being able to review the same set of data that an owner and contractor look at daily and weekly at the OAC meeting. For every RFI that an architect receives throughout a project, they will have the contextual narrative of how the project has gone to that point and can react faster than the usual 24 – 48 hour industry standard. This is because they have been looking at the same set of objective data as the owner and contractor at each OAC meeting, which furthermore, are being driven by artificial intelligence.

In this scenario, the architect wins, because they can react faster to potential variables and steer the project back on track faster. When the architect wins, they can save money on their stringent fees, thus reducing the financial impact on the Owner wins and Contractor. Everyone wins.

Redefine Your Owner Architect Contractor (OAC) Meeting

In the construction industry, a detailed, organized, and thorough OAC meeting is a key cog in the success of a project. What better way to achieve these adjectives than by implementing a tool that helps create an agenda, dashboard, and consistent data set that shows real-time schedule adherence.

Always remember, data is objective, and if each stakeholder can buy into an objective data set and use it to build trustworthy and transparent communications with each other, everyone wins. Especially as the construction industry goes more and more into remote operations amongst these stakeholders, implementing an artificial intelligence technology that keeps everyone on track in real-time will make a project run more smoothly. Again, everyone wins.

OnSiteIQ offers free demos that can demonstrate our software’s ability to facilitate trust-building communication amongst construction stakeholders. Redefine your OAC meeting with a technology that is objective, builds trust, and creates a win-win-win scenario for the three key stakeholders of a construction project.