3 Places to Look for Savings as Construction Labor Costs Rise
Builders can counterbalance rising labor costs by using the right software to save in other areas.
Per data from the US Commerce Department, Mexican-born construction workers simply aren’t coming to the US in the numbers they once did. As recently as 2007, we had 1.89 million Mexican-born construction workers; last year there were just 1.32 million.
According to a recent report from home building industry analyst John Burns Real Estate Consulting Inc., tighter immigration controls may be just part of the story. Many workers may simply be happy working closer to home now that comparable job opportunities are increasingly available in some Mexican states.
Whatever the reason that many Mexican-born workers have not returned, the resulting loss of roughly 570,000 experienced workers is being keenly felt across the industry. A 28 percent decrease in US resident specialty trade contractors, combined with rising construction start rates for the year, is only making the pressure worse.
When labor costs go up, one option is of course to build it into your bid and pass it on to the client. But, what if you could compensate for rising labor costs by finding savings elsewhere in your operation? This would enable you to make a more competitive bid compared to other contractors who are just doing business as usual.
One excellent way to streamline your operation and reduce your costs is to invest in ECL Software’s CMIS suite. This construction management software offers the potential to cut costs in three important areas:
Administration: You’ll be amazed how much time your staff can cut off their administrative duties simply by switching to our single entry construction management information system. All the documentation you could possibly need including proposals, cost estimates, budgets, contracts, RFIs, and more can be created from templates within the system. It’s easy to update and track multiple versions of a document to stay organized as projects develop.
Work in Process Reporting: With the ability to track nearly 1,000 data points, our construction management software can take your work in process reporting to the next level. With online access to real time data, you’ll always know where your project stands and this will dramatically decrease your risk of overpaying a supplier or underpaying a client.
Payroll: Are you using an outside company to administer your payroll? Stop! You can administer your own payroll using the features already included in our software suite. Our CMIS offers the ability to handle every imaginable type of pay and assign as many different pay and benefit rates as you need.
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