No two construction projects are the same. They can vary in size, complexity, and scope. However, contractors are likely to follow a very similar (if not the same) process for most of their projects. Contractors use project phases to better understand the ebbs and flows of their project throughout the entire lifecycle.
That’s why we incorporated project phases into the workforce planning process with Bridgit Bench. By tying resources to specific phases, contractors can visualize how their resources ramp up and wind down, and have greater control over resource allocations when dates get shifted.
Project phases help to understand how your projects evolve over time and allow you to easily evaluate your progress and identify areas for improvement. For example, if your projects are consistently being held up during the construction phase, that’s likely an indicator that you may need additional support on future projects during construction to hit target completion dates.
When incorporated into a project Gantt view, phases also allow contractors to visualize project progress at a glance. This helps to better understand how resources ramp up and down as you move through project phases, and helps to ensure you don’t have unneeded resources on a project putting your margins at risk.
Common construction phases our clients are tracking
As mentioned earlier, contractors are likely to use a very similar process for most of their projects. However, those processes are often unique to the organization. Bridgit Bench clients have created and leverage over 300 project phases to make their resource planning more efficient and effective. Though many of those 300 phases will be unique to their respective contractors, here is a list of the most common construction phases that have been created in Bridgit Bench
- Construction
- Bidding
- Closeout
- Estimating
- Pursuit
For larger projects, users will also break down larger phases into different subphases that allow for a more granular view of their resource allocations. For example, the construction phase can be broken down into “excavating” and “building” subphases.
How our clients use phases to make resource planning more efficient and effective
Customizable phases
Bridgit Bench is completely customizable and project phases are no exception. Users are able to add any and all phases from their project lifecycle. These phases help create a foundation for streamlined allocation management. On top of the most common phases mentioned above, Bridgit Bench users have also added:
- Pursuit
- Demolition
- On hold/Paused
Project role set-up
When adding roles to a project, Bridgit Bench clients use “quick options” to automatically add the project role to a specific phase. The project role will inherit the start and end dates of the project phase and allow for greater control over the impact on project roles when phase or project dates are changed.
Custom allocation percentages for project phases
It’s common in construction for work to ramp up and down as the project progresses. By providing custom allocation percentages based on project phases, Bridgit Bench clients are able to easily adjust their team members’ time commitments throughout the project lifecycle.
Since adding custom allocations based on project phases, nearly 25% of all custom allocations have been created using project phases.
Complete control when project and phase dates shift
It’s inevitable that project and phase dates will shift. Depending on the system being used for resource management, shifting a project or phase date can mean hours of updating the respective allocations and remedying any issues that change creates on the broader resource strategy.
By leveraging project phases, Bridgit Bench users have complete control over the project roles, phases, and completion dates that will be impacted by the change. For example, if the construction phase needs to be extended, users can quickly select:
- Which project roles should also be extended
- Which upcoming phases should be shifted
- If the entire project should be extended to reflect the change in phase dates
Does having greater control help that much? Since adding phase-based resource planning to Bridgit Bench:
- 88% of roles that are tied to project phases have been automatically updated to reflect the new dates
- 74% of all upcoming phases have been automatically updated
- 95% of all project completion dates have been automatically updated
When you take into consideration how long it would take to manually update the roles, phases, and project dates every time a phase shifted, it’s clear that Bridgit Bench clients are able to leverage project phases to their advantage and use that time for more profit-driven tasks.
Michel Richer
Michel Richer is the Content Marketing Manager at Bridgit. He got his start in the construction industry at an early age with a local restoration company. Michel is driven to propel the construction industry forward by helping to eliminate outdated, ineffective processes.
