A Wireless Boost to Project Management

John P. Mello Jr. -- Expert Business Source, 1/22/2007 2:56:00 PM

Streamlining its job-site operations with wireless technology, a California production home builder has shaved its project times, accelerated payments to its subcontractors and padded its working capital.

Generation Homes integrated its sales, scheduling and services management systems and added a wireless network connection that lets workers obtain and process information in real time. Information garnered at the job site is instantly transferred to operational and accounting systems, and onsite personnel also have access to the documents and applications stored on those systems back in the home office. The resulting efficiency gains helped the builder reduce its construction times from 130-145 days per home to an average of 110-120 days.

The company used BuilderMT’s Workflow Management Suite solution to integrate scheduling and purchasing functions with Timberline’s accounting system, says Tom Gebes, president of BuilderMT, in Lakewood, Colo. “A superintendent can walk the job with a wireless PDA or BlackBerry device and approve an activity,” he explains. “That activity would update the schedule and, in turn, update and approve a purchase order, which would be turned into an invoice in the Timberline accounting system.”

For the wireless piece of its system, Generation Homes turned to Sprint, which inherited the darling position in the building trades when it purchased Nextel, whose walkie-talkie functions have added a new twist to job-site communications.

“In construction and the trades, your whole world is about getting things done on time, says Chris Pitts, director of industry solutions for Sprint Nextel, of Reston, Va. “When you’re on the job site with a hundred things going on and you need an issue solved, the quicker you can do so, the better off your business is. The walkie-talkie has become recognized as a tool that lets you get to important people instantly.”

Prior to implementing its wireless solution, Generation Homes relied on rough estimates submitted by field managers to determine the progress of a job. Those estimates would be sent to a bank for verification – a process that could take up to a week to complete. The lag time meant subcontractors were paid only once a month. With the new system, subs are paid twice a month.

“As you know, cash flow is king everywhere, so getting paid twice a month is big deal,” says Paul Deffebach, CIO of Generation Homes, of Fresno, Calif. “Builders are in business as long as banks say they’re in business.”

Because banks release portions of a construction loan based on how much of a house is completed, reliable scheduling is crucial to a builder’s working capital. Helped by the increased efficiencies of the wireless solution, “we found $480,000 in working capital just by mining our data with good scheduling information,” says Deffebach.

And because Generation Homes now has a more precise way of tracking expenditures during a project, the bank is willing to lend it more money. Adds Deffebach: “I don't understand why more builders aren’t doing it this way.”

John Mello is a freelance business and technology writer.

Additional resources:

Communications Going Wireless: An article from Reed ACP Construction Data on wireless developments in the construction area

Wireless glossary: A compilation of wireless terms and definitions