Technology is quickly becoming the leading mechanism for success and growth within the construction industry. As a tech provider, we see it as our primary duty to help ease the transition into construction’s “age of tech.” So we put together the following list of tips to help your company understand how leading subcontractors are staying competitive, harnessing tech and setting themselves apart in the bid process.
- Join relevant subcontractor organizations to ensure your name is being spread among a reliable community. This ultimately assists with building your professional network and being more easily found. Learn more about construction industry organizations such as AGC, MCAA, CFMA, NECA, ASA and more.
- Try out the latest tools and technologies to stay at least one year ahead of the competition. The latest tech can help you operate faster and more efficiently so there is more time to focus your energy on bidding on more projects. Examples of technology that is taking construction by storm includes wearables in the workplace, 3D scanning, drones, and even GPS technology to track the location and productivity of workers. Learn more on the ConTechTrio weekly construction tech news podcast recordings and recaps.
- Stay organized by efficiently managing bids, prequal requests estimating and other daily tasks. Online construction networks such as SmartInsight will help your company stay focused and organized. SmartInsight gives you a centralized platform to organize and share your company’s qualifications, certifications, and areas of work so you can quickly respond to bid and prequal requests. With an exclusive partnership with SmartBid, SmartInsight also gives thousands of GCs access to your information to invite you to projects. In addition, SmartInsight’s recent integration with STACK Estimating makes staying organized even during the takeoff process easy and efficient!
- Choose your partners carefully. Ensure you are only working alongside partners that meet your qualifications and are considered to be high quality performers. Avoid work going unpaid or other possible misfortunes – be picky. Utilize pre qualification tools such as D&B credit reports, COVReports, and SubSecure to generate detailed credit, financial and operational reports on potential partner companies or on your own company to share. Know who you’re working with before accepting the project.
- Network, Network, Network. Successful companies make their presence known. Attend conferences like CONEXPO and CONSTRUCT and other educational networking events to build the connections that could ultimately lead to future work. (Shameless Plug/Pro Tip: SmartInsight is a user-friendly, no cost method of online networking – if you meet someone at a conference, for example, you can easily send them a link to join SmartInsight and quickly connect online to connect for future projects or referrals!)
- Ensure all your information is up to date on your website and social media platforms. Be sure it is clearly stated on your websites, emails, and social media platforms how your company can best be contacted. This allows those who are searching to do work with you to easily contact you. SmartInsight even has a feature to ensure your company is getting the best exposure possible by allowing users to embed a link to their SmartInsight profile in emails and websites!
- Be a trustworthy company that others would want to do business with. It may sound easier said than done, but honesty will get your company far. Having a clean financial, legal, and safety history will ensure partners will feel comfortable working alongside you. SmartInsight allows users to easily monitor their own credibility through the ability to pull reports on their own company using SubSecure, D&B, and COVReports.
Becoming a leader in the construction industry takes time and dedication, but you can kick-start your presence through the application of the above tips. SmartInsight could also help your construction company hit the ground running. Check out the SmartInsight website here to learn how you can start connecting with jobs now.
About the Author
My name is Leann Taylor and I am currently a senior Supply Chain Management student at Texas A&M University. This is my second semester as a marketing intern with JBKnowledge and I am more than excited to be back, learning how technology is continuing to transform the construction industry.
