Why Construction Software Matters

The Los Angeles Times is publishing a series of articles that reveals how a $5.7 billion program to rebuild L.A. community colleges has produced lots of new construction, much of which is poorly done. The investigation by the Times reporters took place over 18 months, and reveals that tens of millions of dollars were wasted.

The Times examines one project, a new college science center, in today's coverage:

"The Los Angeles Community College District, which paid a contractor more than $48 million to build the science center, had to pay other firms at least $3.5 million more to fix and complete it. The district and the original contractor, FTR International of Irvine, are embroiled in a court fight, with each seeking to recover money from the other."

Hmmmm.

At Procore, we read about cases like these and wonder how much thought was actually given to construction project management, by both the owner and the project team. Did the owner hire a contractor without asking to learn about their project management process? How was the owner expecting to get visibility into the progress of the project?

On the contractor's side, how was the course of construction documented? Is the contractor able to prove that they built the project using all of the correct submittal information? Did the architects on this project promptly respond to RFIs so that the sub-contractors had the necessary information for completing construction? Where are the emails that detail the communication between the project team members?

We don't understand how any owner, or any contractor, can begin a significant construction project without some type of construction project management software in place. It doesn't have to be Procore, although obviously we think Procore is a great choice. But please, if you are in charge of a project as an owner, or starting to build a project as the general contractor, take a look at the construction collaboration and project management software that is available on the market. Don't let your firm end up as the topic of a newspaper investigation.

Click here to read the Los Angeles Times article Billions To Spend (March 1, 2011).