23 Jun FROM OUR MEMBERS: Congrid’s comparison shows: Digital tools enhance construction site supervision

Congrid has published a guide on the role of supervisors in construction projects. The publication explains the importance of construction project supervision in general and from the main contractor’s and client’s perspective. It highlights, that properly conducted supervision helps the project to stay on budget and schedule, reduces risk and accidents and improves quality. To ensure this, the supervision process must be planned, and the supervisor must follow the plan and make additions and changes to the plan when needed.

According to the comparison made for the guide, digital documentation achieves significant time savings in the digital control procedure compared to the traditional one.

“A knowledgeable supervisor can raise issues, saving the main contractor time and money compared to a situation where repairs are made later through demolition and renovation. The aim of the publication is to explain why supervision is so valuable, and how digital tools enhance the flow of data and communication to different stakeholders”, comments Oskar Smeds, Congrid’s Sales Manager.

With the help of digital tools, the instruction can begin directly on site without any intermediary phase. 

The research was conducted in refurbishment projects using both the traditional method and with the Congrid digital tool. The sample size was 10 site rounds in 8000 – 12 000 m2 office buildings that are relatively similar in layout, building practice and building services. The research was limited to 30 defect notes per site round on similar office floors and to prevent repetition of defect notes, no floor was examined repeatedly over consecutive inspections.

Digital tools saves time

According to analysis, traditional supervision process has 13 phases in 655 minutes whilst the Congrid procedure has only 6 phases in 420 minutes. Using Congrid without after checks had only 4 phases and time spent 250 minutes. The time spent on the traditional procedure was 2.3 times longer compared to the Congrid procedure.

When the time spent by the main contractor and the subcontractor is also included, the benefits of digitalisation become even clearer. With the help of digital tools, the instruction can begin directly on site without any intermediary phase.

Digitalisation to help reduce errors

Supervision of construction projects is one of the most important tasks to ensure projects meet quality, safety, schedule, and budget targets. Project success is a collective effort, and including all stakeholders in the supervision process is vital for a project’s success.

Digital tools have also brought more transparency to the project management and supervision process, leading to improved outcome quality, improved inclusion of contractors and clients in supervision processes and has assisted contractors in finishing quality projects efficiently.

Digital tools such as Congrid have made supervision processes lean, enhanced communication between stakeholders and made decision making more agile when all data and information are available in real time. With digital supervision tools, all phases of the installations can be recorded and all stakeholders are included in the supervision process, creating a transparent project environment that benefit all parties. With quality supervision, a project can prevent all possible defects at all project phases that could accumulate and escalate, critically affecting the project outcome. 

Table of contents

• Introduction
• Importance of construction project supervision – In general and from the client’s perspective
• The importance of supervision from the perspective of the main contractor
• The benefits of digital documentation – in terms of time and information flow
• The butterfly effect – how digital is better than paper when the main contractor and the sub- contractor are involved

Project success is a collective effort, and including all stakeholders in the supervision process is vital for a project’s success. Download the free guide and read more.