How PlanGrid is game-changing for owners and developers

A year ago, I accepted a position as Customer Success Manager at PlanGrid. Holding a master’s degree in architectural engineering, I left behind the familiar world of construction and six years at an ENR Top 400 General Contractor (where I dedicated 60 hours a week).

Why did I leave behind a promising construction career to work in tech? Strictly speaking, I didn’t; PlanGrid is about to transform the construction industry, and I’m particularly interested in how PlanGrid helps owners make radical shifts in how they manage projects and collect data.

PlanGrid is the only mobile-first technology that can bridge the gaps from design, to construction, to operations—by enabling teams to collect and share real-time project information in one place.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll publish four blog posts on how owners can use PlanGrid in design, construction, closeout, and operations. I’ll drill down into practical tips for better handoffs and address common questions, including:

• How do you ensure your projects run smoothly?
• How can you reduce friction between construction and facilities teams?
• How can you identify issues before they become costly?

What’s at stake for owners and developers?

Construction is rewarding because it is exciting for the owner and their organization. A new building, renovated facilities, or upgraded amenities represent a reward for organizational growth.

At the same time, starting a new project can be risky and expensive, and requires intense planning, budgeting, and management. While architects, engineers, and contractors are critical to the building’s long-term success, it’s easy to get wrapped up in day-to-day construction activities—sometimes at the expense of careful planning for facilities operations.

Design and construction accounts for as little as 2% of a building’s entire lifespan cost and only takes a few months to a few years—not very long when compared to the 30+ year life of a building. Looking at it this way, we clearly don’t give enough thought to an owner’s long-term needs.

The challenge is in the handoffs

Construction can feel like a solo act, but ultimately, it’s a team effort, with different people moving the project forward at different times: Key stakeholders and planners during planning, architects and engineers during design, contractors during construction, and facilities supervisors during operations. Each group brings individual expertise and generates individual sets of data, which must be captured and passed along to other teams.

In the past, construction technology has focused mostly on project management processes that are heavily used during construction and design. But one of the biggest challenges is in bridging the gaps — between design and construction, and from construction to operations.

These handoffs often leave owners at risk of losing critical building data necessary for facility operations post-construction. Studies show that as much as 30% of a building’s data is lost during handoff to the operations team. This inevitably causes rework and inaccurate as-builts that facilities teams have to patch together. It’s wasted time at a critical point of the building lifecycle, and can end up costing the owner a lot of money.

How PlanGrid can help owners and developers

PlanGrid was developed with the owner in mind, and is the only construction technology that can be used as a standard data platform by owners, designers, contractors, and facilities teams, from programming to operations. This five part blog series focuses on owners, their challenges with data management, and the fundamental shift in how teams manage, collect, and distribute data with PlanGrid. Each post will examine a single stage of a building’s lifecycle, moving from design, to construction, to closeout, and finally, to operations.

I’m excited to share these lessons, and hopefully I inspire you to challenge the status quo and take control of your projects.

I’d love to hear from you!

If you are an owner, designer, general contractor or subcontractor interested in leveraging PlanGrid to save time, money and collect critical building data, please reach out to me at josh.progar@plangrid.com or through LinkedIn.

This is the first in a series of 5 blog posts about how owners and developers use PlanGrid throughout a building’s lifecycle. Read more:

How owners can use PlanGrid in design
Construction with PlanGrid: for owners
Closeout with PlanGrid: for owners
Operations with PlanGrid: for owners

About the author: Josh is a Customer Success Manager at PlanGrid, based out of Philadelphia. He joined PlanGrid after working for 6+ years in the construction industry at an ENR top 400 general contractor. You can reach him at josh.progar@plangrid.com or on LinkedIn.