Choosing the Right Construction Project Management Software: Industry-Specific or Generic?  

It may have seemed like a great idea for your construction project. You were struggling with project management chaos and clicked the ad to the latest shiny new anyone-can-use tool. With a few clicks and taps, voila, you were all ready to on-board your team and manage your project. Setting everything up seemed like a breeze at first, but soon, the cracks appeared. How do you set up workflows for daily progress reports based on your needs? Are there more robust features to handle complex scheduling? What about cost tracking? Have you just created more chaos than when you started?  

When it comes to purchasing construction project management software, there are two distinct categories of solutions. First, there are generic project management products (think Airtable, ClickUp, Asana) designed for any industry. Then, there are purpose-built tools for construction (like Autodesk Construction Cloud) that are intentionally designed for design and building teams’ unique needs. 

The truth is, construction project management is nuanced and complex. Generic project management products can be useful for certain basic parts of a project, but to truly and robustly manage the intricacies of a project, a construction-specific project management platform is key to success. Today, we look at why purpose-built construction tools will help you achieve control of your project management workflows. 

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Why Construction Project Management Is So Complex 

But first, why is construction project management so complex to begin with? It includes the coordination of all phases of a construction project, from preconstruction to handover. This includes the management of people and resources to control the scope, cost, construction quality management processes, and time of a construction project throughout the project's lifecycle. Oftentimes, a construction project also involves several other disciplines and stakeholders including architects, engineers, project owners, and specialty contractors among many others.  

In short, there are too many cooks in the kitchen with a seemingly endless amount of moving parts. The right technology is critical to managing successful construction projects. We take a look at five reasons why.   

Reason #1 – Common Data Environment  

Construction projects can have dozens if not hundreds of stakeholders involved. Each stakeholder is creating their own project data, but unfortunately that data tends to live in silos – reducing its overall utility to the project and other stakeholders.  

One of the most powerful elements of a construction project management platform is its common data environment (CDE) — a repository that centrally and securely houses all project data, including drawings, models, contracts, specifications, and more.  

A CDE is a single source of truth that all stakeholders can rely on. It promotes stronger team collaboration and ensures everyone works from the same information. 

A common data environment also keeps data from multiple project phases in one place, minimizing data loss and giving team members everything they need to operate, no matter where they are in the project. And did we mention that Autodesk Construction Cloud includes unlimited storage?  

Learn how Miron saw a 25% improvement in time spent finding key project data and eliminated the use of 3rd party meeting minute tools with a common data environment.  

Reason #2 – Risk Reduction 

Has your team ever built off outdated or wrong information? Do you know how much time and money you’re spending on rework or lapse in communication each month, quarter, or year? Unfortunately, this is a common reality for much of the construction industry today, but it doesn't have to be that way. Construction-specific tools like Autodesk Construction Cloud are built with risk-reduction in mind, and helps you make more informed decisions by giving you greater insight into:  

• Project Cost - Improve cost control, gain real-time visibility of cost-related risks, and forecast accurately by centralizing all cost management activities in the cloud and within the context of the construction project. 
• Design Risk - Enable project leaders to take daily action to prioritize and resolve design issues before they become time-consuming RFIs and create costly downstream-changes during construction. 
• High-Risk RFIs - Identify RFIs that pose the greatest risk to project cost and schedule, and classify them by root cause, discipline, and building component. Catch and manage construction design issues earlier, identify risks, and prioritize the right RFIs. 
• Quality Risk - Greater visibility into high-risk quality problems and actions to mitigate risk to maintain quality control, while monitoring issue status, activity, and quality checklist conformance. 
• Safety Incidents - Instant visibility into high-risk areas of their project and take immediate action to resolve problematic safety behaviors and hazards before serious incidents happen. 

Reason #3 – A Platform to Help You Run Your Business 

Construction project management is multi-faceted, and you need a platform that helps you and your other stakeholders manage all elements of the project in a collaborative environment.  

Generic project management companies often emphasize “task” or “schedule” management when describing their utility on construction projects. These are both important components of construction projects, but so is tracking project costs, drawing markups, model viewing, tracking correspondence... you get the point.   

Autodesk Construction Cloud helps create a digital paper trail across the project lifecycle.  Imagine a scenario where you tasked someone in the field to replace a door. That task sounds simple enough at face value, but in a 20-story building, it's not always easy to determine the location of the door that needs replaced or to access the spec for the new door or share a photo to document their progress. This is a common workflow in construction and core functionality in Autodesk Construction Cloud – the same can’t be said for generic project management tools.  

“[In Autodesk Build], the ability to link an audit trail of issues, RFIs, and cost changes right to a PDF and a picture from a job site or back in the plant is really exciting. Having all that information right there, and then you show that to somebody, and their jaw just hits the floor, is incredible.” – Matthew Keck, BIM Manager at Metromont  

Reason #4 - Return on Investment 

We know margins are tight and it's easy to get sticker shock when comparing the cost of a platform like Autodesk Construction Cloud to a generic project management tool like ClickUp or Airtable. But that price tag doesn’t tell the whole story.  

Industry-specific solutions like Autodesk Construction Cloud not only allow you to keep track of your projects in real-time, but it also provides a comprehensive set of tools for monitoring and evaluating ROI. You can analyze project progress against budget and timeline goals, as well as track project costs over time to ensure that your investments are being used effectively. Construction project management software can pay for itself over the duration of a multi-year contract in a variety of ways.  

• Implementation Time - How much time and money are you spending building out RFI, submittal, punch list, or change order workflows in a generic project management product? Or how many people on your team are familiar with how those workflows were set up? Autodesk Construction Cloud, on the other hand, is purpose-built for these workflows and helps your entire team hit the ground running and deliver projects faster.  
• Tech Stack Consolidation - How many software solutions are you using to manage your construction project from start to finish? Our research shows that on average construction firms are using six software tools to manage a project whether its cloud storage, scheduling, communication, drawing management etc. With Autodesk Construction Cloud, you can consolidate many, if not all those tools in one platform.  
• Growth – As the labor shortage is top of mind for business leaders, an industry specific project management platform can help you recruit and retain talent looking to hone their technical skillset. Additionally, it can also help you win more work, maximize working hours and eliminate rework – all of which impact your bottom line. The potential to help you achieve your growth targets should be factored into any construction project management software evaluation.  

"We had a huge list of deliverables that HESS does daily, including the “must haves” and “nice to haves”—Autodesk Build, was it. The company delivered a solid product, and we’re just excited to utilize what we hope will be the next big software management platform in the construction industry." – Ed Launt, Information Technology System Administrator at HESS Construction 

Reason #5 – Stay Ahead of Your Competition  

We know you’re not bidding on projects in a bubble. You're competing against a variety of other contractors with varying levels of digital maturity and experience. Autodesk Construction Cloud can help you stand out amongst the crowd in a variety of ways: 

• Latest innovation - Imagine a scenario where three companies all submit similar bids for the same project. What criteria is the project owner going to use to make their decision? In many cases the technology and processes you’ll use to manage the project can give you a competitive edge. Using the model viewer in Autodesk Construction Cloud for example, you can virtually walk your project owner through the project and its progress. These industry-specific features in construction management software can set you apart, but you won't find them in generic project management products. 
• Track Record of Success - Project owners and GCs want to work with contractors that have delivered successful projects. A history of accurate bids, clear communication and on-time/on-budget completions are significant indicators of success, and they’ll help you win more work and build your brand in the industry. Autodesk Construction Cloud has helped make these goals a reality for construction firms around the world. Check out customer success stories.  

Your project and your business are too important to rely on generic technology. Autodesk Construction Cloud, however, creates a shared environment for design and construction workflows, paving the way for smoother communication, effortless data sharing, and, ultimately, better project outcomes. 

Interested in learning more about project management capabilities within Autodesk Construction Cloud? Learn more about our software here.