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One of the most commonly given pieces of preventative legal advice for construction professionals is “document everything”. Clearly this is very good advice ... but it is not always given the attention it deserves. If you’ve ever been involved in a claim or suit you are well aware of the costs of putting together the story of what actually happened. The bill can be thousands of dollars or even tens of thousands for significant claims. Ensuring a properly documented ‘audit trail’ as I call it can be a time consuming effort but it is like buying insurance ... you don’t expect a problem ... but if it arises, you are prepared.
Good document control technology automates the majority of the documentation needed to know with clarity and ease who saw what and when. The best part of this is that simply having the systems in place can avoid the escalation of an issue to a claim or a lawsuit right up front. A number of our clients have reported on situations where someone states they didn’t receive a particular document or piece of information and as a result expect that they are entitled to compensation. An easily generated activity report showing the information was fully available can often lead to an immediate resolution of the issue. For example, a log report from our system stating that “[Person] from [Company] on [Date] looked at page 1, 7 and 10 of Addendum number 6”, was conclusive enough evidence to avoid the time, costs and potential bad relationship of what was a six figure claim for an extra.
Best practices today not only ensure a proper audit trail but they also contribute to significant reductions in the time and cost associated with generating it. Manual creation of distribution logs, transmittals, waybills, email records and other means of proving your case are completely automated. Given the tools and efficiencies that are available today it might be worth taking a second look at how your firm is addressing that piece of very good legal advice.
This week we had a small celebration for our team and our other colleagues and friends in our building to mark two important events. The first is the launch of PlanSource FT – File Transfer our latest new technology solution for the construction industry. The second reason was to mark the achievement of 10 years of bringing practical and user friendly software to the construction industry.
We launched this company in 2000 just as the dot.com bubble was bursting. We had two customers and one product designed for construction association planrooms. Over the course of our 10 year journey we have grown to be an innovative leader in on demand construction software for construction professionals. Our client base has expanded to include Planroom Operators, General Contractors, Architectural firms, Developers as well as Public and Private Owners. We now have three distinct products that deliver effective solutions for a dozen different functional requirements for our clients. We’ve hosted documents and delivered services for well over 100,000 projects, have tens of thousands of people who have used our services and have delivered millions of pages of documents and project information online. We know all about being on the leading edge of the technology adoption curve and have successfully reached this 10 year milestone.
I hope you will forgive me for this very public celebration of our team’s accomplishments but I am very proud of the company we have built and the continuous practical innovation we have managed to bring to the industry. Our product development roadmap includes a number of exciting new innovations that will complement the core services we have already introduced. The evolution of online bid submission and the integration of technologies like BIM into everyday workflows offer tremendous opportunities for the future. I am excited with the direction the industry is moving and look forward to continuing to participate in building a better construction industry.
In the last few weeks I’ve had several emails extolling the virtues of social media for the construction industry. Despite my many years of involvement in the industry and in particular the years spent introducing new online construction technologies; I have to admit I think it is still too early for it to have much utility as a construction related business activity.
Some of the available options are clearly more useful to a business than others and we are still in the early stages of figuring how they can be of value to our clients and our business. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Linked In are some of the more notable options to connect and share information about you and your business. Our company has videos on YouTube to help people find us and learn more about our products. I get that. I have an active Linked In account and I find it a useful way to stay connected to colleagues, particularly those that I don’t see that often. We also have a corporate page on Linked In, again to help people learn about our company. So, I get that one too. Facebook is more of a mystery at this point. If your business requires a lot of networking then maybe there is value here. Twitter is the high profile option that seems the least likely of all to have any real use for construction related businesses.
I have had a front row seat on the willingness and readiness of construction professionals to use online tools and technology for their businesses for over 12 years. Based on that experience I don’t expect a mad rush in the industry to sign up for Twitter accounts and start tweeting each other. I’d be interested to hear from others if you are using any of these technologies and how they are helping you in your business.