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Dealing with suboptimal subcontractors is one of the most annoying parts of every general contractor’s life.
Especially today, when GCs are more reliant on subcontractors than ever before.
A recent Construction Dive article even explored ways in which general contractors can protect themselves from, and control problem subs.
Trent Cotney, a partner and head of the construction practice at Tampa, Florida-based Adams and Reese, said in the article that there has been exponential growth in the use of subcontractors on job sites since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
And with that exponential growth has come more instances of GCs seeing their projects implode thanks to problem subcontractors.
“A ‘problem subcontractor’ would be any person or entity who consistently causes issues that would negatively impact a construction project,” Cotney told the publication. “Common problems include work delays, miscommunication or non-communication, lack of proper equipment or expertise or manpower, a failure to comply with safety regulations, or payment issues and delays – all of which affect project continuity.”
As a GC, you can’t be everywhere all the time. You can’t keep one eye on your subcontractors throughout the entire project lifecycle.
Or can you?
SiteMap® (patent pending), powered by GPRS, is an all-in-one infrastructure mapping and facility management platform that provides you with a single source of truth for the accurate, actionable data you need to plan, manage, dig, and ultimately, build better. It grants you an unprecedented level of control and oversight, whether you’re on-site or half a world away, allowing you to eliminate the risks caused by miscommunications – and stop problem subcontractors from hampering your project.
The Challenges of Managing Subcontractors
Lack of real-time visibility into a subcontractor’s work is one of the biggest challenges that contractors face.
Without a standardized process of documentation and reporting, GCs risk communication breakdowns, scheduling conflicts, and mistakes that lead to budget overruns and safety issues.
If you don’t mandate who your subcontractors hire to obtain as-built infrastructure data, you can’t ensure the quality of the information they’re receiving. And building off bad data is a recipe for disaster.
SiteMap Explained
SiteMap is an infrastructure mapping, and facility and construction project management solution that serves as a digital storage platform for blueprints, as-built drawings, geolocated subsurface utility maps, sewer inspection data, and more.
SiteMap grants a unified view of all users’ information – whether they’re overseeing one construction project or multiple projects across the United States. What sets it apart from other cloud-based GIS platforms is that it’s backed by the field-verified, accurate data collected on-site by GPRS’ SIM-certified Project Managers.
That’s 99.8% accurate utility locates and concrete imaging, 2-4mm accurate 3D laser scans, pinpoint accurate leak detection surveys, and NASSCO-certified video pipe inspections. And it’s all secured in one place, accessible 24/7 from any computer, tablet or smartphone.
SiteMap offers a range of benefits and features that can be customized to meet your needs and resources.
How SiteMap Enhances Your Control Over Your Projects
- Real-Time Visibility: With 24/7, secure access to accurate, complete project data, you’ll know what work has been completed and what still needs to be done.
- Improved Communication and Coordination: You and your team – including all your subcontractors – can work off the same data, eliminating the chance for communication siloes that lead to costly, and potentially dangerous, mistakes.
- Accountability and Documentation: Safeguard the accuracy of your project’s data by controlling the single source of truth for that data. With SiteMap, nobody can claim they didn’t have the right information to do their job.
- Safety: When a subcontractor needs to core into a concrete slab or excavate, SiteMap tells them where they can do so safely. Mitigating the risk of subsurface damage keeps your project on time, on budget, and safe.
Case Study: SiteMap Helps Rudolph Libbe Control Data During Hospital Addition
Longtime GPRS safety partner Rudolph Libbe was the general contractor overseeing an expansion project at a historic hospital in Northwest Ohio. With parts of the medical center’s campus dating back to the mid-1800s, inaccurate as-built data and unknown subsurface obstructions could jeopardize construction planning.
It was essential that the proposed foundation and utility locations aligned with existing site conditions. Traditional exploration methods typically include “soft” excavation methods over the entire building footprint – which would have been expensive, time consuming, and required tremendous coordination between the various project stakeholders.
Rudolph Libbe also wanted 3D as-builts to plan and complete the building addition.
GPRS utilized ground penetrating radar (GPR) scanning and electromagnetic (EM) locating to map the hospital’s utilities, and remote-controlled sewer inspection crawlers and push-fed sewer scopes to map and inspect its wastewater infrastructure.
We also utilized 3D laser scanning to document as-built site data and utility maps to create 2D CAD drawings and a 3D BIM model for virtual design and construction.
All this data was available to the entire project team throughout the project lifecycle via SiteMap, ensuring seamless communication and collaboration.
As a result, Rudolph Libbe was able to precisely design and plan the building addition during preconstruction. The data provided by GPRS via SiteMap revealed clashes and deviations – including a long-forgotten, buried concrete slab right in the middle of the project area – before they could cause expensive rework.
"No one has gone to this extent to map a site above and below ground,” said GPRS Field Support Director, Jaime Althauser. “It was imperative that Rudolph Libbe had accurate as-built site data and utility maps with critical structural and utility tie-in information.”
From helping you manage your subcontractors, to helping you build a skyscraper, GPRS Intelligently Visualizes The Built World® to keep you on time, on budget, and safe.
What can we help you visualize?
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