The best construction apps

We use mobile apps in day-to-day life, so why not use them in construction? Whether you're an independent contractor, subcontractor, or general contractor, you’ll gain a lot by using construction apps in your business.

As many construction firms rely on digital solutions, it can be challenging for construction business owners to find the best digital solutions for their businesses. With the best construction app, you will notice that you will spend less time and money on implementing projects.

There are many options, but this article will list the best and most popular options available.

Advantages of using apps

Construction apps have changed the construction sphere in unprecedented ways. All construction work is already digitized and standardized to a degree. Some of the advantages of construction apps are:

• Document management: Construction is a document-heavy business, and construction apps can act as the base for all the regulation and maintenance of your documentation. Construction apps help you keep clean records that make documents easily accessible and discoverable.
• Safety: Construction can be hazardous. However, wearable sensors help recognize harmful situations and movement patterns, thus improving site safety conditions. Wearables can also monitor heart rate, disease, or exhaustion, and an unfit worker can be taken off-site and obtain medical assistance if necessary.
• Improved communication: Communication is one of the significant causes of delay in the construction industry. However, construction apps are the most effective monitoring and collaboration tools to ensure all parties are adequately informed. They can also record all transactions and conversations, which one can reference in the future if a problem arises.
• Improve efficiency: Construction apps improve customer experience by improving efficiency and making information readily available through the cloud, calendar, and messaging functions. Cloud-based functions ensure there are no delays in activities in a construction site.
• Better project analysis and monitoring: Construction apps capture all the information in a construction project. A contractor can monitor and evaluate a project's progress and make an action plan for rectifying project errors.

The best construction apps

We evaluated and created a list of ten innovative construction apps that help you manage your construction business. Read on to find which is the best fit for your construction company.

iNeoSyte

iNeosyte is a powerful project management app for daily reports, site audits, workforce information, and automatic weather data. It helps project managers and team members save hundreds of working hours that would have instead been spent browsing or completing project documents.

The app's advantages include dashboards with complete daily site conditions and safety incidents, weekly and monthly summaries, automatic weather capture timestamps, and safety and task notifications.

These site records are essential as they help protect you from disputes, and the site diary enables you to get a clearer insight into the day-to-day activities of what happened on site.

SmartBid

SmartBid is a customizable construction app that assists general contractors during the preconstruction project phase. General contractors can streamline their bid documents and project data during preconstruction.

A general contractor can send invitations to bid to subcontractors, share project documents and prequalify subcontractors. You can use custom templates and communications and send invitations from one central location that helps you track the progress of subcontractor bids at all times.

A contractor can monitor the files the subcontractor can view, and SmartBid has numerous integrations such as Autodesk, Procore, and dropbox that help you sync and track projects smoothly.

GoBIM

BIM models are now prevalent in the construction industry, and the GoBim app helps project managers, engineers, and architects navigate 3D models and their associated data with ease. The app makes BIM data available in the field at affordable costs.

BIM helps users manage building data in real-time using a multi-dimensional approach, and relying on BIM helps save on human resources and materials. Besides integrating 3D apps, you can use GoBIM for data standardization and compliance management, data modeling, and data sharing.

Departments and teams can easily collaborate and consult on different implementation plans and gather insights on risk mitigation on-site.

PlanGrid

PlanGrid is a robust construction app on iPhone and Android that enables members to easily collaborate and get real-time access to project plans, daily reports, punch lists, and documents. You can quickly mark plans with photos and notes and resolve record issues, thus reducing repeat trips and finding solutions faster through collaboration.

Some of the comprehensive features in the app include project, safety and file management, central photo gallery, simplified submittals, and mobile punch lists. Any changes are automatically backed up and synced across all platforms. The app helps you efficiently manage your project data remotely with or without an internet connection.

The app also helps you get instant notifications on project changes, compare drawings, quickly identify clashes, and stay connected with the most recent plans, thus saving money and time.

Fieldwire

Fieldwire is an all-in-one construction app that allows the entire project team to collaborate on a project, from the project manager to the foreman. With the app, you can efficiently coordinate your team by assigning tasks and working from the latest drawings. You can also track your team's performance as you know who did what. This helps you identify and repeat the best practices in future projects.

You can also improve safety in a construction site by capturing as-built project information as you have an indisputable record of the work done. Some features of this app include real-time messaging, scheduling and reports, mobile plan viewing, markups and as-builts, and digitized documentation.

The app makes the mobile plan viewing of drawings easier and easier to edit and submit documents faster. You can also track everything, record inconsistencies, and markup drawings with notes, photos, and videos. This app is an excellent recommendation for all construction companies looking to improve efficiency.

Procore

Procore is a construction app that makes it easier to manage construction projects. It has project management solutions and quality and safety solutions that help mitigate risks and make tough decisions using real-time data.

The app has seamless integrations with apps you already use. With the Procore app, you can log time card entries, store and share project photos, manage construction schedules, RFIs, submittals, change orders, and create and manage punch list items. It also has on-demand training, and you can earn role-based certifications at your pace.

It has responsive 24/7 support and can save contractors endless hours.

Smartsheet

Smartsheet is a  great app to streamline your project's lifecycle and help you efficiently manage safety concerns as it gives you a holistic view of your projects from inception to closeout. The app makes it easy to collaborate between office and field teams, contractors and subcontractors, consultants, and relevant stakeholders.

Since the app offers real-time data, it reduces safety hazards, redundancies and helps create accurate schedules. Smartsheet easily integrates with G Suite, Dropbox, Salesforce, and DocuSign. The app also makes safety management more manageable, as workers can easily report potential issues using QR codes on their phones. Everything is visible in real-time, and clients have a multi-project overview of the project statuses across portfolios.

Wrike

Wrike is a reliable construction management app that makes it easy for teams to collaborate in real-time. It gives complete visibility in projects, helps create custom dashboards, and offers remote team management. This app is especially great for medium-sized to large companies as it smoothens workflow and reporting problems and makes collaboration easier.

Wrike easily integrates with Adobe, GitHub, Google, Box, Stripe, and other apps. It has a drag and drop interface and automated reporting. It is easy to run several projects simultaneously on the app.

ClockShark

ClockShark is a great time tracking app for field service and construction crews. Managing construction teams needs a lot of coordination. ClockShark has everything necessary for you to work and finish jobs fast and get paid on time.

The app has a GPS-enabled clock that allows for drag and drop scheduling. You can also accurately make accounting reports and payrolls in seconds from the app. It integrates easily with QuickBooks, Xero, Sage, and other apps. Its cloud-based time tracking platform also makes it easy to automate time tracking for field service crews. 

Solocator

The Solocator app is a great construction app with built-in compass features. It uses your phone's camera, adds compass direction details to your photos, and stamps your images with GPS data, date, altitude, longitude, and latitude details and direction. This saves you time for writing descriptions on your photos. 

You can also easily share the photos via email with all the details on compass bearings, elevation, GPS coordinates, and the time the photo was taken. You can also add links to iOS and Google maps. These features make Solocator an excellent app for taking pictures of construction progress, repairs, and snags. Solocator is also compatible with apps like iNeoSyte, and you can directly upload your photos to your field reports.

Summary

Construction apps are worth using, and it only takes a few seconds to download and start using them. They free up your time for other money-making tasks, improve the efficiency of your projects, and even minimize the site visits you need to make. Different apps have built-in tools and collaborative functions that allow all project stakeholders to work simultaneously on up-to-date information.

Before creating the next inspection report or punch list, consider using a construction app to streamline your work.