Five Ways Better Project Documentation Reduces Project Disputes

To commence, operate, assess, and build a business, documentation is the crux, and poor documentation is the root cause of project disputes. Disputes in the middle of a project often occur when relevant construction project documentation remains missing.

The client says the project was delayed by two weeks. The site manager says he received the revised design late, and the vendor says he delivered the materials on time. Every person owns their truth, and the owner remains with different versions of truth and no construction project documentation to prove otherwise. Because there is no reliable record of what happened, when it happened, and who approved it, accountability is never taken. The owner bears the additional costs of rework, client dissatisfaction, and material wastage.

Construction Project Documentation is not just paperwork; it’s a business asset

To commence a new project in the construction industry, the first process involves laying out all aspects on paper or digital documents. Why? Documentation brings clarity and defines the workflow for a project. To give life to the project in physicality, it’s vital to first give it life on paper.
From creating a quotation, project budget, BOQ, 2D-3D layouts and designs of the project, finalised designs of the project, establishing a list of vendors, subcontractors, labours, Purchase Orders, Expense Bills, subcontractor expenses, Equipment rentals, maintaining vendor rates, rental equipment rates, to carrying out payments for site labours, office team salaries, settling accounts. These documents are not created for one-time use. The site teams, finance team, procurement team, and the owners keep coming back to the designs, BOQs, and RFQs for reference and to stay within the estimated budget. The finance team reviews and aligns generated bills to create invoices, carry out payments, and settle accounts.

Needless to say, without properly maintained documents for each stage, aspect, and element, a project can potentially become paralysed, and the company can incur major losses as well as the client. Therefore, maintaining an organised, segment-wise documentation is an asset for every project, every owner. However, maintaining physical documents is important but not enough. In an era where modern methods of construction are rapidly expanding, sticking only to the traditional way of data-keeping and maintaining records can make your company’s efficiency and effectiveness stagnant.

Why traditional project documentation methods are no longer enough

Let’s try to understand why traditional methods fail at today’s project scale.

Physical Registers

Imagine the site manager is at site and the finance team asks them to share details of the PO and WO from last month’s specific date. What would the site manager do? He will have to pause assessing the task’s progress at the site and go through a plethora of entries made in the register. If the site administrator is not present at site, presenting or sharing the required details at the required time becomes impossible. Therefore, creating delay in project execution. In no way can it be established who approved the PO and WO, relevant photo attachments, or what the actuals are against estimates.

Single copy, no remote access to physical registers, prone to damage and misplacement, and difficulty pinpointing entries at the required point in time are a few of the many problems of the traditional ways. This is not just tedious for the site manager, but also a slowing-down process for all the interconnected teams.

Excel Sheets

Excel Sheets manage data. It doesn’t manage construction. Why? Because it was never built for it. Before the introduction of Microsoft Excel, contractors were doing everything manually, on pen and paper. After the rise of spreadsheets and by the late 80s, spreadsheets became an integral part of every construction project documentation workflow. Excel Sheets became the staple, and 80% of construction professionals were estimating budgets, costing, expenses, transactions, and more on Excel Sheets.

As the industry and technology kept evolving over the years, managing construction activities evolved too. But business owners became so comfortable with spreadsheets that switching to a new, improved, and more suitable setup for running a construction business seemed too good to be true. They had doubts and difficulty trusting or adapting to a new concept. As a result, projects were delayed, and certain situations that can now be avoided before they occur couldn’t be dealt with.

Construction companies that want to scale up their business are shifting to Construction ERPs to streamline their business and create synergy.

Communication over WhatsApp

WhatsApp is an excellent medium to communicate. But for project documentation? Not so much. Site administrators share site updates with project managers and business owners through written text, images, and videos. However, there is no possible way to ascertain when the picture was captured, when the video was captured, or even if it aligns with a specific project’s respective site work. Too many images clutter the gallery at the time of preparing reports; nobody remembers the context of the image. It becomes a game of memory. Additionally, through WhatsApp communication, a clear line of approvals remains missing. At the time of questioning, where was the approval shared, which group holds the instructions, and which drawing is the latest remains unanswered and open to interpretation.

Traditional methods of documentation are not wrong. They’re just simply obsolete. Old methods create gaps. Gaps create inefficiencies and disputes. Adapting to enhanced, modern digital systems changes how a construction company handles its projects and streamlines its documentation.

Five Ways Modern Construction Documentation Potentially Reduces Project Disputes

Proper construction project documentation is a crucial topic of concern amongst construction business owners. Training methods have worked brilliantly in the past, but now, creating transparent, accurate, traceable documentation is the factor that the majority of construction owners struggle with. Modern digital ERPs address all the above-mentioned factors that construction business owners struggle with.

Discover five practical ways modern documentation improves communication, accountability, and project management for construction businesses.

1. Creates One Source of Truth

Construction management software creates an ecosystem for owners where all documents such as Drawings, 2D/3D designs, BOQs, Site Updates, task-related photos, RFQs, and approvals are stored in their own segments in an organised way. Details about which team has uploaded which document, who made changes, and who approved are clearly mentioned. This leaves no scope for disputes by creating transparency at all levels.

2. Every Decision Has Context 

Instead of searching for answers to ‘Who approved this?’ ‘When was it approved?’ construction management software answers every who, when, and why without asking. The approvals and multi-level approvals tab states who can give approvals. This builds accountability and clarity on where, when, and who is carrying out approvals.

3. Improves Accountability Across Teams

The BOQ can be uploaded or created for separate projects. All the teams engaged across the project view the same project details, eliminating discrepancies. Suppose the site team is lagging in completing site activities; the admin can trace the cause of the delay, whether it is absent labourers at the site or the supplier delaying delivery of materials. Identifying the problem and taking corrective measures doesn’t remain tedious.

4. Makes Team Communication Transparent

Coordinating with the site teams doesn’t remain a hassle. By creating tasks on construction management systems and assigning them to the designated person, say the site administrator, it enables them to update progress at the site, capture site pictures with geotagging, and, if there are any delays, the administrator can update the reason for the delay. When transparent communication is looped into the workflow, the project effectiveness grows tenfold.

5. Speeds up Decision Making and Approvals

The more organised your documentation is, the better and improved execution happens at the project level. Waiting for hours to get approvals on Purchase Orders, Subcon Expenses, Petty Expenses, Labour Wages, Supplier Rates, and other aspects adds to delayed execution. With construction management systems decisions making gets faster, better, and synchronized. Getting approvals doesn’t remain a lengthy and time-consuming process. From searching files, specific entries, labour attendance, verifying information, and asking for updates – everything stays connected all in one integrated platform.

From Project Documentation to Project Intelligence

Modern Construction Documentation streamlines and connects every aspect of the construction process. As an owner, imagine opening one project and seeing –

• Latest drawings
• BOQ
• Daily Progress Reports
• Purchase Orders
• Site Photos
• Inspection Reports
• RFQs
• Labour Attendance
• Vendor documents
• Payment records
• Project timeline

Everything connected. Pretty awesome, right? With Onsite, documentation isn’t just stored in one software – it stays connected throughout every aspect. A Material Request links to vendors, approval, purchase orders, delivery, and cost records. Streamlining construction operations by connecting documents to respective elements creates synergy and improves team productivity.

Disputes occur in a construction workspace when information is miscommunicated, misinformed, scattered, and delayed. Onsite’s documentation doesn’t just help understand the project. It also predicts and prevents any problem from occurring in the first place.

Enhanced documentation improves accountability and execution. Onsite enables this modern way of carrying out construction activities.

Are you tired of the old ways of managing your construction project documentation? Explore how Onsite enables construction companies to centralise project documentation across all crucial elements. Book a Demo with us and discover how modern document management simplifies project management.