Real estate development is a complicated process, no matter the size or scale of the project. When it comes to construction, one trend has been on the rise in recent years, and that’s the introduction of technology to streamline projects. The need for remote project management in real estate development has never been more apparent. Land acquisition and construction firms have been looking to cloud-based technologies to accelerate the lifecycle of deployments, from acquiring the land to optimizing budgets, down to the build itself.
Real estate development technologies are designed to touch almost every aspect of operations. Firms and contractors now have access to a full suite of tools that minimize manual work and reduce the number of people-hours it takes to complete a multitude of tasks.
Technology is Reshaping the Real Estate Development Industry
Technology is transforming the real estate development industry. Centralized programs like Integrated Workplace Management Systems (IWMS) are crucial for building repeatable developments and consolidating pertinent information into one place. These systems help with everything from underwriting to budget management, to site selection and management, and more.
Property development, land acquisitions, and ground-up construction projects have long relied on Excel-style spreadsheets and time-consuming back and forth between on-site contractors and office staff. These methods are quickly becoming a thing of the past with the adoption of real estate project management software and mobile apps that greatly decrease human error to increase efficiencies and drive profitability.
Who Can Benefit from Real Estate Project Management Software?
Real estate project management and construction projects are long overdue for an operational overhaul. Managing development projects involves hundreds of intertwined processes that can easily fail if one component is roadblocked due to inefficiencies. These delays can tank budgets and set development projects back months if not quickly corrected.
Real estate developers are aware of this and have started to incorporate project management software suites into their business structure to reduce the need for hand-written work orders and manual data entry.
Connecting architects, general contractors, and hard material suppliers using one digital platform to manage a high volume of sites and all phases of the build is invaluable to real estate firms trying to cash in on the development boom.
Investors stand to benefit from real estate project management software as well. Not only does it provide a streamlined process for tracking critical milestones, but they can gain a comprehensive overview of where money is being spent throughout every phase of a project.
In a global economy, land services are another essential element to continued growth. Land acquisitions are a complex undertaking that can be simplified with the use of a single-source project management platform for managing land rights, infrastructure, and assets.
There are a host of perks that come along with onboarding a digital solution for managing real estate development projects. But one that stands out is increased accountability and, ultimately, decreased liability. When shopping around for the right project management platform to drive efficiencies within your enterprise, it is important to choose one that offers a variety of tools.
Choosing the Right Project Management Software for Your Real Estate Development Business
There are some key takeaways that you should look for when searching for the right project management software that best suits the needs of your real estate development, construction, or land acquisition business. Here is a list of features you should be on the lookout for.
Digital Document Generation – From agreements to acquisition documentation, having the ability to automatically generate digital documents while on the go can save both time and money.
Track Critical Timelines Against Development Deadlines – Gain a crystal clear overview of how a real estate project is progressing from multiple standpoints and leave notes for other team members to view on the job site or in the office. This allows developers, investors, and contractors the ability to view completed tasks and outstanding deliverables.
Standardize Repeatable Real Estate Projects and Land Acquisitions – The standardization of tasks can greatly accelerate deliverables like permitting, zoning, and environmental reports that are required to acquire particular plots of land.
Collaborative Platform – Being able to manage access and permission levels to key third parties can bolster collaborative efforts between external developers, contractors, and consultants.
Budget Tracking Capabilities – The presence of a user-friendly dashboard gives businesses a comprehensive overview of a project and greatly increases productivity and controls costs. This overview communicates everything from activity status and ownership to dependencies and iconography reflecting project activity. Quickly identify potential bottlenecks or slowdowns, making it easier to control costs and stay on budget. This also gives project leaders the ability to gather insights about activity relative to forecasts to keep project templates accurate and aligned with any budgetary process.
Measure Real Estate Project Performance – Supported by predictions that update in real-time as work is completed, the right real estate project management software can help empower your project leaders to deliver forecasts with confidence. Gain dynamic forecasting and task inclusion tied to financials, and predict cost and revenue impact directly related to individual project tasks.
It may be best to overshoot and look for a cloud-based project management suite that offers more than you need. As your business grows, as your industry evolves, so will your need for more control and overview of projects.
Streamline Your Real Estate Project with Sitetracker
Sitetracker is designed for viewing high-volume, distributed real estate projects, sites, and assets at scale, in real time. Sitetracker leverages automated, templated processes and workflows to drive efficiency and improve capacity for project managers. Design flexible, repeatable templates that enable you to manage your construction project with agile or six sigma methodologies.
