The Value of Accurate Jobsite Time Tracking with Isaac Barlow

busybusy founder and CEO, Isaac Barlow, started on the long road to producing a market-leading software solution for construction companies because he had identified a problem.

Raised in a construction family, Isaac had worked his way up from labor in the trenches, to estimating jobs, to project and company management. And the more he tried to improve efficiency in the business, the more frustrating the problem became.

The problem was gathering accurate job site information. Reports of labor hours, equipment use, tasks performed, and other project developments were paper-based, drawn from memory, incomplete, and costly to administer. He knew there was value locked up in all that inaccurate and missing information.

Three E’s to Efficiency and Profitability

Isaac realized that to drive up the efficiency of the business, he had to have better information. The problem he found was based on the three parts of the construction accounting cycle, the three Es: estimate, execute, evaluate.

A project starts with a detailed estimate. Then, the project is executed. The final step is the evaluation, where the execution is measured against the estimate. This comparison accounts for profits and losses, and exposes any necessary cost adjustments for future estimates.

The efficiency of each step in the cycle relies on the accuracy of the information from the previous steps.

  • the estimate is based on evaluations of data from similar jobs.
  • execution is based on time, equipment, and material provided in the estimate.
  • evaluation filters data from the two previous steps into a final accounting.

Using this method, account details provide new data for the first step in the next project cycle.

Project Evaluation Depends On Quality of Project Data

Back in the day, the accuracy of the data used in the evaluation phase was the main pain point. The paper trail had long been recognized as the weak link in the chain. Managers and estimators were left to sort through scattered paper sources and extract job performance records from manually reported time cards, job codes, and various project updates.

Isaac could see, in the late 2000s, the efficiency of using streamlined, automated, digital, mobile technology to bridge the gap between job performance, field data records, and office analytics. The busybusy time tracking app, after many years in development, was the first step in strengthening the chain.

The Free busybusy App Is Worth More Than Free

busybusy is on a mission to end the dependency of the construction industry on paper time cards. For that simple reason, the company offers free accounts for companies up to 100 employees.

These permanently free accounts include the complete time and equipment tracking functions, GPS location mapping and location-based reminders, digital signatures, and basic payroll report views.

Just by eliminating the paper time cards by automating with busybusy, companies consistently report 25-30% growth year over year.

On top of this increase, supervisors gain real time job site visibility of employees and machines, including their current activities. This improves overall situational awareness which results in faster response times and asset optimization when required.

How Scaling Up From Free Pays Off Even More

As companies scale up their operations and resources, they often need more detail, transparency, and automation in managing their data flows from job site to office analytics.

busybusy offers paid corporate and pro level accounts that add advanced reporting, data file exports, budgeting automation, custom permission settings, job notes and photo logs, and more.

Companies that run ERP, or other forms of construction management software, can take advantage of busybusy’s integration with applications like Quickbooks, Procore, Sage, Explorer, Foundation, and other systems.

New API-based integrations are being developed and launched on a regular basis for the busybusy app platform. This automated integration delivers still greater operational cost savings through streamlined accounting, payroll, job estimating, customer relations, supply chain management, and other core business functions.

Improved Job Costing With Automated Data Collection Adds Value Across Your Entire Corporation

Whether free or paid, busybusy time tracking customers report both cost reductions and business growth. Accurate, automated, real time data unlocks the true value of job variables related to labor and equipment utilization.

Better details about specific job costs translate into critical business intelligence. This leads directly to value added in specific elements of each project cycle.

●    better identification and sharper definition of project costing variables.

●    automated data collection and integration into project management workflows.

●    real-time analytics to monitor job progress against estimated time frames.

●    visual GPS map tracking of all field staff and equipment locations and actions.

●    accurate job costing benchmarks for all key project performance factors.

Customer Success Stories Show Power of Time Tracking App

busybusy customers routinely report gains in bottom line results of about 25% in year over year comparisons. Gains up to around the 25% level represent the low-hanging fruit of improved efficiencies. This includes just the basic business enhancements that come from switching from paper to digital systems.

Companies in the busybusy customer family include one full-service landscaping firm that adopted the comprehensive busybusy package of time and equipment tracking and full data analytics. This technological innovation was combined with business process innovations to accelerate growth and market penetration.

In the space of one year, this company was able to approximately double in staff size, reduce payroll administration time by about 65%, and push revenue growth higher by 30%.

busybusy and Caterpillar Pave the Way With New Technologies

Another example of the busybusy efficiency effect is the recent cooperation with Caterpillar in combining busybusy time tracking with the informatics and telematics of the Cat Connect system, VisionLink. The result is data-driven business intelligence that produces additional competitive advantages for Caterpillar heavy equipment customers.

With busybusy automating core business processes in a mobile app with cloud-based data storage and access, and feeding real time integrated analytics into project management systems, construction companies of all sizes can propel themselves to the next level.

Change For the Sake of Doing Construction Better

Profitability and efficiency can produce exponential growth when technology enhancements drive and are driven by concurrent business strategy enhancements. This capacity for growth represents the true value of time tracking and the related corporate culture changes that can result.

According to Isaac, this kind of cultural shift is the single most important aspect of company growth. It represents the culmination (so far) of his construction career. And it puts busybusy in the forefront of the ongoing technology revolution across the construction industry.