The last few years have been significant years for climate change’s impact on the construction industry. Here in the US, we’ve seen record-breaking wildfires, hurricanes and tornadoes. The World Meteorological Organization says that we can continue to expect atypical weather patterns. As construction industry professionals, we know that weather plays a vital part in your day-to-day (sometimes minute-by-minute) management decisions. Jobsite weather tracking is more critical than ever—and managing potential risk and documenting any weather issues and potential delays related to weather daily can decrease the likelihood of incurring liquidated damages for missing key milestones or substantial completion. (Liquidated damages would eat into profits.) Keeping track of daily weather also provides proof of weather conditions should a subcontractor use weather as a reason for delays for their scope of work — daily documentation of weather conditions can be quickly included in daily progress reports in RedTeam Flex, RedTeam Go and Fieldlens by RedTeam.
What’s jobsite weather tracking
Construction professionals know that weather has a direct impact on productivity. Regional weather forecasts are helpful for short-term planning and creating your weekly schedules. These forecasts can tell you if weather conditions will be dry enough to pour concrete. They can let you know if a cold front is blowing in after warmer temperatures and precipitation to create icy, slippery surfaces. And they can tell you if a larger storm is expected, and your schedules might need to be adjusted for the week.
Jobsite weather tracking uses GPS location to track the microclimate at your jobsite. Increased wind gusts, large fluctuations in temperature, fog, pop-up storms and more are tracked and recorded. RedTeam’s solutions provide current weather conditions and in RedTeam Go, weather conditions for a few predetermined times throughout the day can be added to daily progress reports. Our solutions allow users to quickly and accurately document daily weather conditions as part of their daily reports, and severe weather conditions can be documented, including photos and / or videos of any damage to the site or equipment stored onsite.
Our solutions also allow you to communicate future possible weather issues to project teams for planning purposes, particularly in cases like hurricanes where there’s time to prepare the site. RedTeam’s solutions also allow you to communicate with affected subcontractors and vendors to manage schedule updates and share those with the project team in real time. Efficiently managing communication regarding potential weather issues allows for better planning both before and after the event, which ultimately reduces safety risks and improves your bottom line.
Jobsite weather tracking improves safety and productivity
With jobsite weather tracking as part of your daily construction management tools, not only are you making safety a priority on your jobsite— you’re also protecting your bottom line by avoiding unnecessary risks to your crew, machinery and jobsite. A particularly notable feature of the Fieldens jobsite management app is the messaging and alerts feature. You can use this feature in combination with the real-time weather tracking to watch the climate changes and send out notifications to everybody on the jobsite if inclement weather is about to disrupt the work day.
Jobsite weather tracking protects your bottom line
Global climate change has a direct impact on the construction industry. Unseasonable storms have been more frequent and are becoming more the norm. These newer, more irregular weather conditions that result from climate change lead to a scarcity of building materials and add long delays to their expected delivery, labor shortages and damage to construction equipment and machinery. Inclement weather patterns can directly impact profits from construction projects. However, using construction management and jobsite management solutions like those offered by RedTeam allow you to quickly share information with your project team, to prepare the site, and to plan for potential delays caused by weather. This can’t only reduce delays and safety risks, but the ability to effectively track weather conditions daily to determine in real time whether lookahead schedules and the overall Gantt schedule need to be adjusted to account for weather delays. Keeping subcontractors and owners informed of past, current and possible future weather-related delays will provide less days are lost during construction and will reduce the likelihood of owners charging liquidated damages for project delays. Construction management platforms that include real-time weather reporting can protect you from costly litigation over weather delays. These tools can provide accurate explanations of project delays, or even foresee potential delays coming. This is a primary reason why weather capture technologies are in such high demand right now. RedTeam’s daily reports include the day’s weather conditions and are generated for you, within their respective apps. With this seamless documentation, you have hard data proving when delays were unavoidable due to the weather.
To learn more about how RedTeam’s construction management and jobsite management solutions can help you navigate the weather to improve your productivity and your profit, watch a demo.
