How to keep your construction site connected

There’s a magic to construction that’s hard to quantify. Seeing a house, building or stadium come out of what was once a pile of dirt over the course of months or years is inspiring. The fuel for that is communication.

However, construction sites are filled with logistical challenges that make communication difficult. From maintaining connections at field offices to overcoming the noise of machinery, these difficulties need to be sorted for any construction site.

Below, we’ll go over some of those challenges and how to overcome them.

Why staying connected is critical

The field office on any construction site is the heart of any build project. It’s the home of immediate project management decision-making, site security and access control, safety and response coordination, planning, site lead and subcontractor coordination, and worker support.

All of that is enabled by a fast, reliable connection. It’s critical when you consider the challenges of the construction industry:

• Productivity. Productivity in the construction industry is lagging behind other industries, according to McKinsey. Construction productivity per worker has declined by half since the 1960s, lagging behind other industries in both the United States and Europe.
• Emergencies. The construction industry accounts for 1 in 5 fatal injuries reported, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. With tens of thousands of injuries per year, fast communication is critical in emergency situations.
• Scale. Construction requires coordination between teams, sites and stakeholders across other industries. From architects to owners to subcontractors and project managers, fast and quality communication is the lifeblood of success.
• Missed opportunities. According to the Construction Marketing Association, 85 percent of callers who reach voicemail don’t leave a message, cutting off potentially important leads. Especially since the average residential construction lead is worth $47,500.

One of the best ways to stay connected is to actually stay mobile.

How mobile business phone systems help

If you’re setting up a field office on a construction site and need something that can connect everyone, VoIP phone service is a good choice for several reasons, from easy setup to reliable 5G internet service.

Easy setup

Your field office is a temporary location. You can’t afford a complicated setup that takes ages to put up and take down. With easy setup, you’ll save time for more important things, like freeing up staff to ensure proper safety protocol.

It’s hard to beat VoIP when it comes to easy setup. If you already have desktop IP phones you like, all you have to do is plug them into the internet or connect them to Wi-Fi and they’ll work. You can also use laptops or mobile phones and connect directly to services like Ooma Office.

Mobility

The second advantage is getting around the site while staying connected. Being on site means being mobile. Whether you’re going to and from the field or walking around, checking in with workers and inspecting processes, you can’t be missing calls in the field office.

Due to the nature of VoIP, you can use your smartphone to stay connected to your business number. That means taking calls when you’re in the office, out in the field, or even in your truck using Apple CarPlay as you leave the site.

5G business internet

You can’t always get fiber or cable internet on a construction site, but you can get great 5G business internet service. You need fast, reliable internet, and one strong option is fixed wireless internet.

This is not only easy to set up, but fast enough to connect with important platforms and reliable enough to support your team when you need it most. With the number of wires and accidents on construction sites, you also won’t have to worry about internet cables getting damaged and harming your site productivity.

Services like Ooma Connect can even be bundled with Ooma Office to streamline your communication system. You’ll also get a suite of advanced features you can use to take your construction site up a step.

Key features that make a difference

From AI transcriptions to Virtual Receptionist and 911 alerts, there are a number of features that can be critical to your construction site. Let’s take a look at some of them.

Mobile app

You need to be everywhere on a site, from the field office to the actual field and in the truck on the way to and from the site. When you’re doing that, though, you can miss out on a lot of essential communication.

A mobile app helps ensure you stay connected, and you can install it on a variety of devices like your smartphone or tablet. There are also desktop apps you can install onto your laptop out on the site. This will not only make you more effective but your employees too, because you have more communication devices available to all of you.

AI transcriptions

Construction sites are loud places, so effectively hearing everything—especially incoming calls—can be difficult. If you can’t hear well, you can’t communicate well.

AI transcriptions, which automatically capture every word in a call and summarize it with key conversation points, can help. It means you can even keep on your safety earmuffs and take a look at the transcriptions instead. You’ll see exactly what was said, so you won’t have to guess and can concentrate on staying safe and getting the job done.

Plus, because all of this is saved to your account, you can reference it later. Either way, you’re getting the ability to better understand clients and other workers in the field, making your team faster and more informed.

Virtual Receptionist

Your staff has enough to do on site, which means there doesn’t need to be someone watching the phone all day in case clients call. Because the only thing worse than an angry client is an angry client who thinks you’re ignoring their calls.

Virtual Receptionist allows callers to direct themselves to the department they need most, which doesn’t require a central person answering the phone every time it rings. It also allows you to play pre-recorded messages that provide essential information, like site hours or who to call in an emergency.

Leads are valuable, and you won’t miss out on them as much with Virtual Receptionist. It also means the clients you have will be happier. Even your employees can more easily reach managers to address issues instead of jumping through hoops of phone tag.

Jobber integration

If you rely on Jobber to streamline your construction operations, integration with VoIP services like Ooma Office is integral. Features like Caller-ID Pops let your staff preview client profiles and manage details when taking or making calls, including information like name, quotes, requests, jobs and balance.

Your staff will spend less time figuring out who they’re talking to and what they want and more time actually helping them, supporting both business growth and productivity.

E-911 and Alerts

When there’s an emergency, you need a quick response. VoIP phone systems make 911 easier to dial with E-911 and Alerts.

E-911 directly sends your address to dispatchers so no time is wasted in sending a response team to your location, while Alerts sends notifications when anyone on your system calls 911. This allows your team to adapt and help in any way they can.

Seconds are critical in any emergency, and anything that can help shave those down can help you save lives.

Keeping connected leads to real-world benefits

On most construction sites, communication breakdown—not labor—is the biggest source of delays, safety risks and lost revenue.

With a well-connected site that takes advantage of the features available to it, you can overcome many of those challenges. You can react to emergencies quicker, make workers more productive, free up time to focus on safety regulations, and keep current and potential clients happier—leading to real bottom-line growth for your business.