When companies bid on projects there is a long list of costs involved with completing the project. One of the prime goals during any job is to keep costs down as low as possible. All contractors have a way of tracking costs and profits associated with projects, but a sophisticated project management system can be a way to maximize the profit in every job. When you track all of the elements of each project and keep a comprehensive library of labor costs, materials suppliers and man hours needed to complete each task library management system
, then you are giving yourself valuable information that can be used to increase company profitability.

A project management system allows you dig down into each task and analyze the details of those tasks to see how you can make things better. For example, if you were allowing a 25 percent cushion on materials when bidding projects it may have cost you some project wins. But when you analyze your actual costs, you determine that a 15 percent cushion will be more than sufficient to keep all projects at a profitable level. When you lower your bid costs based on the detailed actual cost reports of previous projects, then you can use that information to win more work and then approach each job task with a better understanding of how to make it more efficient.

One of the biggest advantages of a good project management system is that it allows you to implement critical changes to a project quickly and seamlessly. Any project can be derailed by the need for a change order, especially if the job owner does not want to agree to the new work. But when you have a comprehensive project monitoring system in place, you can anticipate any potential needs for change orders and approach the job owner with your request at an early stage in the project and with good information to back your request up. When you have historical data to back up your change order request, it makes it very difficult for the job owner to deny the request.

A project is only as efficient and the people running it and the project management system they are using. You can try to get by with a generic management system that will not allow you to capture all of the detailed data a project generates, or you can invest in a system that will help your company to maintain profitability. The company with the most efficient monitoring system is the one that will impress job owners and win more work.