Construction might easily be considered one of the most active industries around, with frequent changes, updates, and movements of parts and people occurring every day both on project sites across the world. As tools and equipment break down after sustained use, new ones are bought and shipped to job sites as replacements. As bids are accepted and new projects are taken on, construction materials and employees have shuffled around to new locations. And as warranties and certifications approach expiration, construction companies must be vigilant in making sure all equipment stays up-to-date. Keeping track of all these moving parts can seem overwhelming without a solid organizational plan in place. And when you own your own construction business, asset tracking and management becomes a vital element in helping your business both run efficiently and stay on top of all your projects. Without an asset tracking method included in your daily operations, you risk losing precious work hours, valuable equipment, and even entire projects, all of which can add up to thousands to millions of dollars lost in potential revenue.

1. HOW ASSET TRACKING HELPS
CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES
INCREASE REVENUE AND AVOID
UNNECESSARY PROBLEMS
January 2017
Schedule a demo: assetpanda.youcanbook.me
Tel: (855) 898-6058
Email Us: info@assetpanda.com

2. How Asset Tracking Helps Construction Companies
Increase Revenue and Avoid Unnecessary Problems
Page 2
1 https://www.nicb.org/File%20Library/Public%20Affairs/NICB-NER2014-HE_FINAL.pdf
2 https://www.marketplace.org/2011/01/07/life/construction-equipment-hot-property-thieves
3 http://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/choosing-the-right-tires-decreases-downtime-costs/30987
4 https://www.osha.gov/oshstats/commonstats.html
Construction might easily be considered one of the most active industries around, with frequent changes,
updates, and movements of parts and people occurring every day both on project sites across the world.
As tools and equipment break down after sustained use, new ones are bought and shipped to job sites as
replacements. As bids are accepted and new projects are taken on, construction materials and employees
have shuffled around to new locations. And as warranties and certifications approach expiration,
construction companies must be vigilant in making sure all equipment stays up-to-date.
Keeping track of all these moving parts can seem overwhelming without a solid organizational plan in
place. And when you own your own construction business, asset tracking and management becomes a vital
element in helping your business both run efficiently and stay on top of all your projects. Without an asset
tracking method included in your daily operations, you risk losing precious work hours, valuable equipment,
and even entire projects, all of which can add up to thousands to millions of dollars lost in potential revenue.
For example, without proper asset tracking, construction companies are susceptible to losing large amounts
of money to theft. In its 2014 Equipment Theft Report1
, the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) and
National Equipment Register (NER) estimated the total annual cost of stolen equipment was between $300
million to $1 billion. The most common types of construction-related equipment stolen included loaders,
tractors, and excavators, with the average estimated value of a single piece hitting just over $46,000.
While the NICB and NER did note in their report that law enforcement helped find and recover over $6
million worth of stolen equipment, the success rate of recovery was lower than should make construction
companies comfortable. Of 11,625 thefts reported, law enforcement, NICB, and NER were only able to
conduct 2,633 recoveries, just 23% of all total reported thefts. With numbers like that, the construction
industry is still open to losing roughly $231 million to $770 million per year, not to mention any revenue lost
from decreased workforce productivity due to the missing items.
Unfortunately for construction companies, lost profits are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to
problems they will face without a robust, powerful asset tracking solution.

3. How Asset Tracking Helps Construction Companies
Increase Revenue and Avoid Unnecessary Problems
Page 3
“Without an asset tracking method included
in your daily operations, you risk losing
precious work hours, valuable equipment,
and even entire projects, all of which can add
up to thousands to millions of dollars lost in
potential revenue.
How a Lack of Asset Tracking and Management Negatively
Affects Construction Companies
When businesses in the construction industry don’t properly track and manage their assets, they risk not
only losing out on thousands to millions of dollars a year but also dealing with a flood of related issues.
Construction brands without a solid asset management solution in place can expect to run across problems
like the following:
Decreased Efficiency
A large drawback to not tracking assets in construction environments is the toll it has on efficiency. When
the construction or project management can’t assign the needed amount of tools and equipment to a job
because they’re unsure of the current status or availability of those items, the on-site workers won’t be able
to complete their jobs efficiently, if at all. In turn, this can hold up other crews who might be involved in the
project, resulting in an overall (and unnecessary) slowdown of work or deadline extensions.
Even traditional methods of asset tracking can cause inefficient work processes in construction. For
example, if a project manager is just using a spreadsheet saved locally to his or her work computer to track
equipment, tools, and the workforce, other members of the construction team won’t be able to easily access
the information they need. Clunky, outdated asset programs or spreadsheets can also require a big learning
curve for employees, some of whom may not be tech-savvy, which also reduces their productivity when they
need to check in or out equipment if they care to do it at all.

4. How Asset Tracking Helps Construction Companies
Increase Revenue and Avoid Unnecessary Problems
Page 4
Equipment Misallocation
Construction companies who don’t track assets will run into the problem of equipment misallocation.
As noted above, when project leaders aren’t able to easily determine the availability and status of tools,
equipment, and people, they won’t be able to accurately assign items and workers to specific jobs, which
can again affect overall productivity and profits. Frequent misallocation could even result in a construction
business losing jobs or shutting down.
As John Camarda of The Quorum Group notes, misallocation can also be compounded when a construction
company is involved in multiple projects at once. Equipment can very easily be assigned to the wrong job
site, and even too much equipment or tools could be sent to another project which doesn’t need all of it.
“We’ll send a bunch of equipment to one site and more to another,” Camarda says, noting how his company
could waste vital time and funds if it didn’t track exactly what equipment each project required.
Missing/Stolen Inventory
Tracking assets in any industry are key to preventing missing or stolen inventory. Particularly for
construction, keeping track of your equipment, tools, and supplies can be the difference between thousands
of dollars worth of machinery and materials being saved each year, as noted in the introduction. When
construction businesses fail to properly catalog assets, this negligence increases the chance of employees
stealing equipment from the company.
And it’s not just employees construction companies need to worry about. Many construction sites have little
to no security, which means any regular citizen could walk onto a site and steal vital tools and supplies. Even
heavy equipment and machinery can be stolen, as some manufacturers use universal keys2
, and all a citizen
would need to do is go to the appropriate dealer and ask for a new key to be made.
“In its 2014 Equipment Theft Report, the
National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) and
National Equipment Register (NER) estimated
the total annual cost of stolen equipment was
between $300 million to $1 billion1
.

5. How Asset Tracking Helps Construction Companies
Increase Revenue and Avoid Unnecessary Problems
Page 5
Unexpected Equipment Maintenance
When maintenance records and warranties of equipment such as cranes and skid steers aren’t tracked in an
asset management program, construction companies won’t know when they’re due for repairs, preventative
maintenance, or even replacement. This means a single, unexpected maintenance issue could set back a
construction project not just by hours, but sometimes days.
Even a tire, which might be easily overlooked in the midst of a larger building project, can cause major delays
in progress if it were to blow, not to mention bring on unwanted costs. “When a skid steer goes down on a
job site, it costs me at least $150/hr for a crew of four, plus we have a truck on site that we cost out at $20/
hr,” explains3
Herman Ciardullo, president of Oakridge Landscaping. “It takes four hours for a service guy to
come and change the tire. That’s $680 for a tire change.”
Downtime Costs
Misallocated, stolen, and broken-down equipment can also have a nasty side effect: lost labor hours. As
noted in the first point, when construction employees aren’t able to find the equipment they need when
they need it, they become inefficient. Many will simply stand around and wait until their materials arrive,
losing your construction business precious labor hours. Even if your crew of 100 workers took one minute
each per day to find equipment, you’d be losing 1.67 hours per day or roughly 417 hours per year.
This situation is even more problematic when the financial cost of those lost hours are factored in. Say your
workers take home an average of $25/hour; this means you’re losing $10,425 per year to downtime. And
if your asset tracking fails your construction crew to the point where each worker is spending up to ten
minutes per day looking for what they need, you’d lose upwards of $100,000 per year in profit.
Compliance Violations
In a similar vein, when the maintenance of materials and equipment isn’t tracked, construction companies
might be susceptible to violating state or organization-specific compliances. For example, if a skid steer isn’t
running as optimally as it should be, it could be leaking oil or spewing harmful emissions into the air, both
of which would violate state and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for clean air and ground
quality.
Physical construction equipment and tools themselves can violate regulations and standards. If the ladders
and ropes around a job site aren’t up to code, for example, a construction company could be found in
violation of certain Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements. Plus, crews might
be forced to stop using a particular piece of equipment if inspectors can’t verify the last time it was re-
certified due to improper asset tracking.

6. How Asset Tracking Helps Construction Companies
Increase Revenue and Avoid Unnecessary Problems
Page 6
Safety Concerns
A final point, but certainly not least important, is the problem of safety when construction businesses
don’t effectively manage their assets. A poorly-running crane or ready-to-snap rope could be the difference
between an employee’s life or death. And unfortunately for the construction industry, OSHA found in 2015
that one in five worker fatalities across the private sector were attributed solely to construction4
.
OSHA also noted in late 2016 the top ten safety violations across all the construction companies they’d
inspected. Some of the violations which occurred due to factors like poor scaffolding, ladders, and
dangerous machinery, could be lessened (and more lives consequently saved) if construction businesses
would implement better asset tracking and management solutions.
How Asset Tracking and Management Helps Construction
Businesses Avoid These Concerns
Construction companies have enough to deal with on a daily basis without having to worry about whether
or not materials and workforce have been properly assigned to a job, or if the faulty equipment is liable
to cause an injury or death. By implementing an asset tracking and management solution that’s flexible,
effective, and easy-to-use, these businesses can reduce or eliminate altogether the problems mentioned
above.
Here’s how a modern, powerful asset management solution can help construction companies:

7. How Asset Tracking Helps Construction Companies
Increase Revenue and Avoid Unnecessary Problems
Page 7
Increases Revenue
An asset tracking solution will, of course, help construction companies save money in the long run by better
tracking equipment usage, maintenance needs, fuel consumption, workforce availability/downtime, etc. A
side benefit of this means companies more likely to calculate ROI and billing accurately, reduce unnecessary
spending, and have a better idea overall of how to optimize operations, all of which can help to sharpen
future job bids, as well.
Streamlines Allocation
Asset management solutions help construction teams better allocate workers, equipment, and materials to
project sites. Knowing exactly where your equipment and team is, and what/who is or is not available, means
you’re more likely to properly assign needed workforce and tools to multiple jobs at once.
Makes Reporting/Tracking Easier
Outdated methods of digital asset tracking like spreadsheets might be difficult for workers who have little
to no computer or smartphone skills or experience to learn how to use (and without error). An easier-to-use,
more streamlined asset platform will simplify the process of checking in/out and transferring tools between
job sites, no matter the technical competence of all employees using the system, and will provide the ability
for management to set up alerts, notifications, and automated reports about the status of equipment and
materials.
Saves Time
An asset management tool can easily help construction companies save time across the board in terms of
better tracking the day-to-day productivity of their workforce, as well as more quickly assigning equipment
and materials to a project because they can see at a glance what is available to them. Automated asset
tracking can also reduce the amount of time during report generation and audits, which would take much
longer if they had to be conducted manually.
Reduces Maintenance Concerns
When maintenance schedules and reports are properly updated in an asset tracking system, management
won’t have to worry as often about the likelihood of equipment breaking down without notice. Alerts and
reports can automatically let management know when maintenance is needed, which reduces the possibility
of needing last-minute, costly repairs or replacements.

8. How Asset Tracking Helps Construction Companies
Increase Revenue and Avoid Unnecessary Problems
Page 8
Enforces Accountability
When construction teams diligently track assets, there’s less of a chance employees will resort to stealing
your equipment if they know it’s being catalogued properly. Asset tracking also enforces accountability so
that whoever touched inventory last can be held responsible if anything were to go wrong or missing.
Increases Safety
Tracking the maintenance and usability status of your equipment means you’re more likely to operate a safer
business with up-to-date, certified equipment. This increase in safety could also result in reduced insurance
costs as you prove you’re taking preventative measures to avoid injuries and mishaps.
Organizes Documentation
Using an asset management platform, you won’t need to deal with filing, and then later trying to find,
physical documents like warranties and certifications. A capable asset tracking and management system will
store these digitally, and will also be able to notify you of upcoming expirations so you can make plans to
renew, replace, or re-certify accordingly.
How Asset Panda Can Work for Constructions Brands
Construction companies who’d like to avoid all the problems listed above and instead benefit from the perks
of an asset tracking and management solution will get what they’re looking for with Asset Panda.
Asset Panda is a cloud-based software solution which can be used on either desktop or mobile devices
for simple, easy accessibility for any user. Our asset tracking software is also flexible enough so you can
customize it to your particular construction-related needs or project-related specifications. Our goal with
Asset Panda is to help you work smarter by making asset management a less difficult and time-consuming
part of your business. Current construction brands using Asset Panda’s software include TCD Civil
Construction, Quorum Group, and Ralco Electric.
You can take advantage of Asset Panda’s free 14-day trial to see if our platform will work for your
construction business asset tracking needs. You can also contact us for more information and a personalized
quote.

9. © 2017 Copyright Asset Panda
About Asset Panda
Asset Panda, the most powerful, yet simple to use free asset tracking software in the world, enables clients
to track their IT assets exactly how they want, and from the mobile devices they already carry. The platform
may be accessed either online or via free mobile iOS and Android apps that sync with the cloud. The apps
include a mobile barcode scanner, so there’s no need to purchase a separate handheld barcode scanner.
Users can add voice notes, videos, documents or photos to the asset’s information. The tool allows users to
view check-in/check-out status, GPS location, lease/purchase information, complete maintenance history,
insurance information, and the depreciation and in ation calculations your accounting and compliance teams
require. Companies of every industry sector and size – including some of the world’s biggest brands – have
chosen Asset Panda to help them manage millions of dollars’ worth of vital assets.
Schedule a demo: assetpanda.youcanbook.me
Tel: (855) 898-6058
Email Us: info@assetpanda.com
Headquarter Office: 3001 Dallas Parkway, Suite
590, Frisco, Texas 75034
www.assetpanda.com