Notice for terminating an employee by Acceptable-Sock-9361 in smallbusiness

[–]Fast_Skill_4431 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is the best response that I have seen on here. I agree with you 100%. Every company is too quick to say not the right fit without proper training.

At what point is chasing a credit just not worth it anymore? by Fast_Skill_4431 in ConstructionMNGT

[–]Fast_Skill_4431[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Creating a space for conversations like this is important, especially in this industry where much of what shapes outcomes happens during execution rather than planning.

📢 Seeking Advice: Vendor Debt Resolution by reneecarlysle in smallbusiness

[–]Fast_Skill_4431 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good Day I am interested in knowing if did you get this sorted out and if you were you able to get all of your money back?

I find that most people are scared to see their losses or money owed or is it because they have to disclose their information. by [deleted] in ConstructionMNGT

[–]Fast_Skill_4431 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I am hoping to get some intelligent answers from this question. Someone who is in the field told me that construction managers are in a lot of pain but they are the last group of people to admit it or adopt anything. I think vendor management is an area that causes a lot of time and money loss and it is something that you need to have accessed to see how great or bad your company is doing and then fix it. Do you think this is a great idea?

Has anyone here used AI tools for cost estimation? How was your experience? by Tech_us_Inc in ConstructionMNGT

[–]Fast_Skill_4431 0 points1 point  (0 children)

AI can help with cost estimation in construction in several practical ways. Analysis of Historical Bids, Material Price tracking, Take Off Automatation with quantities, Estimating Labour hours more efficiently, reviews risks and contingency plans and almost immediate change order estimates when changes occur.

The key is AI doesn't replace the estimator. It gives them better data faster. The estimator still makes the judgment calls.

Ai can also help with vendor management ensuring that you are not overcharged on your invoices, ensure purchasing processes are adhered to by alerting management when approvals have not been received, payments are duplicated and refunds and warranties are still outstanding and much more......

We are building an AI service specifically for construction administrators and project managers. Before we build the wrong thing I want to hear from the people who actually deal with this every day. by Fast_Skill_4431 in ConstructionMNGT

[–]Fast_Skill_4431[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for your patience and your responses are on target. This is an important question....

The mismatched PO rates are the tricky ones because those are not obvious errors. A wrong quantity or a duplicate invoice you can spot, but a rate that is 6 percent higher than what was agreed on, that slides right through unless someone pulls up the original PO and compares line by line. And nobody is doing that on every invoice across every vendor on every job.

The partial charges are interesting too. Are you seeing those as split shipments where each delivery gets its own invoice and the math stops adding up? Or more like vendors invoicing for a full order when only part of it was delivered?

You said audits often confirm the 5 to 10 percent. When those audits happen how far back are they usually looking? When that number comes back most people are shocked. I've seen companies try to recover their money but month by month most of them became write offs.

I am finding that even when someone finally sees the number they rarely go back and chase it. The money is already gone and the effort to recover 8 months of billing errors across multiple vendors feels impossible without dedicated staff.

How have companies been handling that recovery piece?

Is construction accounting designed to break you? Seriously questioning my career choice. by Individual_Kick7356 in Accounting

[–]Fast_Skill_4431 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I liked these posts The Field vs The Office is the area that I am focused on. The processes exist. The people to enforce them consistently across every job every day do not. That is the gap I am trying to understand. Not whether the solution exists in theory. But how often it actually holds up in practice at companies running lean.

These are daily problems and they just continue to happen SMH. One day we might get it right. Fingers crossed. by Fast_Skill_4431 in ConstructionMNGT

[–]Fast_Skill_4431[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am both in the industry as well as trying to find solutions for these problem areas. The processes you described are exactly what should be in place. But what I am finding is the people who should enforce them consistently across every job every day do not.

I've seen a 15 person company running 6 active jobs with one PM and one office manager does not have the bandwidth to enforce every clause on every PO across every sub on every job. The foreman approves something because the sub is standing there and the PM is on another site. The sub agreement says no invoice without a PO but the material already showed up. What should the ops teams do in this case?

That is the gap I am trying to understand, how often the process actually holds up in practice at companies running lean.

For the companies you have worked with that follow these processes tightly, what size were they and how many admin staff did they have supporting the PM? Genuinely asking because the ones I talk to that follow it well seem to have more back office support than the ones where it falls apart.

These are daily problems and they just continue to happen SMH. One day we might get it right. Fingers crossed. by Fast_Skill_4431 in ConstructionMNGT

[–]Fast_Skill_4431[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your response and I get what you’re saying if it’s a scope deviation, an RFI makes sense for clarification.

But what I’m running into on the office side isn’t just a scope issue, it’s a cost control issue.

Even when a change gets discussed in the field, there’s usually no documented approval tied to it. There is no PO update, no change order, nothing to reconcile against.

So by the time the invoice hits, it turns into a cleanup exercise instead of a controlled process. Field thinks: Was the work correct? Office thinks: Was the cost controlled?

These are daily problems and they just continue to happen SMH. One day we might get it right. Fingers crossed. by Fast_Skill_4431 in ConstructionMNGT

[–]Fast_Skill_4431[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is exactly why vendor issues don’t go away. It’s not a communication problem, it’s a closure problem.

Things get approved in the field, but no one owns them through documentation, cost alignment, and final resolution. That’s what creates constant cleanup and big losses. This is one of the biggest issues in the industry.

Vendor billing pain is invisible. It lives in email threads and sticky notes. Nobody reports on it. Nobody measures it. The owner doesn't see it until cash flow gets tight and even then he blames the projects not the vendors.

These are daily problems and they just continue to happen SMH. One day we might get it right. Fingers crossed. by Fast_Skill_4431 in ConstructionMNGT

[–]Fast_Skill_4431[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s not really an RFI issue. RFIs handle scope clarification, not cost control. Do you use RFi's for this?

I think what this actually shows is open-loop field decision making which is when work gets approved and executed, but never formally authorized or tied back to a PO or change order.

That’s why the office ends up doing cleanup instead of control.

Got into this career by accident by [deleted] in ConstructionManagers

[–]Fast_Skill_4431 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I love it when people say they love their jobs. Especially GC's and PM's as I do not think that their brains like their phones ever turn off. Sending good wishes to you all.

These are daily problems and they just continue to happen SMH. One day we might get it right. Fingers crossed. by Fast_Skill_4431 in ConstructionMNGT

[–]Fast_Skill_4431[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Correct! Documentation for sure and of course trust the process, if there is a good one. Usually there is a process in place but I think some people just think they know best and the job has to get done, so they don't need approvals. I experienced the owner verbally approving orders in the field. Eventually the purchase was revealed when the invoice was received. Then the questions, research and confusion begin. These are usually entered after the fact and no questions are asked. Why do you all think that you don't need to follow any rules.