End-to-end digital solutions are becoming increasingly important in the skilled trades. But even individual apps can make life on the job site easier. The motto: Try new things and start with individual processes. The goal: more time for customers and projects.
Smart Services for the Construction Site
Tracking hours, documenting defects and changes, coordinating schedules, and creating orders and invoices: In many businesses, all of this is still largely done manually (by transferring data from one program to another or from a piece of paper to a program) and takes up a lot of time for business owners and skilled workers. Procuring materials is another time-consuming task. Apps offer a solution. There is now a whole range of digital tools and services that simplify business processes, help outsource peripheral tasks, and thus free up time for the core business.
How do you source your materials? Do you call the supplier? Do you order online? Do you pick everything up yourself? Is everything always in the right place at the right time? It often takes a lot of travel and waiting time when adhesives, primers, silicone, spare parts, or tools are missing, broken, or running out. That’s why Würth has been delivering its C-parts to construction sites for years and handles the picking for on-site storage areas.
Following this model, the startup Bex has been delivering any material to construction sites within two hours via an app since 2019. Even the smallest quantities are delivered. Customers purchase from their preferred supplier and pay based on weight and urgency. Founder and CEO Lennart Paul describes Bex as a fulfillment service provider that bridges the gap “from order to wall.” Logistics made easy for everyone.
Since the summer of 2020, tile setter Peter Hegenberger from Leonberg has been using this “Lieferando for the trades.” Initially intended as a backup for forgotten items, the specialist in large-format ceramic tiles now uses the delivery platform strategically and has completely revamped his workflow. “When I take on a new bathroom construction project, I no longer need to make a preliminary visit,” he reports.
Instead of inspecting the site the day before, as he used to do, picking up the materials from the supplier, and bringing them the next day, Peter Hegenberger now handles everything on the day of installation: he orders his materials by 8:30 a.m. and has them delivered. “In the meantime, I take care of the preparatory work; I bring the standard equipment with me myself.”
He also orders materials for additional work via the app and can complete the extra tasks on the same day. As a result, he now receives 20 to 30 deliveries per month. He even has the construction site waste picked up by Bexfahrer and disposed of properly. “That saves an incredible amount of time and effort,” he says happily.
What can you outsource?
The service is ideal for small businesses. Instead of assigning skilled workers to pick-up and delivery services, Peter Hegenberger outsources the purchasing and transport of materials. Even if he sometimes pays a 19-euro shipping fee for a single tube of silicone ordered separately. “That sounds like a lot,” says Hegenberger, a native of Swabia, who has, of course, factored this into his calculations. His conclusion: The business is profitable.
Hegenberger, who operates a fully digitized workflow using an inventory management system, CAD, digital measurement, and mobile time tracking, also has a vision for digital material procurement: “Ideally, I’d like to do away with my own vehicles entirely and have all my materials delivered to and picked up from the job sites.” He himself could then travel there in an electric car instead of a van.
Bex CEO Lennart Paul has had this vision for quite some time. “We can envision fully stocking construction sites in the future,” the founder explains to STEIN. Especially since such a division of labor has long been the norm in other industries and fields of work. “After all, doctors only go into the operating room to perform surgery, and the equipment is fully prepared for them in advance,” says Paul. This effect is called “focusing on the core business”; it enhances the value of professions, makes work more effective, and is made possible for smaller businesses through digitalization.
Read more in STEIN 2/2021.
