A new mobile time-tracking app is offering builders a tool to better plan work schedules, track progress at construction sites and provide data to the home office.
The app, already in use by at least a couple Clark County builders, is seen as a tool for increasing accuracy in accounting and improving profit margins in the highly competitive industry. Years in the making, the “busybusy” app has a GPS tracker that allows the user to send their hours and reports remotely. Even if there is no cell service, the information is stored instantly and automatically forwarded when cell service returns.
Locally, busybusy is proving its usefulness to Aaron Marvin of Vancouver-based A.C.T. Builders. Marvin and his father, Charlie, a longtime local builder, and mother, Terree, the company’s bookkeeper, were looking for technologies to make the bookkeeping process easier and more precise.
“My father and I had been talking about a few different timekeeping apps,” Marvin said. “Trouble is, none were customized for construction.”
Marvin found the busybusy app through Tracy Roundy of Vancouver. She is an area manager for BusyBusy Inc., the company that makes the app.
Marvin’s crew of six full-time employees in the field — plus one at the office — have enjoyed using the app. “All their communication and information now goes through a single source, and is stored for future reference,” he commented.
At a cost of $39 per month for each user, the “app pays for itself just from better timekeeping accuracy, ” Marvin said.
Isaac Barlow of St. George, Utah, developer of the busybusy app, said his idea came from his experience as a contractor in Northern Utah.
“I wanted to create a mobile app that was easy to use for contractors; an app that was created by someone who had walked in their shoes,” he explained.
When he began his research, Barlow learned that half of all contractors go out of business within 4 years. Within the first 7 years, 70 percent are gone. “It was shocking to see those figures,” he said.
Barlow found that labor is the greatest variable cost for contractors. He also learned that most contractors were responsible for at least 11 areas of their operation: assets, employees, customers, estimating, accounting, planning, production, job costing, regulations, legal issues and company growth.
The prototype was tested by builders with as few as three employees and as many as 100. Since its launch just two years ago, growth has been rapid. The app is now in the hands of more than 10,000 people across 40 states and eight countries.
The app is available on Android and iOS platforms. There are no startup fees, and companies are not required to sign a long-term contract.
Roundy, whose husband owns a Vancouver construction company that uses the app, noted the GPS tracker on the device has been useful in unexpected ways.
“As a general rule, our guys are supposed to post their start time when they arrive on-site. One morning, our GPS was showing a start time posted from the middle of the I-5 Bridge. The worker explained there was a lot of traffic,” she said.
