Technology and construction – it should be a match made in heaven. Construction technology has the power to replace time-consuming and soul-destroying paperwork, record keeping and form filling with digital systems. The dream is that it can make construction faster, more efficient and enjoyable
The reality isn’t matching up to the dream. We’re all living with sprawling Word and Excel files, unmanageable WhatsApp groups and messages, and attachments too large to send via email. We know that reporting is broken, but there is a growing need to capture more assurance documentation on construction projects. So, what’s the solution?
We started developing SymTerra to create construction technology that site teams actually want to use. We wanted to make them part of the project’s story and allow them to contribute effectively, rather than endless form filling and box ticking. Now with industry changes, inflation, labour and material shortages, skills gap and more project delivery pressures, we urgently need to fix the way we communicate.
We need to encourage more people to work in construction and then make their lives easier once they’re on site. We need to allow quick communication, in the way people want to communicate. Good communication doesn’t just make good sense, it helps the bottom line. The 2018 FMI estimated that there is a $280bn construction rework issue because of poor communication.
Revolutionising on-site communication
SymTerra is revolutionising on-site communication by allowing unlimited users to capture and share updates from the project in real time. Using text, voice, photo and video, the whole project team can keep everyone up to date, straight from their smartphones. And it’s not just progress updates, SymTerra reduces complex reporting by allowing users to create bespoke forms and surveys to ensure data is relevant, accurate and consistent. Construction feels a lot less stressful. Everyone’s life is easier.
We left our steady jobs in construction because we knew by developing the system, we wish we had, we could help fix construction’s communication problem. Over £5bn worth of rail, utilities and construction projects currently rely on SymTerra. We connect the entire project team, giving everyone from contractors to senior management a real-time oversight of what’s happening.
An example of SymTerra in action is the Liverpool Street project managed by MTR. It became one of the most documented blockades of its kind in the UK, with over 1,200 updates and more than 3,000 photos captured across three shifts a day over a 10-day period. Throughout the blockage, there was an update on average every 12 minutes (versus the norm of every four hours). The teams were able to update the hour-by-hour programme in real-time, and SymTerra gave comprehensive visibility over what was happening on site to confidently report back to stakeholders on progress.
You’re probably used to software tool companies promising you a lot of great features and then asking for cash for every single user you want to add to the platform. With SymTerra, you can add UNLIMITED USERS completely FOR FREE. Whether they work for you, or they’re a contractor. For as many projects as you like, forever. SymTerra – helping restore your trust in construction technology companies.
So why use SymTerra? Because it will save you time (about an hour a day on average, in case you want specifics). Because you’ll never spend another evening attaching 30 images to an email before realising the files are too large and having to WeTransfer them instead. Because you can say goodbye to the thousands of WhatsApp groups you haven’t got the energy to keep up with. And because you’ll be able to change the way you communicate from site, with unlimited users completely for free, on unlimited projects, forever.
Give us a try by clicking here.
John Ryan
Director
SymTerra
