Best Business Intelligence Dashboards for Specialty Contractors: What to Build First
Specialty trade contractors frequently believe Business Intelligence is for large general contractors. The opposite is closer to the truth. Because the work is more uniform and labor is a larger share of cost, the metrics are simpler. Payback is often faster. SelectView Data Solutions builds reporting on Trimble Viewpoint Vista and Spectrum, and this guide covers the four BI dashboards for contractors should build first.
Why specialty contractors get faster payback
A general contractor’s margin is spread across subcontracts. Aggregation is their reporting problem. A specialty contractor self performs. Margin lives in labor productivity – work repeats often enough that comparison is meaningful.
That combination means a small number of well-chosen metrics explains most of the variance in profitability, which is not true for a GC. The reporting build is usually shorter and the effect on decisions more immediate.
The four dashboards to build first
Order
Dashboard
What it reveals
1
Labor productivity by cost code
Self performed margin is won or lost on installed quantity per burdened hour, against estimate.
2
Margin by service line and job type
Which work you should bid more of, and which you should stop bidding
3
Change order capture
Work changed on site, versus change orders actually priced and approved
4
Crew utilization and backlog
Does capacity match the pipeline?
Labor productivity, done properly
Productivity is installed quantity per burdened hour, measured at cost code level. Before a dashboard is possible, quantities and hours have to be recorded with the same cost code. The cost code is how the quanitites and hours are related. Because hours are necessary for payroll, many specialty contractors record hours reliably. Accurate logging of quantities may be inconsistent. If that is your position, fixing quantity capture is a high priority. The dashboard follows easily afterward. If you build the BI dashboard first, the report may look great but provide an inaccurate picture.
Change order capture is usually the biggest number
In specialty work, change orders (or extras) are frequently agreed verbally on site. Lost margin occurs when the work is performed but never priced. A change order capture dashboard compares work authorized against change orders raised and approved, and the gap is money you have already spent.
Identifying such uncompensated work is often the fastest financial return of any reporting a specialty contractor builds. The gap is usually larger than expected. The correction is a process change rather than a system change.
What not to build
Elaborate WIP schedules, unless your contracts and size warrant them. Many specialty contractors need simpler revenue recognition than a GC.
Executive dashboards with no operational drill down. In a smaller business the same people make both decisions.
Anything requiring data you do not currently capture, until capture is fixed.
Getting started
Pick your top five cost codes by labor value. Confirm quantities are recorded against them.
Build labor productivity for those five only.
Add service line margin once cost coding is consistent.
Add change order capture, which usually needs a process change alongside the report.
Reconcile to a signed off month end before anyone relies on it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do specialty trade contractors need BI dashboards?
Often yes, and payback can be faster than for a general contractor because the work is more uniform and labor is a larger share of cost, so a few metrics explain most of the variance.
What should a specialty contractor build first?
Labor productivity by cost code, then margin by service line, then change order capture, then crew utilization and backlog.
How is labor productivity measured?
Installed quantity per burdened hour at cost code level. It requires quantities to be recorded and hours to be coded to the same cost code, which is where most contractors have a gap.
Why does change order capture matter so much?
Extras agreed on site and never priced are the most common source of lost margin in specialty work, and the gap is usually larger than contractors expect.
Do we need a full WIP schedule?
Not always. Many specialty contractors need simpler revenue recognition than a general contractor, and building an elaborate WIP schedule can be effort better spent on productivity reporting.
What if we do not record quantities?
Fix that first. Without quantities there is no productivity measure, and a BI dashboard built on hours alone will look authoritative while telling you very little.