Industry Overview x Market Trends
Dec 1/23
by Michael Copas
Since contract administration is closely linked with the number of construction projects underway, administering contracts closely mirrors as to what goes on in the construction industry. Generally, the construction industry holds steady or grows, unless there is a significant recession.
Since contract administration is closely linked with the number of construction projects underway, administering contracts closely mirrors what goes on in the construction industry. Generally, the construction industry holds steady or grows, unless there is a significant recession. Even during the lockdowns of COVID-19, the industry saw essential construction continue. New protocols were put in place and many design professionals worked from home.
One important note to consider, as climate change continues to negatively impact built construction around the world, with flooding, wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes and war, is that there will be a steady growth to repair, renovate or reconstruct homes, businesses, institutions and recreational facilities.
Statslog also sees that the need for renewable energy systems, retrofitting existing construction with improved function, reducing costs and decreasing demands for fossil fuels, and other consumable materials, will increase the demand for quality construction and the associated contract administration.
On a more local level, accessible and affordable housing is always in demand. Whether for people displaced by issues in their home countries or by climate change. Large urban centers tend to draw low-income individuals, with hopes for a better life and the better social network available to them, there. Accessibility in design is becoming more accepted in Canada. As more people retire, designing with a more universal approach will no longer be a rarity, but commonplace.
Technology Trends
Technology is rapidly changing, where in the past, yearly cycles of change, seemed too fast. Now, new ideas and programs are popping up daily, with an impossible probability of remaining current. Cyber security, malicious attacks, ransomed source code, data corruption, are probabilities that many companies face and must be addressed.
How contract administration is completed, hasn’t significantly changed. However, the tools and methods available to do the work have had improvements. Statslog was one of the very first dedicated contract administration programs available.
Market History
Contract Administration is a niche market. There have been plenty of “project management” applications that try to compete with Statslog; however, they are a tool for managing a project. This is from the contractor’s/builder’s point of view, only requiring an accounting component and scheduling feature. The industry itself uses these naming conventions interchangeably, often incorrectly.
Accounting is an accrual method of tracking financial transactions, reflective of the last observation plus, the current observation, that must equal observations to date. In contract administration the observation is, of what is observed to date, minus the observation of the past, to determine the current change in observation. The reason why we do it this way, is because of the very nature of observing the progress of construction and is not like an inventory methodology.
Current Market Trends
The biggest trends facing the industry are:
How and with whom do you collaborate with?
Who do you share data with?
Where is data stored?
Industry expectations of web-based applications
Collaboration is often touted as a time-saving feature. That data communally shared, somehow reduces the need to actually communicate with each other, therefore saving time and money. In contract administration, in Ontario, the architectural design professional is ultimately responsible for the data collected, to monitor change and create certificates of payments, necessitates the data to be kept secure, accurate and independent.
As desirable as it seems, allowing a builder/contractor to enter/share data, the fact remains, the builder/contractor is not an employee of the design professional. This could mean inadvertent inaccuracies, errors and omissions, that could lead to litigation. Statslog already has a controlled mechanism for collaboration, with a read-only version. This allows third parties to review the data collected and then discuss any issues.
Cloud servers/hosting has already become quite common. Larger and well-established firms, may or may not have embraced modern technology. Many of our firms still use their own servers to store their data. While many smaller and younger firms see the benefits of cloud servers/hosting and fully prefer this methodology.
Once clients have fully embraced the cloud, as their “go to” place for storage. This is why Statslog is upgrading its technology, and will soon allow access to the program from any device and from any location, including the construction site.
Michael Copas is a co-founder of Statslog Software Corporation, which has been providing continuing service to contract administrators in the offices of design professionals since 1984.