What Running Jobs on Spreadsheets Is Actually Costing You
Quick answer: Running jobs on spreadsheets looks free, but the real cost shows up in a PM's hours spent chasing updates, change orders that never get written down and billed, rework from a crew building off an old drawing, and pay apps that go out late. None of it appears as a line item, so most contractors never add it up against what software would actually cost them.
Key Takeaways
- ●A 2018 FMI survey of 599 construction leaders, commissioned by PlanGrid/Autodesk, found about 35% of the week goes to non-productive work, over 14 hours per person.
- ●Five and a half of those hours go to hunting down project data like revised drawings and cut sheets, and bad information drives 48% of all rework.
- ●The real costs are a PM's time chasing updates, change orders that never get billed, rework from old information, and pay apps that run late.
- ●A worked example (two PMs, one missed change order a month, one rework incident a month) adds up to $69,000 a year before counting late billing or the owner's time.
- ●If two or more of six warning signs sound familiar, from one person knowing how the file works to not being able to answer "where does this job stand" from your phone, the spreadsheet is probably costing more than it looks.
The spreadsheet looks free. You already own Excel, your PM knows how to use it, and it's been running jobs for years.
The cost shows up somewhere else. It's in the hours your PM spends chasing updates, the change order nobody wrote down, the rework after a crew built off an old drawing, and the pay app that went out a week late. None of it appears as a line item, so it's easy to miss until you add it up.
This page walks through where that money goes and shows you how to put a number on your own company.
What the Research Says
The most-cited numbers come from Construction Disconnected, a 2018 survey of 599 construction leaders by FMI, commissioned by PlanGrid (now part of Autodesk). It's a vendor-backed study and several years old, so treat it as a signal rather than gospel. Check it against your own jobs and see if it rings true.
- →**About 35% of the week goes to non-productive work.** That's over 14 hours per person, spent looking for project information, resolving conflicts and dealing with mistakes and rework. (Autodesk)
- →**Five and a half of those hours go to hunting down project data,** such as revised drawings, cut sheets and other job information. (BuiltWorlds)
- →**Bad information drives rework.** Respondents put 48% of all rework on U.S. jobsites down to poor project data and miscommunication. (Autodesk)
A spreadsheet can't cause all of that, and software can't fix all of it. But when the job lives in a file one person updates, everyone else is working from whatever version they last saw.
Where the Money Goes
Every update that lives in a spreadsheet has to be gathered by someone. That's the PM calling the foreman, reading texts, and retyping it into the file at night. Those are hours you're paying a PM's rate for, and they're not spent running the job.
The owner's rep asks for a change on site. The foreman does it, because that's what keeps the job moving. If nobody writes it down that day, it doesn't make it to the invoice. One missed change a month adds up fast, and it comes straight off your margin.
A crew builds off the schedule or drawing they saw last week. Someone updated the spreadsheet, but the field never saw it. Now you're paying twice for the same work, plus the days it costs you.
When job status is scattered across texts, photos and a spreadsheet, pulling together a pay app takes longer. Every week it slips is a week your money sits in someone else's account.
If you can't see where a job stands without calling someone, you're the one doing the chasing. That time comes out of bidding, hiring and growing the business.
Run Your Own Numbers
Grab your own numbers and work through these four lines. Fill in what you know; leave a line at zero if it doesn't apply.
| Cost | How it's calculated |
|---|---|
| PM time spent chasing updates | Number of PMs × hours a week each spends gathering and retyping updates × hourly cost × 50 working weeks |
| Unbilled change orders | Changes a month that don't make it to an invoice × average value × 12 |
| Rework from old information | Rework incidents a month × average cost to fix × 12 |
| Late billing (optional) | Average monthly billing × days pay apps run late ÷ 365 × your annual cost of borrowing × 12 |
A worked example. This is a made-up company to show how the math works, not an industry average. Two PMs each spend 6 hours a week chasing updates at $45 an hour, which comes to $27,000 a year. One $1,500 change a month goes unbilled, another $18,000. One $2,000 rework incident a month adds $24,000. That's $69,000 a year before counting late billing or the owner's time.
Add up your lines, then compare the total with what software would cost you on the pricing page.
Signs It's Time to Move Off the Spreadsheet
- →Only one person really knows how the file works, and things stall when they're out.
- →Your PM spends the start of every day on the phone finding out what happened yesterday.
- →You've found a change on the job that never made it to an invoice, more than once.
- →A crew has worked from an old schedule or drawing in the last few months.
- →Pay apps take days to put together because the information is in five places.
- →You can't answer "where does this job stand?" from your phone.
If two or more of those sound familiar, the spreadsheet is probably costing you more than it looks.
Getting That Money Back
Every cost on this page has the same root. The job lives in a file, and the field can't keep it current. Fix that, and most of the leaks close.
| Where it leaks | How ServiceIQ closes it |
|---|---|
| PM time chasing updates | Foremen update the job by voice from the field, and it lands where the office can see it. The PM asks ServiceIQ for a report instead of making calls. |
| Unbilled change orders | The change gets logged on site the day it happens. Clients and outside parties approve by email, no login needed. |
| Rework from old information | Your whole team is on the same live job, added at no extra cost, so nobody's working from last week's version. |
| Billing that runs late | Job status is already in one place when it's time to put the pay app together. |
| The owner's time | Ask ServiceIQ where a job stands, from your phone, without calling anyone. |
Your Next Step
If your number made you wince, the next question is which software actually fixes it for a company your size. We ran the same five jobsite tasks in six tools and wrote down what happened. Compare the tools for small GCs.
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