What is HQSuite?

In the construction industry, clear communication between field staff and office administration can be difficult because employees are spread out between different jobsites.

It’s not unusual for a construction business to depend on a variety of correspondence channels, including emails, texts, and other digital forms of communication, to convey necessary information. This means key project details can get lost in translation.

In addition to communication needs, field and office staff must maintain a record of:

• Safety procedures, incidents, trainings, etc.
• Employee schedules and equipment availability
• HR data, which can get particularly challenging during the busy season when additional workers are hired
• Project progression, budgets, and changes

Trying to manage all these moving parts can be overwhelming.

Recently, many contractors have decided to invest in integrated construction software solutions for heavy construction projects — like the products offered by HQSuite — to help them create, maintain, and share key performance indicators and compliance items with their field and office staff.

In this article, we dive into what a communicative tech stack looks like and how the HQSuite construction apps can specifically satisfy your company’s needs.

Key Takeaways:

• Integrated construction software provides construction workers and office staff with accurate information in a fraction of the time.
• HQSuite is a collection of integrated construction apps that are designed to simplify safety, project management, crew management, human resources and provide executives and stakeholders with key performance indicators.
• HQSuite eliminates double data entry, giving contractors the information they need with less of an administrative burden.
• With HQSuite, contractors can share insights with field and office staff to ensure everyone remains on the same page throughout each project.
• By investing in HQSuite and FOUNDATION®, contractors can build a powerful construction-specific tech stack that gives their field and office staff all the information they need to maximize project productivity and profitability.

The Importance of Integrated Software

Integrated software means that the systems can digitally communicate with each other — seamlessly sharing data as new information is received.

By using software that syncs together, contractors receive the information they need in a fraction of the time because as one software gains additional data, the other updates.

This reduces time spent on manual data entry, reduces double entry, and eliminates errors across software.

How Can HQSuite Help?

HQSuite is a collection of integrated construction applications that can:

• Simplify construction project management
• Provide executives and stakeholders with real-time project data to make more informed decisions
• Manage multiple crews across several locations
• Streamline employee onboarding
• More effectively track safety training and performance

HQSuite is a perfect solution for construction companies seeking to improve efficiency with software.

It currently consists of five products aimed at connecting field and office staff to enhance your operations.

Each of these products integrates with FOUNDATION — our leading construction accounting software — to provide contractors with real-time data to make more informed decisions and simplify communication between their field and office staff.

HQSuite’s products include:

1) ProjectHQ®

Managing multiple construction projects at once can seem like an impossible task. There are piles of documents, approvals, audits, and changes along the way.

ProjectHQ addresses these challenges by:

• Allowing you to manage documents from anywhere — create audit trails, directly edit PDFs, and markup as you go.
• Simplifying change order management — initiate change requests and upload approved versions directly into your accounting system.
• Making progress billing easier and more transparent — improve cash flow management and avoid project delays.

With cloud-based construction project management software like ProjectHQ, you can also share documentation digitally amongst your field and office staff to ensure everyone is aware of project goals, progress and changes.

2) SafetyHQ®

Safety is paramount to a construction company’s success. It’s also closely regulated by agencies like OSHA, and it carries significant penalties if contractors do not follow their mandates.

Field and office staff are crucial to building a strong safety culture and maintaining compliance with OSHA regulations.

It’s important to have a safety program that offers job-specific training. It’s also critical to have a clear audit trail of safety information, like job hazard assessments (JHAs).

SafetyHQ simplifies safety programs by:

• Giving contractors the tools they need to track safety, measure safety performance, and make the necessary adjustments to improve safety.
• Empowering contractors to create job-specific safety training, deliver them digitally to employees, and track performance and completion of training before employees are allowed onsite.
• Supplying contractors with an extensive library of pre-built Toolbox Talks, safety meetings, and the ability to create their own.
• Allowing contractors to customize inspection forms and safety checklists to address job-specific hazards.

SafetyHQ helps contractors create a safer work environment because they can precisely measure construction safety performance, create trainings to educate their workforce and leverage JHAs to ensure safety hazards are mitigated.

SafetyHQ can be used as an integrated product with FOUNDATION or its own independent product.

3) hrHQ

Construction companies regularly employ more or less workers depending on their current needs. During the busy season, contractors may need additional help, which means more onboarding.

It’s important that field and office staff have access to human resources information because it can help them remain compliant with labor laws and keep employees satisfied and invested in success.

hrHQ helps employers with their human resources by:

• Offering digital onboarding so employees can complete the process before their first day of work.
• Eliminating paperwork, making tracking critical employee documents easier
• Empowering employees to easily access and update their information for approval
• Giving employees access to historical W-2s and paystubs to improve transparency

Ultimately, hrHQ gives field and office staff the information they need to adhere to labor laws, more effectively manage important documentation, and create a clear human resources approval process.

4) ExecutiveHQ

Executives and stakeholders are oftentimes the ultimate decision-makers. It’s important they have the financial data and project data they need to make the most informed decisions regarding project performance and field and office staff.

ExecutiveHQ gives construction executives interested in integrated software for growth access to:

• Real-time data and progress updates without having to log into their construction accounting software
• Job cost reporting allows them to dive into transaction-level details with interactive charts, graphs, and widgets.
• Project WIP schedules to monitor project progress and profitability and separate data by project manager

ExecutiveHQ gives executives and stakeholders the ability to filter, and sort reports easily to find the information they need in moments.

5) CrewHQ

Without being able to effectively manage crews across several locations and construction projects, contractors are unable to maximize project productivity and profitability.

These inefficiencies can lead to frustration and, in some cases, disputes amongst field and office staff.

But CrewHQ offers a solution with:

• Real-time alerts to keep crews’ schedules aligned with project needs
• The ability to review crew assignments, location, and availability with the quick-look dashboard in just a few clicks.
• Customizable sorting for project activities and task lists to reduce delays and ensure each worker knows and understands their responsibilities.

By leveraging CrewHQ, field and office staff can review crew and equipment availability and adapt accordingly.

This level of transparency our construction productivity software gives you helps improve team communication and ensures each group’s needs are met, resulting in more project productivity.

Connecting Your Field and Office With Integrated Products

Time and accuracy are the two most important factors when attempting to connect your field and office staff.

That is why HQSuite’s line of products integrates with FOUNDATION to eliminate duplicate data entry and provide contractors with easily searchable, secure digital dashboards and a range of financial reports.

These integrations give contractors in-depth financial insights like job cost reporting that tracks every dollar, hour, and quantity for each job.

By connecting your field and office using integrated products like HQSuite and FOUNDATION, you can save time while receiving accurate information in a fraction of the time.

For more information about HQSuite — or any of its construction apps — chat with an expert today!