Construction management requires industry, business and legal knowledge when it comes to the execution of a construction project – whether you’re hiring subcontractors, purchasing and shipping materials or hiring the staff. Each step has to be regulated, appropriate documentation created, signatures collected and deadlines followed. Contracts have to be right, first time, every time. 

Avokaado can help to simplify these complex processes. Our digital workspace offers a net gain in both productivity and efficiency when it comes to all matters related to construction contracts and internal and external workflows. In this article, we’ll talk you through some of the ways our contract lifecycle management software can benefit construction companies.

When is construction contracts management software worth using?

Based on the contract process flow and volumes of documents, construction companies could be divided into two groups:

• Construction companies that manage large projects and engage with tens of subcontractors 
• Construction companies that do specific works or deliver certain materials in the framework of a large construction project

Construction contracts management software makes the most sense for the construction companies that handle large projects and need quotes from subcontractors every time when they are bidding for new construction or development projects as well as when the construction agreement is finally won and signed.

A subcontractor agreement becomes a dominant use-case for contract automation and management among construction companies. Subcontractor agreements mostly come as a master agreement for performing the work or delivering goods and it typically has several annexes depending on the use case. The information in these contracts is quite often overlapping (dates, company details, object of the agreement etc) and project managers or construction managers draft those agreements one by one. Most parts of the agreement can be standardized and made easy for project managers’ usage. These qualities make a subcontractor agreement a very good use case for automation.

In addition to the subcontractor agreements, which are most heavily used by the larger constructor companies, the other common contract types include:

• sale of goods
• shipping agreements
• employment and service contracts
• acceptance notices

Now let’s take a step forward and see what else construction contracts management software would mean for the construction business and how exactly Avokaado can help.

Benefits of Avokaado in a nutshell:

• Automated contract drafting means time and expense saved
• Standardized document creation reduces risks of mistakes 
• The digital contract workflow process helps project managers easily sub-contract and manage the subcontracting process 
• Contract lifecycle management software provides one source of truth
• A centralized contract dashboard helps avoid project delays

Automated contract drafting means time and expense saved

The document creation process should be easy and efficient whenever your company is liaising with a subcontractor, supplier, service provider or new staff. Automated contract drafting makes it possible due to the pre-built templates.

With pre-built templates, you no longer need to create documents from scratch:

• fill in the questionnaire
• choose between available options,
• apply automatic formatting and styles
• re-use contract data from the previously drafted contracts

What makes this contract preparation process even easier is drafting documents in bundles meaning that you insert data only once and it will be applied to all the contracts in the bundle at once. This reduces not only document creation time but also speeds up approval and review processes by management tremendously.

To enable automated contract drafting for your company you can compose your own library with pre-built templates or use the ones prepared by lawyers from the public contract repository. 

In Avokaado public template library we make sure that all our templates are:

• created for you only by hand-picked and qualified publishers
• ready to go live once our quality assurance control is passed
• getting updated by the publishers, which are provided without any additional charge

Standardized document creation reduces risks of mistakes

Sometimes in the heat of a challenging tender process or construction project, the simple things can get forgotten. Construction contracts are full of potential financial risks and unfavourable terms such as liquidated damages, payment conditions, warranty coverage, guarantee period etc. A project manager should pay close attention to every clause and attachment in a construction contract which is why it takes so long to get the first draft out there.

Standardized contract generation ensures that the first draft is not only created efficiently but also has no empty fields left, no unnecessary changes made or old data kept. Using a controlled document editing environment you don’t have to go over each document again and again once you draft it – you can simply review changes that are made in the questionnaire and be sure there are no pitfalls elsewhere. 

The digital contract workflow process helps project managers easily sub-contract

Collaboration is important for any profession, but it’s critical for the construction industry where work is delegated amongst various parties. Collaboration might get especially messy when the number of subcontractors increases and email threads escalates accordingly. At some point such a contract workflow becomes an overextended and pricey back-and-forth process. Therefore, project managers need to enact clear guidelines and transparent collaboration on documents with subcontractors. 

With Avokaado project managers can streamline their subcontracting processes:

• add parties as viewers or collaborators
• share documents for drafting or approval
• use custom deadlines and reminders
• ask stakeholders to sign contracts
• or sign them yourself

And it’s all done in one place. So the digital contract workflow for the subcontracting process means no need for disruptive email threads that pull your entire team out of its flow or wasting vital hours and days on messy communication. 

Contract lifecycle management software provides one source of truth

Collaboration and communication are essential, just as establishing a good working relationship with stakeholders is key to getting deals done, especially in the highly competitive construction industry. A truly sustainable and well-managed workplace is one that avoids printed documents and outdated versions of the documents prepared by a law firm a few years ago, streamlining the processing and storing of legal documents.

Avokaado cloud-based document management system allows you to store and sort your contracts after signing in a secure document management system. This allows you to access, create, and send contracts from anywhere, at any time. Everyone involved in the construction project uses the same templates, on the same platform – all up-to-date and fully compliant.

A centralized contract dashboard helps avoid delays 

Delay is the most stressful, yet common challenge for any project manager. Missed deadlines and scheduling conflicts lead to inefficient construction operations which snowball into more delays and translate to higher costs. Any project manager has to set strict time frames and ensure construction deadlines are met. Time management also involves keeping suppliers and subcontractors on track, especially when dealing with documentation.

To manage these issues, contract scheduling and tracking methods are helpful tools for a construction project manager. With Avokaado you have a clear overview of all your subcontractor agreements in process, their statuses, hot deadlines, comments and versions in one place. Centralized data about the entire document workflow gives you visibility and therefore control over deals’ progress so that delays are proactively addressed. 

Build your future with Avokaado

With construction contracts management software in place, you can be sure your subcontracting process is never stuck because of legal documentation inefficiency.

With contract lifecycle management tools like Avokaado you can benefit from:

• automated subcontractor and other agreements to speed up drafting
• standardized document generation process to avoid erros
• simultaneous document collaboration to streamline communication
• online document approvals and signing to close deals faster 

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