Construction Scheduling: How to Deliver Building Materials On Time
Today you will learn how construction scheduling helps deliver construction materials.
More precisely, we will go through:
- The definition of construction scheduling
- The significance of good construction delivery schedules
- Ways of delivering building materials on time
Effective building construction scheduling will show in your business growth and your customer satisfaction.
What is Construction Scheduling?
Construction scheduling refers to the blueprint of how and when a construction project will be executed.
It consists of project timeframes and milestones and tracking progress.
One of the things construction scheduling encompasses is on-time building materials delivery.
Construction planning and scheduling can be done manually and automatically. More and more companies are doing their scheduling automatically, as there are top-notch delivery management software that speed up the process.
While setting up a construction project schedule can seem like a hassle, the time you put into it will translate into cost-effective operations and minimum downtime.
A scheduled delivery is a part of construction scheduling and refers to allowing customers to pick the date and time of their building materials delivery.
While companies used to offer a time of day for the scheduled delivery arrival (morning, afternoon, evening), in recent times, companies started letting customers pick more precise delivery times.
You are probably aware that customers are looking for quicker deliveries these days. But did you know that 62% of customers want their goods delivered in less than three days?
One of the reasons people are looking for more precise delivery windows is because they know some companies offer them the chance to organize their day around other daily activities.
The Importance of Good Delivery Schedules
Time is one of the most crucial assets of any company. And the one we are prone to wasting the most.
As it is a limited resource, setting up a delivery schedule is imperative. It helps you stay on track and achieve your short-term and long-term goals.
When you come up with a construction materials delivery schedule, it should help you to:
- Set realistic delivery goals for a set time frame
- Add contingency time in case something unexpected occurs
- Avoid overloading yourself and your staff with deliveries
- Sustain customer satisfaction and quality of service
- Provide drivers with reasonable schedules that also allow for rest
- Implement growth strategies that will help your business grow
And here are some precise ways you can level up your building materials delivery:
Train Your Staff
To ensure there are no discrepancies in building materials delivery, you should train your workforce to perform the construction scheduling process.
That means having:
- Delivery managers who stay up-to-date on industry trends and technology innovations.
- Dispatchers well-versed in the software you are using for construction scheduling.
- A staff quick to efficiently load orders into vehicles.
- Drivers who respond fast to their task assignments and possible route changes.
Investing in delivery management software for construction scheduling is not only a monetary investment but a time-consuming one, as well. But it pays off.
While getting to know the ins and outs of software takes time, it improves the skills and knowledge of your workforce.
How to Deliver Building Materials On Time
Shipping construction materials depends on lots of factors.
When you plan these orders correctly, you will also see positive effects in your overall construction scheduling.
Offer Delivery Slots for Scheduling
Delivery slots are specific time frames (dates and times) you offer to customers so they can schedule their delivery.
It is an effective scheduling method, as your team knows what are the predetermined time slots, and they just wait for them to get filled by deliveries so they can plan them in with the delivery management software.
That leads to numerous benefits:
- Your team can accommodate customer requests with more ease.
- You avoid downtime no matter the size of the delivery and cut wait periods at the loading area.
- You maximize the availability of the fleet
- Your team records fewer failed deliveries and delays
By offering customers delivery slots, you are also asking them to provide additional data for construction project planning and scheduling:
Gather Additional Data for Accurate Delivery Slots
To successfully schedule deliveries with route optimization software, you have to collect, analyze, and connect customer and order information.
Customer Information and Order History
Logically, you won’t provide professional building materials delivery without accurate customer information.
The information your software will need are:
- Customer’s contact details
- Customer’s physical address
- Payment details
- Shipping updates and preferences
That is some of the data you need to assign slots to your fleet drivers. The next important thing is order history. This helps:
- Import data faster
- Compare new data with order history
- Track current and past deliveries
- Review payment history and delivery status
Set Delivery Dates and ETAs (Estimated Times of Arrival)
Here is the part that will make or break your customer satisfaction numbers.
When you offer delivery slots, the whole process begins with the customer that chooses one of the offered time slots.
There is where your team takes over - your team utilizes logistics operation strategies to create a delivery schedule that fits all customer orders.
That includes setting delivery dates, ETAs, and the order of said deliveries.
As 13% of customers say that they wouldn’t come back to order from a company if their order was late, setting ETAs you can actually fulfill is of great importance.
Get to Know the Product and Its Information
Your dispatchers should be familiar with the product being shipped to correctly use the software for scheduling deliveries.
Products vary in size, shape, and weight. Some of them are more fragile than others, requiring special care and custom packaging.
All of that impacts the logistics of loading the products and their pickup. Your vehicle capacity and cost of shipping depend on it, too.
That is why having product shipping profiles helps achieve fast delivery and functional slotting. These profiles consist of:
- Vital product information
- Preferred delivery methods of products
- Their shipping rates
Next, you need to think about order priority.
Schedule Tasks Based on the Priority of Each Order
Even in something niche like building materials schedules, there are many types of orders.
And that is because there are different types of customers.
To create construction schedules that meet everyone’s needs, your team needs to know how to set orders from highest to lowest.
In the construction industry, some of the best ways to prioritize orders are by offering different sorts of deliveries:
- Same-day delivery
- International delivery (takes the longest to complete)
- Standard delivery
- 7-day free delivery (they are of the lowest priority because you schedule them once per week)
You may have customers that order valuable products or bulks of construction materials, and they add a disclaimer in their order that they are on a tight contractor schedule.
It’s a good idea to put them on the top of the priority list, as they can turn into loyal and returning customers.
Plan and Optimize Delivery Routes
Optimizing routes is a must when planning building materials deliveries.
But doing so manually isn’t easy.
That is why route optimization software such as eLogii helps you do it more cost-effectively.
Since route planning is connected to delivery scheduling, you can also plan routes ahead of time.
Bear in mind that routes are optimized by taking into account many factors, like traffic jams, route density, fuel usage, and weather consumption. That way drivers avoid small streets, traffic congestion, and more.
That leads to many benefits, such as:
- Knowing how much manpower and vehicles you need.
- Knowing how much time drivers will spend on the road.
- Allowing for longer service time durations, improving customer satisfaction.
- Offering an optimal number of time slots for customers.
Saving money while planning optimal delivery routes is a recipe for business growth.
Dispatch Drivers
After you plan your fleet’s routes, it’s time to dispatch the delivery plans to the fleet.
This can also be done automatically with delivery management software.
How?
- Your dispatchers lock the plans in place.
- The delivery management software sends out the plan to each driver.
That action is possible because software such as eLogii has the following parts:
- The dashboard - The main control panel acts as a backstage where all the action happens. That is where you plan deliveries.
- The delivery app - Refers to the app which your drivers have on their tablets and phones.
The eLogii app can be downloaded on the Google Play store:
It is also available in Apple Store:
To ensure maximum usability and effectiveness, the eLogii apps for drivers can be integrated with Google Maps, Waze, HERE, and other map apps.
These features allow for real-time updates, live navigation, and other guidance from dispatchers.
Track the Progress of Your Team
As we’ve hinted above, live tracking helps deliver building materials on time.
That is why you employ dispatchers and delivery managers to check on your drivers in real time.
Tracking has multiple benefits. It tells you:
- The location of your drivers
- The number of their remaining deliveries
- The number of completed deliveries
- Their ETA to the next stop on their route
- Any delays or lateness
- Updates to routes and ETAs
Having such visibility gives you control over the last mile of delivery and assures a bigger success rate.
For instance, if you realize that there is one more delivery you can squeeze into your construction work schedule, you can:
- Unlock a driver’s route
- Add a task
- Reoptimize
The driver will get a notification on his phone that he has a new task.
That is a great way to add last-minute deliveries, as customers appreciate the fast shipping.
Optimize Pick-ups and Drop-offs
Construction scheduling encompasses lots of stages, and one of the things you should account for is the time spent on pick-ups and drop-offs.
Pickups and drop-off returns are done at depots - delivery hubs where drivers arrive to take or drop off orders.
Delivery management software optimizes these tasks with an intuitive dashboard. So if you have a driver that has room for an extra stop, you can add another depot location through the driver depot assignment.
Another thing that ensures optimal pick-ups and drop-offs is logistics maintenance. You can train your staff and manage your resources efficiently to ensure no time is lost during loading times and drop-offs.
Also, having trained staff means having a workforce that knows how to properly load orders into vehicles without underusing or exceeding capacity.
Enlisting the help of the best DMS (Delivery Management System) can assist get great results in the construction business.
Calculate ETAs
Now let’s expand on one of the points in the previous paragraph - ETA calculations.
ETA stands for Expected Time of Arrival. It’s a crucial metric for your business.
Not only should your dispatchers know where the delivery fleet is, but the customers as well want to have insight into the state of their orders.
Having an ETA gives you a piece of mind that your business is running. It also gives you future insight into optimal scheduling.
And as we’ve also said, an ETA gives you insight if you have room for more deliveries.
If you’re accurate with your ETA calculation, you will have bigger customer satisfaction, too.
Especially because you can set up custom notifications for your customers.
For instance, if your driver gets through a traffic jam quicker than expected, the route optimization software will calculate that immediately and show a new ETA.
The customer will then get a notification telling them how much earlier the order is arriving.
Final Word: Delivery in Construction Scheduling
We covered the basics of delivery in the construction business.
The combined power of a great team and top-notch software like eLogii will bring cost-effective growth to your company.
Keep in mind that the power of real-time tracking is one of the greatest assets you can use to satisfy the needs of consumers and turn them into loyal customers.
See How It Works in Action
eLogii is an end-to-end cloud-based delivery management platform. Our powerful solution solves the biggest challenges of modern distribution and field service businesses, including: route optimization, planning and execution.
BOOK YOUR DEMO in less than 2 minutes. Fill out a quick form and one of our experts will get in touch with you to show you how our solution works in action. The demo is tailored specifically to your business needs.
Start saving time and money in your operations today!
