How ENR top 100 companies are seeing 10x ROI

Giving Field Leaders Time Back, with an Extra $680K in Their Profits

Software is eating the world and both our professional and personal lives have been affected by new apps and hardware technology. Traditional industries previously untouched by technology (like transportation, shipping, and real estate) have been disrupted- leading to both the creation of new markets and new jobs, and to the loss of traditional jobs and processes. Alongside this growth, we have seen an increase in the number of software promising benefits in these industries. Construction companies are experts in building magnificent structures, but we haven’t yet been trained to evaluate software solutions. It can get confusing if you are not using the right metrics. All the value propositions it can provide are unique and exciting, but what does it look like in practice? Kwant believes that the insights we provide are only valuable if they are actionable and bring in a real return on investment. In this blog, we’ll break down exactly the key metrics we measure when we provide our solution on construction projects. You’ll see quick results within the project’s lifecycle, as well as a growing ROI as you gather more data across various projects and import your historical data to improve predictability, safety, and productivity.

Let’s dive in.

Increasing Productivity to Reduce Labor Cost

We’ll begin with explaining the benefits from the “AI” portion of Kwant’s name. Our predictive analytics algorithm is backed by robust machine learning algorithms. Kwant will prompt decision makers with alerts based on previous conditions that caused delay. To start, this is based on regional construction data, but the longer your company uses Kwant on projects, the more personalized to your company, your team, and your processes these assessments become. Analyzing real-world scenarios with 100 tradesmen onsite, Kwant.ai has saved its customers approximately 2% in cost on their projects, thanks to early warnings and actionable insights that field staff can apply daily. Utilizing big data analytics through Kwant to accurately measure your output leads to an overall productivity increase of 11%. So, if your project is valued at $75 mil, and your labor cost is 45% of that (based on national average), you’re looking at an extra $680,000 profit by using Kwant to avoid additional work change orders (not to mention the qualitative relief your PM’s get from faster change order negotiations.)

Time Saved with Automating Headcounts

It is critical to know exactly who is on your site at any given time. Inaccurate information puts tradespeople at risk in the case of an injury or evacuation, but obtaining this information is challenging, and takes a surprising amount of time.

Kwant allows for automatic headcounts, meaning you’ll know who is on your site at what time, without having to locate everyone through a sign-in or site walk through. We can connect with existing access control systems for accurate headcounts and compliance, meaning a supervisor is no longer responsible for collecting data alongside their existing duties.

On a project of 715,000 square feet, it takes field leaders about 2 hours to complete a walkthrough… not including the added time when they’re inevitably stopped and questioned by trades throughout. Through no fault of their own, their time is put on hold. By the time the walk is complete, tradesmen have shifted around or moved on to new tasks.

In the example above, an average of 5.25 hours/day would be saved by the team. That’s 26.25 hours per team a week. Walking time is not just eliminated, but is reallocated to address labor miscommunications (since Kwant highlights the discrepancies of planned vs actual manpower at-a-glance).

Superintendents aren’t there to collect data; they’re there to lead.

Lives Saved with Faster Emergency Response

Safety in construction is dual-sided: proactive and responsive. Kwant supports both efforts. Each tradesman is armed with a wearable badge that can detect anomalies in movement, and will warn individuals if their behaviors are putting them at risk. The badges may also include a fall detection feature, immediately notifying site leaders if a fall is observed.

However, if an emergency is to occur, response time is critical. Kwant equips every tradesman with an SOS button, allowing the tradesman to get help 92% faster than before. No waiting for phone calls, finding cell service, or locating a person for help. The name of that individual, the trade they work for, the exact time and location of the incident is sent to a designated responder who can react quickly and effectively. If something is to happen, it must be addressed as quickly as possible.

Reduce Injury-Related Costs

While we’re proud to increase emergency response times, the real power lies in our ability to prevent- both for safety incidents and cost risk management. Before, it was challenging to communicate where high risk areas were, and who was permitted to enter. Now, with the click of a button, a leader can mark areas of their sites as “Unsafe Zones,” or “Restricted Zones,” and when a tradesman unknowingly enters it, they may get a text automatically sent notifying them of the danger. This can apply to many types of dangerous activities: cranes and high drop risk zones, high voltage zones, or anywhere in which one does not have the proper gear, certification, or training to take proper precautions. Not only is the individual made aware of the risk, but the field leader will receive a notification, and measures can be taken to ensure the individual is safe.  

With an average of 1.5% of all construction tradesmen getting injured at least once/year onsite, a project with 400 employees could save around $80,800 per project, based on calculating the average industry cost of $37,000 per incident and factoring in only the dangers Kwant can help avoid. All parties- contractors, owners, and insurance companies- will notice a significant return on investment for their safety measurements.

One Platform for All, One Day to Install

All of this from a single solution. Kwant is a safety & productivity platform that aims to give real-time data access to all parties: schedulers get real-time data and valuable risk analysis during preconstruction, supervisors can make immediate fixes to problems that may have otherwise gone unnoticed until it’s too late, safety managers will have incidents documented, and PM’s have proof of progress and staffing.

Kwant is trusted because of the superior network: no worrying about WiFi signal, no concern with batteries running out or data loss if a badge goes uncharged. This is a network designed for use in harsh conditions, made for hard tradesmen: rugged, tough, reliable, and as efficient as you can get.

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