PlanHub recently wrapped up its participation at the Advancing Preconstruction 2024 event in Denver, Colorado, with resounding success. The event served as a platform for PlanHub to showcase  our innovative solutions and engage with industry professionals. Here’s a brief recap of the event:

Panel Discussion: PlanHub hosted a panel discussion titled “How to Simplify Preconstruction Through Networking,” featuring CEO Ro Bhatia, Ryan Conlan, and guest speakers. Attendees gained valuable insights into overcoming challenges in the construction industry.  PlanHub extends gratitude to all attendees, management, and staff for making the event a success. Special thanks to Devin Sherman, Michael Budd, Brad Tatum, and others for sharing their  knowledge with us.  

In the construction industry, a general contractor is the driving force behind a given project’s success. From the earliest stages onward, their actions and leadership can often dictate whether a job will come together smoothly or face a rocky road to completion. 

However, a huge piece of the project puzzle hinges on assembling the most qualified team of subcontractors possible. Finding the right project partners, and then finding the most efficient way to work together, is a constant challenge for most general contractors.

Luckily, construction professionals no longer need to rely on landline phones, rolodexes and the Yellow Pages to communicate with each other.  The advent of cloud-based preconstruction platforms has provided general contractors with the tools they need to connect and collaborate with the best people for the job at hand.

Connecting with the Subcontractors You Need

To successfully complete a project of any size, finding the right subcontractors is imperative. Hiring qualified professionals with the expertise you need not only guarantees that your project will be done correctly, but it’ll also increase the chances that the job will be completed on time and – just as importantly – on budget. 

So how do you give yourself the best chance of finding the best crew? Your most effective (and efficient) solution is to start using a time-saving preconstruction platform like PlanHub. With powerful search and filtering capabilities, this type of tool allows you to easily discover and identify the most qualified subcontractors for your project based on location, trade specialties, certifications and a whole lot more. Send ITBs to your favorite candidates with just a few clicks and assemble your team faster than ever.

The help you receive from these tools shouldn’t stop there. In fact, a good preconstruction platform should allow subcontractors to automatically match with your projects and receive ITBs without you needing to lift a finger. It should also allow subcontractors to promote their businesses to you by building out robust profiles that can help you learn more about them, including pre-qualification information.

PlanHub offers the ultimate networking and communication tools to help you connect with the best project partners possible and grow your business. Learn more by checking out our recent blog: “Why is Networking Important? Let Us Count the Ways”

Monitor Subcontractors Throughout The Bidding Process

It cannot be overstated how important it is to understand how subcontractors are interacting with your projects. Keeping track of who is and isn’t planning to bid can help you stay ahead of any potential gaps in your bid coverage and avoid any related delays.

To make sure you’re staying on top of this all-important stage in the preconstruction process, follow these tried-and-true tips:

• Be proactive and communicate with subcontractors
• Answer all RFIs promptly
• Adopt a preconstruction platform that will help you track who is downloading files and planning to bid, as well as manage incoming bids. It should also allow you to easily search, sort and filter and export the information you need, and enable you to send notes and messages to subcontractors interacting with your projects. 

If you do identify gaps in your bid coverage, that premium preconstruction platform will be a lifesaver.  Use those intuitive search features to send ITBs to a new round of qualified subcontractors, connect with the candidates that have already interacted with your project (again, a quality platform will allow you to quickly identify these contacts), and give them a call (or, as your platform should allow, save time by messaging them in bulk!)

With all of these features and many more, PlanHub is your ultimate all-in-one platform for preconstruction collaboration. Request a demo today and see how it works!

Construction, as they say, is not for loners… it’s a team activity. Whether you are networking with potential contacts, bidding on a new opportunity or collaborating on an existing project, working in the construction business means always needing to call, text or email someone. 

Unfortunately, most common methods of communication just don’t cut it in today’s fast-based construction world. From emails that don’t automatically refresh to messages that are clunky to compose and organize, the old ways of connecting are often holding us back from using our time efficiently.

Thankfully, you can stash away that rolodex, put down your flip phone and log out of that email account. PlanHub is ready to provide you with a game-changing new slate of tools designed to help you collaborate with more time-efficiency than ever before. It’s a new era for PlanHub users, and we’re kicking it off with the ultimate all-in-one communication tool: Messaging Center 2.0.

Get the Message Faster

Do I owe that contractor a call, or was I supposed to wait to hear from them? What’s the context of this message I just received? I’m sure they sent me that estimate yesterday, but was it in a text, email or one of my apps? I barely had a chance to glance at that important piece of feedback that landed in my inbox yesterday, so where the heck did it go?

Instead of feeling overwhelmed by disjointed conversations and incompatible tools and apps, PlanHub’s platform allows you to effortlessly collaborate in real time with coworkers and contacts, all in one place. Check or send messages one-by-one or in bulk (an amazing time-saver!), organize conversations to your liking, and manage files all in one place. 

Whether you are sending or receiving pricing information or project updates, disorganized communication can lead to catastrophic errors and delays. Messaging Center 2.0 is designed to ensure that you never misplace a memo by making it easy for you to send, read, save and categorize every message in a way that works best for you. 

Looking to stay on top of your work without actively staring at your laptop all day? With new message alerts and 24-7 access from your mobile device, you’ll never miss a beat (and to learn how PlanHub’s all-in-one platform streamlines the entire preconstruction process, check out our recent blog: “Optimizing Construction Productivity”.)

Enhanced Features

From the beginning, PlanHub has always explored the best possible ways for construction professionals to work together. Our platform has always offered innovative tools to help you connect with contacts and project partners, and our users’ feedback has been the driving force behind the cutting-edge features you need to take your communication to the next level. With PlanHub’s Messaging Center 2.0, you can:

• Organize Conversations – Split up chats into channels by project and teams, or arrange them in a customized fashion that works best for you
• See Messages in Real Time – Never miss a message or waste time refreshing your email again. React and respond to important communication instantly to keep projects moving and keep yourself at the front of the line for new ones.
• Send Group Messages – Collaborate with ease and keep your entire team updated on the latest and greatest projects, news and notes.
• Manage and Send Documents – Effortlessly upload, send and save files needed to keep your workflow moving towards success.
• Search with Ease – Effortlessly search by project, company, file name, links, and more to find exactly what you need in seconds.
• Edit Messages – We’re allowed to change our minds about ideas and decisions. Now you can change your messages right in PlanHub with Messaging Center 2.0. 
• Label Company Contacts by Type – Categorize your company contacts so you can easily determine who to reach out to for a specific need.
• Mark Messages as Read or Unread – Do you want to keep glanced-at messages top of mind, or remind yourself which messages you have or haven’t reviewed? In Messaging Center 2.0, you control when your messages should be considered read or unread.

Set Yourself Up For Success

In a project-based industry where collaboration is crucial, solid communication helps bring people and projects together..better. By combining your favorite functionality into one intuitive platform,, Messaging Center 2.0 is the perfect one-stop shop for your entire team’s communication needs. 

Even better, Messaging Center 2.0 is the first of an innovative series of tools that PlanHub is unveiling to help construction professionals collaborate more efficiently. With so many exciting developments on the horizon, why wait? Register today and start connecting with everyone you need to succeed!

Whether you’ve worked in the construction industry for three months or thirty years, one fact remains constant: no two projects are exactly the same.  General contractors must juggle an ever-changing list of requirements based on each project’s needs, along with their own standards and preferences. At the same time, subcontractors and suppliers want general contractors to know about their unique skills, qualifications and offerings so they can be called upon when needed.  

When well-matched construction professionals partner up on projects that they are uniquely qualified to handle together, it’s magic. Enter the ultimate matchmaker: PlanHub.

Simple Searchability

From the beginning PlanHub has operated and evolved with the needs of the construction industry in mind. We pay close attention to what general contractors need to succeed, so we know how important it is to quickly find the perfect candidates and suppliers in order to hit the ground running on any project, or – if faced with an unexpected setback – keep an important project moving forward without allowing things to grind to a halt.

PlanHub’s search functions and filters are created to help general contractors find exactly who they need without the hassle. Intuitive, easy-to-understand filters and search tools address the most common factors that general contractors of all sizes look for when searching for subcontractors and suppliers, allowing them to easily contact or send ITB’s to only the most qualified candidates for the job.

Both general contractors and subcontractors can also reap huge benefits from PlanHub’s exclusive Automatic Matching capabilities, which can automatically send newly-posted projects to subcontractors based on their respective qualifications and adjustable search parameters. If a project is a good fit for a subcontractor’s skills, desired work area and other pre established factors, they will immediately be notified and given an opportunity to contend for the work opportunity – a fantastic time-saver for everyone involved,  

Badges of Honor

If you are a subcontractor, making PlanHub a part of your day-to-day operations is a strong way to show general contractors that you are running an efficient, forward-thinking business. Due to popular demand, we’ve implemented a badge system to help general contractors easily identify subcontractors who are consistently engaging with PlanHub to help them streamline their work, build their network and grow their business.

• A green badge indicates that the subcontractor has submitted their pre-qualification form, allowing general contractors to learn about their certifications, licenses, safety history, insurance & bonding and more. 
• A blue badge is earned by active, responsive subcontractors who submit multiple bids per month through the PlanHub platform.  
• A yellow badge is given to Premier-level PlanHub subscribers, a great way to discover forward-thinking professionals who are excited to embrace new ways to connect, streamline and grow.

Of course, badges are just one of many new features that we’ve added over the years to make PlanHub the ultimate all-in-one hub for construction projects. To learn about more new features as we roll them out, sign up to receive our free newsletter today!