b'Moving Beyond the Spreadsheet Struggle:ended up with a mix of systems for scheduling, RFIs, financials How Builders Can Stay on Trackand compliance. While each tool solves part of the problem, together they create silos and processes that dont fully match how teams actually work. Thats when spreadsheets creep back You know that spreadsheets run the show on almost everyin to fill the gaps. construction jobsite. Teams use them to manage schedules, RFIs, safety logs and pay apps. All the files get passed around by emailThe result is more of the very problems all this technology was or saved on someones computer/laptop, and updated whenevermeant to solve. Updates get stuck in different places. A foreman theres time. For years, that worked well enough. But todaysrecords a delay in one tool, finance updates costs in another, and projects are bigger, faster and more complex. What once keptby the time someone puts all this data together, the project has teams organized is now slowing them down.already moved on. Most of us have sat in meetings where the first fifteen minutes are spent just figuring out which version of According to the Quickbase Gray Work Report 2025, 71% ofa report is right. construction professionals say that using multiple project management tools makes information sharing difficult. AThe next shift is to break that cycle by building systems that superintendent updates a schedule in the field, a project engineerreflect how contractors actually work. Instead of bending makes changes back at the office and finance is working fromprocesses to fit rigid software or stitching together disconnected another version. By the time anyone compares notes, the numberssolutions, the goal is to unify workflows in a way that keeps are already outdated.field teams, office staff and leadership connected to the same source of truth. Thats when information moves as quickly as Our survey also found that on average, construction teams losethe work itself, and decision-making becomes proactive instead more than 11 hours every week just tracking down updates, timeof reactive. spent on searching instead of building. Its the kind of hidden cost that quietly eats away at schedules, budgets and even team morale.Visibility That Drives Better Decisions Firms that thrive will be those that pivot away from reactive Well, the consequences show up every day. One week a deliverymethods and toward workflows built for speed, accuracy and gets logged in one file but never makes it into another, leavingscale. That means shifting from static files to living systems, crews waiting. The next, an RFI response doesnt reach afrom manual updates to connected processes, and from subcontractor until its too late and work has to be redone. Safetyguesswork to real insight. incidents often sit in paper logs until someone finally types them in, long after the chance to prevent the next problem has passed. Spreadsheets themselves arent the problem, but when theyThis is where purpose-built construction software makes a become the backbone of construction project management, thedifference. Quickbases construction Project Hub Pro app gives result is wasted time and costly errors.subcontractors and builders a single dashboard to track budgets, RFIs, schedules and reportingreducing the silos and version confusion that slow teams down. Why Spreadsheets Fall Short Theres a reason why spreadsheets have been a go-to tool forFeatures like AI Spreadsheet Import, Grid Reports and Quick decades. Theyre flexible, and almost everyone knows how to useInsights are helping teams keep the ease of spreadsheets while them. But they were never built to handle the speed and scale ofsolving their biggest drawbacks. They connect scattered files todays construction projects. When projects rely too heavily oninto real-time workflows and surface trends leaders can act on them, teams end up re-entering data across multiple files, workingwith confidence. from outdated numbers and wasting valuable time reconciling different versions. This slows decision-making and increases theAnd the benefits go beyond efficiency. Its about creating trust chance of costly mistakes.in the data guiding every decision, protecting margins, strengthening client confidence and giving leaders the visibility The better path is to keep the best of spreadsheetsflexibilitythey need to steer projects in the right direction. In an industry and familiaritywhile adding the structure of connectedwhere every hour matters, the choices we make about how we systems, real-time visibility, and reliable data flow.manage information can mean the difference between constant catch-up and predictable delivery.Making that shift means that construction leaders can go beyond simply recording what happened on a project. They need to see the bigger picture and understand why. Spreadsheets can captureSponsored content numbers, but they rarely reveal the story behind them.By Quickbase From Too Many Tools to One Unified System Construction has always adapted when new tools proved their worth. Weve seen teams move from paper drawings to CAD, from clipboards to mobile apps, and from manual logs to digital reporting. Each step forward came from either adopting more advanced tools, embracing new software or upskilling teams to meet the demands of the job. But as projects have grown more complex, many firms have 6'