Construction Projects

Hi, I’m also interested in construction templates and would be interested in working with someone to develop one. As i see it there are multiple templates that would be needed.

  1. Estimating and bidding projects. I receive Invitations daily to bid on projects… probably about 20 projects a week at least. Some are from different General Contractors for the same projects and some are unique projects… All of them have varying deadlines. and within those invites there is bidding workflow… Download drawings, Import to take-off software, download/import addendums, perform quantity take-off, Send take-off to supplier for pricing, assemble price, send to client. and then follow up in a couple of weeks to see how you faired on the bid, analyze bid results.
  2. Once a project is awarded… this now moves into a project management workflow. receive and sign contract, prepare shop drawings for Client/consultant review, wait 10+ days, receive approved shop drawings, order materials from supplier.
  3. then this moves into… site operations/installation. Pickup/deliver materials, Acclimatize materials (industry specific task), Schedule Installation, complete work, address deficiencies if necessary, submit warranties and other close out docs.
  4. Then Accounting, submit progress invoices, Submit change order invoices (If applicable), Collect stat declarations, submit holdback invoices.
  5. take pictures, upload to website, get more business. lol.

I’d love to create some templates that can achieve all these tasks and more. I actually think it can be done on Asana from what i see. Not sure if there is an easy way to integrate contacts database? Currently using the free version and have not tried the premium ones yet. Would love to hear back from people on this. Shoot me a msg anytime!!

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Hi @beau1,
PM’d you, I can definitely help you with the right set up and to organize you needs.
Thank you!

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Hi, im also looking for the same type of information. Is there anyway you could share it to me aswell?

Thank you

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Good Morning, Our business is brand new to Asana( like yesterday lol)I have a similar situation regarding construction projects. . I work for a home builder and designer with multiple projects going at the same time. Any ideas how we can see all our projects on one timeline(gantt chart)? As you can imagine tasks /dates are always moving so we are try to see full picture. Not sure which template would work best for us. Any help /advice you can give would be appreciated.

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Hello, Did you happen to find anything that worked for you? I’m in the process of finding a template that will work for us as well . We run a home builder/ renovation business with multiply projects going at the same time. We newly installed asana and trying to figure it out. Any advise would be appreciated!

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Hey @Eileen_Dancho,

you can definitely achieve setting all this up in Asana. If you need assistance you might want to work with an Asana expert to help you set up everything the way you need it so it works for all the workflows you require. Because construction projects can be really different from case to case.

It depends on a lot of factors and requires background knowledge on how things operate atm, which parties are involved, how they operate, what steps do you handle, any steps you don’t handle but still have to factor in, and a lot of more information required in order to help setting up a proper structure in Asana with Project templates, Asana team/s, custom fields set up, rules, task templates and much more.

Here is a small example for a process of “cutting, painting, assembling, installing a product” and monitoring the hours allocated and hours consumed.

There are various templates and tips for different processes which you can use as guidance and then tailor everything to your needs.

Yes you can have one project where all tasks of all projects are tagged under, then you can see the process of everything. Similar to the set up I suggested in the other link I posted above.

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Hi Eileen
I’ve spent a fair amount of time in the last few weeks trying different things. I looked at my workflow and wrote down in detail all the steps of my business from estimating to execution to accounting.

At first I made every project a project starting from estimating and then I realized that it was a bit too overwhelming to look at it that way. I am a commercial construction subcontractor and I have about 15-20 bids due a week or more never-mind the execution of the work. I started looking at things a bit differently. And this is what works for me.

I looked at Bidding/estimating is a ongoing “company project” and from my emails I add or forward each new bid opportunity to my bidding/estimating project folder. From there I set a bunch of sub tasks. Create some columns that I find useful like what products(s) I’m going to quote, my job numbering, the bid amount, the other Contractors that have asked me to bid the same job, whether I won or not and a column for the winning bid… if someone gives me that info. I’ll make some notes in appropriate spots.

Then from there I close out each task of the “bidding project” as complete when it’s done. I don’t delete it because a job quoted today often comes around 6 weeks or more later. You can filter completed vs incomplete and not have to see a huge list.

One of the cool things about Asana is that you can turn your tasks into projects. So when I win a project I turn the task into a project and have some sections for “project management” “execution” “accounting”

Not sure if that helps you much but that’s generally how I made use of it so far. I heard that there are some new features like a “multi-selector” coming out this month which I look forward to. As it stands right now when I bid on multiple elements of a project and my products column only allows for one selection.

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Hey MFC! Do you think you could help me out as well. First time using Asana and I’m trying to onboard my company to it.

We’re not a huge team around 10 working in the office, and we handle maybe 5-10 projects at a time.

I would have wanted to use Asana similarly to those above mainly the following;

  • Shared gantt charts
  • Punch lists
  • Expenses
  • Purchasing
    Just the usual nothing special :slight_smile:

Would appreciate any help.

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Hi, Daniel,
PM’d you, I can definitely help you with the right set up and to organize your needs.
Thank you!

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Hey MFC,

Shoot me a dm, we may have some work for you in regards to setting up a project management workflow in Asana.

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Hi Nathan,
What do you mean by dm?

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I am researching residential design/build applications with Asana. We use MSFT Project for macro scheduling, but need a tool at more ‘micro’ level for project/task mgt. I see there’s extensive conversation on the topic, and would like to see any templates/prototype resources that are available.
In gratitude,
Judy

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Hi,
Can you give a bit more information what you need? meaning, what kind is more micro, I have a calendar set up on it each crew and completing a task on it once invoiced.

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We just joined Asana and I could use some help with getting a workflow going for construction projects. Do you have any templates you could share with me?

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Hi @Daniel_Gomez1, I am also trying to make asana work for residential and commercial construction management. Was @MFC able to help you? Any feedback or help would be awesome. Thanks!

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@MFC, I’m also in construction and have similar needs to @Daniel_Gomez1. We are trying to setup asana to manage our workflows/tasks/gant charts. Any help or tips would be amazing. Thanks!

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Hi,
You need to be more specific, and also it is not that you need a standard template, you want to have it the right way you want it. But if you explain more I might be able to help you!

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@MFC Good Evening,

Could we chat about the templates you’ve been using for your Construction Projects.
I’d like to get some assistance with this.

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Good morning everyone!

Glad to know I’m not alone in trying to figure out how to best track a construction project in Asana (to which I’m brand new). Landlord/Property Manager here so construction project in this case entails:

Design
Budget
Permit
Bid
Award (to multiple subs becase we’re essentially GCing)
Manage construction
Market to tenants
Get tenants settled in

After watching a number of tutorials, here’s what I’ve come up with:

  • The whole thing should be one “project”
  • The items in the list above are each a “Section”
  • Create tasks in each section for each activity necessary to complete the work of the Section; assign these to various team members as necessary
  • Rely heavily on dependencies so I can use the timeline view to see/know the critical path items and see the impact of one deadline shift/delay on the rest of the project schedule
  • Don’t use subtasks unless they’re really little items that the assignee needs help remembering or should be done by a team member other than the assignee. (Reason: sounds more trouble than worth to have to assign the subtask to the project (so that it shows up in Calender and Timeline) and to add dependencies to it)

Here’s where I’m hung up (very long ago MS Project user…)

I want to plot the whole project out (presumably in the timeline), noting how long I anticipate each task (or section) will take and see when I’d be able to deliver if, say, I started the project tomorrow. Likewise, I want to understand the critical path items so I can most quickly figure out how to delivery the project, for example, 1 month earlier. (In this case, I either need to get the project done by April 1 or I need to push it to start December 15 and then know when it would be complete, and know when to refocus on it in the fall so I don’t miss the start date.

Is this a good time to call on the Asana help desk (whatever it’s called?) I’ve got 20 days left in the free trial period, although happy to pay for a month in order to figure out sooner rather than later if Asana is going to be able to help me do what I need to do.

Any/all suggestions/help/guidance welcome.
Cardie

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I’m interested in how you set it up for construction. Are you able to share your template with me?

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