I’ve developed a habit of reading blogs. Usually I’m always perusing the topics of construction, home improvement, real estate, architecture, web design, or entrepreneurship. Without fail… in the home improvement or construction topics, there are always lists of the top 5 this… or the top 10 that… and I never agree with any of them. So it’s time to start setting our own standard and I’ll start with the ever popular topic of mobile productivity.
1) Dropbox – by far the best app and resource to have by your side if you’re in almost any industry, especially construction. This app pioneered the current push of living in the “cloud,” so to say. To the point, we have clients… we have projects… we have tons of project information that is constantly essential to have on hand. Dropbox, an online storage service, (free) enables us to have access to plans, schedules, bids, spec lists, contracts, and any and all essential documents on the iPhone or iPad available on any job site. If you need a plan, I can show it to you… if we need 5 copies of the Smith proposal, I can email that to our printing company right now. If you need to recall what the frameless shower door budget was for the master bath, done. No one else executes this app’s capability as flawlessly as Dropbox.
2)Omnifocus / 2Do – I can’t decide which app is better… but having a career based on project management and the construction of buildings requires task management software, period. Both these apps enable me to categorize clients, create and manage projects for each client, and track tasks, next actions, and individual items. I suppose some things are only as complicated as you make them… meaning building a house could be as easy as 1,2,3… but usually 1,2,3 has a 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, and so on of sub-items that need to be completed. I’m a firm believer in better project management equaling a better executed project and therefore these app’s are critical to me every day.
3) The Weather Channel – it’s obvious, I know… but when you’re scheduling work to be completed, having materials delivered, or planning most things, weather becomes an issue. The Weather Channel’s app always seems to give a reliable 10 day forecast for my projected week long planning, the 36 hour projection for what’s going to happen today and tomorrow, and the hourly projection so I know exactly how long we can work outside until it starts pouring.
4) BuildCalc / ConcreteCalc / Calculator – another sort of obvious group of apps… I use the generic calculator app on my iPhone every day. Then there’s the special days when I open up “BuildCalc.” From determining stair layout AND whipping out PDF drawings you can email or wirelessly print, to roof layout, to concrete yardage, this app is essential for estimating plans in the office or doing a take off in the field if you need to place a quick order or figure out a critical measurement. “ConcreteCalc” on the other hand is a simple one screen app to quickly calculate yardage for concrete slabs.
5) Camera+ – This should have been my 2nd or 3rd top app but I got too excited about project management. Photos are worth a thousand words… and Camera+ has the everything I need to get them looking the way I want. It loads quick, the volume button can be used to snap pics… instead of the typical touch screen button, it has editing capabilities, and numerous filters to make my photos stand out from the crowd.
I’m either in the middle of a great build and need a progress photo, I’m meeting a new client and need photos of what’s existing for reference later when I’m putting together a proposal, or we’ve hit a milestone and it’s time for a finish photo… Camera+ is what I use.
