We all want to say we're "done" with COVID-19, but the latest stats show that we're not out of the woods yet. Experts are calling this upcoming winter a tri-demic, a superstorm of three major illnesses expected to surge once temperatures dip (COVID-19, RSV, and the flu). And the construction industry isn't immune the headaches this could potentially cause for upcoming projects.

The industry has seen project delays, supply chain disruptions, and labor shortages. In short, the industry is still reeling, and the smallest firms have been hit the hardest, losing construction productivity on jobs they've won and seeing a huge decrease in profitability. While we need to keep a positive outlook (and there's plenty to feel good about), many contractors are struggling to remain profitable. That's why we've put together this short list of tips to help improve construction productivity, which hopefully in the long run will increase revenue and improve profitability in the coming months.

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TIP 1 - Learn how to track and manage nine key numbers in your business to increase your overall construction profit margins. These numbers include profits, equity, overhead, sales, job costs, contracts, receivables, liability, and cashflow. The more you understand these numbers and track them, the better you'll be in increasing your overall profitability.

TIP 2 - Be more resourceful in terms of finding jobs to bid on by leveraging bidding sites for jobs in your region and subcontractor networks to help source your teams once you do win the bid. MBEX's Online Plan Room, as well as its networking opportunities that come with membership, can help immensely with both pinpointing jobs in your region (especially if your work is in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, or South Dakota) and connecting with subcontractors.

TIP 3 - Set up a CRM. CRM is short for Customer Relationship Management, but it's really a tool to help you track sales, manage sales pipelines, and leverage customer insights to increase sales and grow revenue. A few to try, especially if you are a smaller business, would be Hubspot, ActiveCampaign, or BenchmarkOne.

TIP 4 - Increase social media marketing on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, especially Facebook and LinkedIn Groups. Use smart jobsite technology to upload jobsite photos into a shared album to increase your firm's reach and engagement. Social media is a primary way to find new business, so if you're not currently investing in social media, you should start now.

TIP 5 - Leverage global freelancing platforms like Upwork to hire freelancers or agencies to automate your admin support, finance, lead generation, and basic sales and marketing tasks. With Upwork, you can leverage freelancers for small jobs or discover agencies that can partner with you for long term projects so you can scale your business at a fraction of the cost of hiring full-time employees.

TIP 6 - Set up Slack, GSuite Communities, or Microsoft Teams to improve communication across the company (instead of replying only on email). By improving communication, you'll increase productivity and reduce costly errors that hurt your business's bottom line.

TIP 7 - Developing a detailed and accurate construction estimate or quantity takeoff can help your business win more bids, effectively increasing your revenue, and also save you money by ensuring your project won't incur cost overruns. If needed, consider outsourcing construction estimates to construction estimating services.

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Contractors, especially smaller firms, are seeing project delays, losing resources and funding, and experiencing project losses and decreased profit margins. We hope these 7 tips can help your business not just survive but thrive as we head into winter and beyond.