Almost all of us, in one way or another, use WhatsApp at some point in our lives to communicate with our friends, family and even colleagues.
What makes WhatsApp so popular is the ease of exchanging messages and photos with your contacts. A user can be an admin or participant in multiple WhatsApp groups and communicate differently depending on the members and scope of each group.
But what about using WhatsApp in your works? Could this work?
The short answer is no. As good as it is, WhatsApp is not enough to carry out complex construction projects. And we can explain why:
1. WhatsApp is not tailor-made for construction
Tools like WhatsApp and Excel may be great for other occasions, but they may not give you the website visibility you are looking for. More analytically:
- They do not provide a local, shareable “live” view of the project.
- The data shared through them has no connection to the master plan. This makes it difficult for people to see where things stand overall and which tasks are progressing, what's next, and who is responsible for what.
- Information is dispersed across many different platforms, making the reporting process difficult.
It quickly becomes clear that using the wrong tools can really impact your advance planning. Your teams will not have a real-time view of the project and there will be no clarity on who is responsible for what, leading to slow and dysfunctional decision-making.
2. There is no single source of truth
Project managers spend almost 40% of their time chasing updates or creating endless reports. But it shouldn't be like that.
There's no reason for project teams to get stuck in meetings that take much longer than necessary just because many of the participants don't have visibility into what's happening on the ground. This only creates even more distrust between different teams and fuels a culture of blame throughout the supply chain. That's the last thing you want as a project manager.
And that's why the next time you start thinking about your advance planning, you need to take a moment and see if you could spend less time on your administrative tasks by establishing a single, continually updated source of truth. As good as WhatsApp and Excel tools are, they cannot help you with this.
3. Standardization is impossible
80% of the process is always the same. Therefore, standardizing the way you design, collaborate, and eventually build is a valid option. Most importantly, it will take a lot of pressure off your shoulders, help prevent mistakes before they appear, and flag critical issues at an early stage.
To do this, you need a construction-specific tool that helps you manage a large amount of historical data so that you can gradually identify the development pattern of your projects and put together an effective action plan.
This is a very delicate process that a tool like WhatsApp cannot handle. The reason is, obviously, the absence of a single source of truth where information can be easily linked to specific tasks.
4. Your projects are vulnerable to complaints
Documentation in construction is always essential. As a project manager, you must be able to retrieve critical information at any time so you can efficiently respond to complaints on your projects. When you turn to tools like WhatsApp and Excel, this can be difficult.
- Total alignment between the Project Manager and the Construction Supervisor
- Instant information retrieval without drowning in administrative tasks
- Seamless communication between all project stakeholders
- Greater responsibility and ownership of tasks
5. No connection to the plan
Regardless of the size or type of your work, one thing is certain. All your tools must be connected to the plan in real time, ensuring that no information is lost or delivered late.
WhatsApp can be an excellent tool for delivering your information in real time, but there is a serious problem. The data you share through WhatsApp (or Excel, email, etc.) is not tied to the 3-6 week timeline or master plan.
This small but crucial detail makes it impossible for you, as a Project Manager, and your team to assess the importance of an update the moment you receive it. And this is something that only an application designed for construction can offer you.
By now you have a good idea why using WhatsApp is not enough to successfully manage your construction projects. But it's time to act!
Thanks to our new detailed guide below, you have the opportunity to explore how construction-specific tools can improve collaboration between your teams and link your site to the plan in real time.
