HOME BUILDERS RUNNING MULTIPLE PROJECTS in one geographic location always struggle with staffing their jobs properly and allocating equipment efficiently.
A new service from Santa Clara, Calif.–basedTeleNav called TeleNav Track lets builders use Nextel phones with a built-in geographic positioning system (GPS) to track the locations of their supers and subs, as well as heavy equipment such as dump trucks.
John Hinton, CFO for De Mattei Construction in San Jose, Calif., says all of the company’s 45 field employees are equipped with Nextel phones that have TeleNav Track built in. About a dozen of the employees—mostly project managers—use the application on a Nextel BlackBerry. The phones send wireless GPS data back to six administrators who can view the precise location of a super or carpenter on a Web-based map.
“We might have an HVAC guy who needs some carpentry done to support his work, so the administrator can look up on the screen and find out who’s closest and send them over to the site,” says Hinton, who adds that the builder also uses the system to track project managers.
TeleNav Track also includes dispatching/ scheduling, GPS navigation, barcode scanning (primarily for invoices), and a wireless forms application. A plan with all of those features costs $21.99 a month. The company also offers an entry-level plan for $9.99 that includes GPS tracking, reporting, and time-card tracking.
For more information on TeleNav Track, visit www.telenav.com.
Learn more about markets featured in this article: San Jose, CA.
