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As if contract renovations weren’t complicated enough, accepting work overseas comes with a whole new array of challenges. With issues like eight hour time differences, foreign suppliers and subcontractors, and coordinating work schedules, it seems nearly insurmountable. The option to simply pick up the phone and reach a member of your team is one taken for granted, until it’s no longer an option. As a home renovator, you know that navigating the waters of international work can prove a bit turbulent, but here are a few tips on how to complete your international renovation with as few waves as possible.
Use Cloud Storage
When you have different teams working away from the office, possibly the country, overseeing and managing the progress of the project requires instant access to reports, documents, invoices and files. Your teams need to be able to communicate with each other and view plans, despite time zone differences. This is where the cloud comes into play. Cloud storage stores all of your data and allows you to file share from any place at any time necessary. Cloud back-up is also available to ensure security and to target a cloud service specifically for your company.
Management Projects Through Platforms
Storing and accessing information is just a small part of instigating an international renovation job, though. To manage such a task requires a working platform that is both online and collaborative. A platform such as this allows those on the site to keep the larger picture in mind while those back home can track the progress phase by phase. Programs like Basecamp can divide work among groups, flag deadlines and offer check-ins from project managers and supervisors to ensure that everyone is working toward the same final goal.
Conference Online
There are times during a renovation when you just need to sit down with your team and brainstorm. A subcontractor ducked out, an accident occurred on site or there’s no load bearing wall where one needs to be. A group-think can often incite ideas that would have never come to light with all parties working separately. But an overseas project limits your face-to-face options. Fortunately, online conferencing can offer you face-to-face contact with team members without you ever having to leave your time zone. There are several online conferencing programs that allow you to bring in multiple parties, split screens and post documents and photos for the entire party to view.
Aptly noted by Top10cloudstorage.com, the beauty of online conferencing is that you keep the stream of back-and-forth idea sharing going in real time, maintaining the synergy of collaboration, an aspect that is lost when only using e-mail or telephone communication.
Though an international renovation project is a continent away, that doesn’t mean that it is out of your reach. It does mean that you have to take the proper steps to ensure the work progresses smoothly. If you do your research, institute a cloud sharing and storing system, incorporate a collaborative online platform and set up a method of web conferencing for you and your team. Then you will have laid the foundation for a successful international home renovation project.
