A recent survey conducted by Construction Dive in collaboration with CalAmp shares valuable insights about the construction industry’s fleet and asset management practices, plans and pain points.

In this 2023 survey, data from more than 150 construction executives reveals that, while most construction companies track their high-dollar equipment, not many take full advantage of the capabilities that a unified fleet and asset management solution can provide to improve business performance, reduce costs and optimize operations.

Five significant survey findings:

1. All construction companies use more than one system to make decisions about fleets and assets. Every construction executive surveyed must use more than one software platform to get the necessary information for making critical decisions about their fleets and assets. This siloed approach causes problems ranging from poor collaboration to poor data quality. “Just having to log in and switch out of different systems all day long is a hurdle and a big waste of time from a user perspective,” explains Long Dinh, director of product marketing at CalAmp.

2. 97% of construction executives say their fleet management software doesn’t meet all their needs. In terms of system capabilities, most companies aren’t benefiting from much beyond the basics, and nearly all (97%) report there’s at least one thing they wish their fleet management software offered that it doesn’t currently. For example, more than one-third of executives are constrained by technology that can’t track fleet and asset data in the critical areas of maintenance and diagnostics, driver behavior and fuel use.

3. Top fleet/asset management pain points are related to maintenance and inaccurate data. When it comes to asset and fleet management struggles, more than 40% of respondents identify maintenance issues and inaccurate asset data as their two most critical pain points. This indicates a disconnect between the fleet and asset management systems construction companies have in place today and the systems they need to stay competitive. When companies struggle with basics like data accuracy — the bare minimum that should be expected from a fleet and asset management solution — they don’t have time to focus on other initiatives.

4. Nearly every construction company battles fleet and/or asset theft. In the past two years, nearly 90% of construction companies report delaying work due to asset or vehicle theft. Most respondents estimate that, in the past year alone, they’ve spent between $50,001 and $500,000 on loss prevention and recovery.

5. Only 3% of construction executives say they have no major business pain points. More than one-third of construction executives struggle to establish accurate budgets (39%) and to use their time efficiently (35%). But these problems are easy to solve with a unified fleet and asset management system that improves these business areas. “The struggles of budgets and asset utilization are likely directly connected to the challenges that construction executives told us they have with their fleets and assets,” explains Dinh. “For example, it’s very hard to budget if you don’t have real-time utilization metrics about your vehicles across job sites — especially when they’re spread out across the country, and you can’t gauge efficiency by being on-site. If you know when assets and vehicles are being used, and for how long, you can be much more precise in terms of job costing to develop budgets or build quotes.”

To download the full research report and explore additional information and details about the survey results, visit here.  

Survey Methodology

The survey, conducted by Construction Dive in collaboration with CalAmp, was taken by 150+ construction executives across the United States in September 2023. Respondents were asked about the types of fleets and high-dollar assets they own/rent, how they track this equipment, the performance of their current fleet and asset management systems, fleet/asset management and business pain points, and jobsite theft and loss prevention.