Short answer: A construction progress management system comes down to "crews file a daily report in one minute, clients check progress themselves." For renovation or MEP firms running 10+ sites at once, a custom system costs about NT$200,000–550,000, launches in 12–16 weeks, and typically cuts site managers' 2 hours a day of progress replies to under 30 minutes.
The pain: photos from 15 sites buried in LINE groups
A 25-person renovation firm runs 15 sites at once, each with its own LINE group receiving 30–50 photos a day. When a client asks "Has the bathroom waterproofing been done?", the site manager scrolls back three days to find the photo; at month-end billing, change orders rely on memory. Three site managers each spend 2 hours a day answering, over 1,500 hours a year.
When it fits and when it doesn't: site count and client contact decide
Firms with more than 10 sites and clients who ask often benefit most.
| Good fit | Poor fit |
|---|---|
| Renovation, MEP or small contractors with 10+ concurrent sites | 3 or fewer sites the owner can watch personally |
| Homeowner clients who often ask for progress and photos | Only large tenders where the client runs its own PM system |
| Change orders often cause billing disputes | Every job differs so much no task template is possible |
| You want duration data to improve quotes | Crews don't use smartphones at all |
Alternatives matrix: off-the-shelf for few sites, custom when quotes and client pages must connect
No option is best in absolute terms; it depends on site count and integration needs.
| Option | Pros | Cons | Cost range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Excel + LINE groups | Free, everyone knows it | Photos get lost, no progress roll-up | NT$0 |
| Construction management SaaS | Fast to launch, full-featured | Hard to connect accounting and your own quotes | About NT$300–1,200 per user per month |
| Custom system | Fits your task list, supports a client progress page | Higher upfront cost, 12–16 weeks | NT$200,000–550,000 |
The full process: 5 phases, 12–16 weeks
The key is getting task templates right in phase 1 so later phases don't keep changing.
- Discovery (2 weeks): interview site managers and crews, define task templates and daily-report fields, deliver a requirements list (Notion).
- Flow and screen design (2–3 weeks): wireframe the app and back office in Figma and confirm the three-step report: pick site, take photos, tick tasks.
- Development (6–8 weeks): Laravel back office plus Flutter app, cloud photo storage with auto-compression, daily client updates via the LINE Messaging API.
- Pilot (2 weeks): run 2–3 sites and adjust fields and notification timing.
- Full launch (1 week): import all sites, train staff, stop reporting through old groups.
Real costs: beyond the build, reserve about 15% a year in running costs
Maintenance is the main hidden cost; photo storage is surprisingly cheap.
- Build: daily reports plus photo archive about NT$200,000–300,000; adding a client page, change orders and crew scheduling about NT$400,000–550,000.
- Photo storage: about 100,000 photos (30GB) a year; at AWS S3 public pricing of about $0.023 per GB-month, under NT$100 a month.
- LINE notifications: a LINE Official Account plan beyond the free quota runs about NT$800–1,200 a month.
- App stores: Apple $99 a year, Google Play $25 once.
- Maintenance: hosting, updates and small changes, about 10–15% of the build cost per year.
Reality vs expectation: the hardest part is crew habits, not software
Success in the first 3 months depends on management rules, not feature count.
- Expect people to use it at launch → in reality the owner must rule "no daily report, no logged work" for at least a month.
- Expect clients to find updates annoying → one daily update halves follow-up calls.
- Expect templates to be final → they change 2–3 times in the first 3 months.
Common traps and how to avoid them: the 5 most common
Most traps come from asking crews to do one more step.
- Too many report fields: keep only site, photos and completed tasks as required.
- Uncompressed photos: originals are 4–5MB each; compress in the app before upload.
- Clients seeing internal notes: separate permissions and show only approved photos.
- Unsigned change orders: require client confirmation in the system with a timestamp.
- Old groups left open: stop group reporting from week 2 after launch.
Success metrics and a 90-day roadmap: watch report submission rate first
If submissions are below 80%, no other metric matters.
- Day 30: 80% daily-report submission; progress reply time halved.
- Day 60: client progress page open for all sites; follow-up calls down 50%.
- Day 90: review quotes with accumulated task-duration data; change-order disputes below one a month.
Decision checklist: 6 or more ticks means it's worth evaluating
The more you tick, the faster a custom system pays back.
- ☐ More than 10 concurrent sites
- ☐ Site managers spend over an hour a day answering progress questions
- ☐ Finding one site photo often takes over 5 minutes
- ☐ Change-order billing disputes in the past year
- ☐ Most crew members can take photos on a smartphone
- ☐ You want past duration data to improve quotes
- ☐ One manager can drive adoption for 3 months
- ☐ Budget of NT$200,000 or more is acceptable
- ☐ Clients often ask to see photos
- ☐ Task names can be standardized
FAQ
How much does a construction progress system cost?
About NT$200,000–550,000 depending on scope. Daily reports and photo archiving alone run NT$200,000–300,000; adding a client page, change orders and crew scheduling brings it to NT$400,000–550,000.
What if crews won't use an app?
Make the daily report three steps: pick the site, take photos, tick finished items, all within a minute. Pilot with 2 senior crew leads before launch and adjust to their feedback.
Will photo storage get expensive?
Usually not. Photos are compressed to about 300KB on upload; 15 sites produce roughly 100,000 photos (about 30GB) a year, and cloud storage typically costs under NT$100 a month.
Can we start with off-the-shelf construction software?
Yes. Firms with fewer than 5 sites and standard workflows save most with off-the-shelf tools. Consider custom work once you need accounting, quoting or a client page connected.
Next step: bring one site's LINE group and we'll estimate
ScriptWalker (a Taiwan Laravel/Flutter custom development studio) plans and builds construction progress management systems, with systems from NT$80,000 and app versions from NT$150,000; full builds usually land at NT$200,000–550,000. Export one site's group history and we'll assess for free which workflows to digitize first:
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: 0916-224-047
- LINE: @ufv9089p