The Hours That Built Nothing

By Keith Donoghue | Vancouver City News | August 28, 2026
Editor: Karalee Greer
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A Vancouver contractor finishes a site visit at noon and returns to the office. Before starting the afternoon's estimates, he needs last week's supplier quote, current material prices, two email threads, and an updated job tracker.

By 3 p.m., he is finally ready to begin the estimate.

Quickbase's 2025 State of Construction survey, covering more than 400 construction professionals, found that 59 percent spend 11 hours or more each week navigating digital tools and chasing colleagues for information.

Autodesk research similarly found that 20 percent of construction professionals spend between 10 and 15 hours every week simply searching for the data they need.

That is not time spent building, estimating, or serving customers. It is time spent locating information that already exists.

The financial impact adds up quickly. Eleven hours a week at an effective rate of $65 per hour represents $715 in weekly labour. Across a 48-week operating year, that reaches $34,320.

Quickbase also found that half of construction professionals experienced project delays during the previous year because of data management problems.

Connected workflows do not remove administrative work entirely, but they can reduce unnecessary searching, duplicate entry, and reconciliation.

Autodesk found that construction businesses with better-connected data and workflows spend roughly two fewer hours each week on data management, creating about 5 percent more time for higher-value work.

For a contractor currently losing 11 hours each week, even a 30 percent reduction represents more than three hours recovered. At $65 per hour, that is more than $10,000 of annual capacity redirected toward estimating, managing projects, or winning new work.

Why It Matters

This is not just about spreadsheets. It reflects a broader shift.

As construction businesses adopt more digital tools, disconnected information can create as much friction as manual paperwork.

The advantage comes from making information easier to find, update, and use without adding another administrative task.

Keith Donoghue | Vancouver City News Keith Donoghue is the founder of Highridge AI Consulting, helping Vancouver small businesses reduce manual work and run more efficient operations.

Website: Highridge AI Consulting
Email: keith@highridgeai.com
LinkedIn: keith-donoghue
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Instagram: @highridgeaiconsulting
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