Career
Construction Data Analyst
Technology & Design
Turns the mountain of data construction generates, costs, schedules, safety incidents, productivity, into answers that change how the next project gets planned.
What is a Construction Data Analyst?
A Construction Data Analyst collects, organizes, and analyzes data across a construction company's projects, cost trends, schedule performance, safety incidents, labor productivity, to help leadership make better decisions and to improve estimating accuracy on future work. It's a newer role in construction than most on this site, reflecting the industry's growing use of project management software, BIM, and IoT jobsite sensors that now generate far more data than in the past. No license is legally required for this role.
What they do
- Collect and clean data from project management, accounting, and scheduling software
- Build dashboards and reports tracking cost, schedule, and safety performance across projects
- Analyze historical project data to improve the accuracy of future estimates and schedules
- Identify trends or outliers that flag a project at risk before it becomes an obvious problem
- Support leadership with data-driven answers to specific business questions
- Work with IT and software vendors to improve how project data is captured in the first place
A typical day
- 8:00 AMPull updated project data from Procore and the accounting system into the reporting dashboard
- 9:30 AMAnalyze cost trends across a project type to identify where estimates have been running high or low
- 11:00 AMBuild a report answering a specific question from leadership about labor productivity
- 1:30 PMMeet with operations to review a dashboard flagging a project trending over budget
- 3:30 PMClean and validate a new data source being added to the company's reporting system
Skills
Data analysis and visualizationSpreadsheet and database proficiencyUnderstanding of construction cost, schedule, and safety metricsCommunicating data findings clearly to non-technical audiencesAttention to detail and data accuracy
Software
ProcoreBusiness intelligence and data visualization software
Education
- Required:
- High school diploma or equivalent. No license is legally required for this role
- Preferred:
- Bachelor's degree in data analytics, business, construction management, or a related field
- Helpful:
- Certifications in specific BI tools, a background in construction operations that helps interpret what the data actually means
- Not necessary:
- A construction-specific degree; many people in this role come from a general data/analytics background and learn the industry context on the job
Career progression
- 1.Data Analyst
- 2.Senior Data Analyst
- 3.Data Manager or Business Intelligence Manager
- 4.Director of Data & Analytics
Who hires for this role
General ContractorsConstruction Management FirmsOwners on large capital programs