FieldLens
Better Communications Can Reduce Construction Errors

Doug Chambers, founder and CEO of FieldLens, has big ideas for helping construction project teams work better. After managing and supervising jobsites for more than a decade, including The New York Times Building and 4 World Trade Center in Manhattan, Doug realized that communication troubles are consistent throughout the industry. “We always knew there should be a better way for the construction industry to communicate. When we couldn’t find one, we decided to build it ourselves,” Chambers says. Doug set out to build a platform that applies the best of mobile and social technologies to solve common communication problems in the construction industry, and founded FieldLens in 2011.

Headquartered in New York City, FieldLens delivers a cloud-based mobile platform for construction professionals to communicate with everyone on the jobsite. From issuing jobsite tasks and tracking field progress in realtime, to systematizing project communication and delivering cleanly formatted reports, FieldLens helps project teams work smarter and quicker. It’s all meant to empower the construction industry to communicate better and accomplish more.

“Our solutions are not any kind of incremental enhancement. They are a new way to communicate by reinventing the communication processes that happens on the jobsite, because the linear process is not acceptable anymore,” reveals Doug. One way FieldLens achieves this is by effectively replacing the paper daily report for construction contractors, providing digital reports that are easy to share with FieldLens users and non-users alike. “The important part of FieldLens is that it clears the minor and major problems instantly and helps everyone on the jobsite communicate more effectively, including the superintendents, general contractors, subcontractors, designers and owners,” Chambers says.

The FieldLens platform, which works on iOS, Android and the web, sorts projects into separate newsfeeds for simple and instant access to all project communication. This streamlined access to information replaces countless back-and-forth emails and phone calls, and eliminates non-essential trips to the jobsite. Anyone walking the jobsite can attach photos and videos to items that help add clarity to the complex business of managing a project.

FieldLens’ tools can quickly sort and identify tasks by their status (open, resolved, closed), assignee, location, due dates and more. Project organizers can even add drawings to a task, which anyone on the project team can view, complete with full details, lightning fast rendering, and zoom functionalities. “There was a time when construction companies struggled to keep track of manpower on the jobsite, but with FieldLens they can track workers in any way they see fit,” says Chambers.

The platform is also useful in the preconstruction process, where communication and keeping track of details and decisions are essential. FieldLens will help keep a detailed, time-stamped record of all communication, including an organized list of outstanding assignments to the design team and any notes made about the project. Users will have a complete history of all important discussions and decisions, and be able to know the current status of project at anytime.

We’re helping great people build great things by making it easier to communicate on the jobsite

FieldLens has helped many companies improve their construction communication. Rogers-O'Brien, a mid-market general contractor based in Dallas, TX, was facing serious communication problems while managing numerous construction projects. Replacing their traditional processes with FieldLens, Rogers-O'Brien was able to improve communication between subcontractors, project owners, and the design teamwith far fewer hassles.

The FieldLens team believes that listening to customers and solving the problems they’re facing on the jobsite will help FieldLens developers produce products that are truly useful for an industry that is finding enormous value in mobile technologies. “We come from the industry and we understand what construction professionals need to do their jobs,” Chambers says. “And we’re always listening and thinking of ways to make things better.”