How DEK Construction manages the team remotely using Freelo

After 30 years of operation, DEK Construction, the largest company of the DEK Group and the most important player in the building materials market, is embarking on new trends. In addition to an e‑shop or a machine and tool rental service, they are working on building whole houses with 3D printers. Such projects need to be managed efficiently, which is why the entire team has been working with Freelo for over a year now.

From the electronic construction diary to the projects of the future

DEK building materials meet new technological trends. This makes the work easier for themselves and their customers. In addition to keeping an electronic construction diary, they launched the DEK Drive service during the pandemic, which was so popular with clients that they still use it today. You order online, arrive at the designated place and pick up the goods without getting out of your car.

DEK also sees the future of the construction industry in 3D printing. According to DEK Construction, a robot can handle robotic bricklaying or 3D printed building construction three to four times faster than a human, which is why they are working intensively in their research centre to develop printers.

Solving tasks by phone and email was no longer an option

Jan Karásek's team at DEK Construction works from different parts of the Czech Republic. It was even more challenging to keep the whole team focused on specific tasks. But in Freelo, they learned „to break“ tasks down into smaller ones and work with their priorities. The short-term ones with a close deadline, which have the highest priority, cover up to 50 % of each team member's working capacity.

After more than a year in Freelo, DEK Construction has successfully completed 1.850 tasks in 55 projects.

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The most useful features of Freelo by DEK Construction

• Templates – For repetitive tasks or projects where you already know the best way to go, just open a template and ride the Freelo wave without unnecessary meetings.
• Assigning tasks to a specific person – Everyone knows what to do now and what tasks are coming up in the days and weeks ahead.
• Deadlines for tasks – A task without a deadline is often postponed indefinitely.
• Informing other people about the task – This way, not only the task assignee, but also everyone who is added to the task has an overview of the task.

It is important to establish the right task structure right from the start

The first steps in implementing any new software in a company are never easy. But once you understand how to work with the system, it's easy. At DEK, they relied on advice from Freelo's instructional videos, then started trying out the application virtually.

A well thought out project brief is essential

DEK Construction know from their experience that a poorly thought-out project specification only leads to an overpriced product that has to be redesigned several times. They use Freelo for detailed planning of processes and scenarios, mindmaps help with visualisation, and complex projects with many links and connections are planned in a Gantt chart, which will soon appear in Freelo.

Finally, practical tips

• If you really want to use Freelo effectively and want to maintain the ability to logically return to decisions in each task, you need to continually refine the structure of your To-Do lists and other sublevels.
• If the task is to be completed without useless delay, it must be put into Freelo. You have to assign a responsible person to it and don't forget to enter the deadline! If a task doesn't have a deadline, it's postponed indefinitely. 🙂