Quickbase's 2025 State of Construction survey of 411 construction leaders in the United States and United Kingdom found that 91% of respondents still used paper in at least part of their processes, while only 12% reported fully automated systems (Quickbase, State of Construction 2025). That gap is visible in five document-heavy workflows: field reports, RFIs, submittals, subcontractor onboarding, and invoice approval. Each can be improved by adding the required capabilities through a construction PDF solution, without replacing the project management software already in place.
In practice, the first workflow selected for digitization is often the one currently blocking a payment or schedule milestone. The other document-heavy processes can remain manual even after one visible bottleneck is addressed.
Key Takeaways
- Paper remains part of the process for most respondents in Quickbase's 2025 construction survey.
- The five workflows fail at different business steps, but they share document problems such as duplicate entry, disconnected markup, unclear revisions, and hard-to-retrieve records.
- PDF viewing, forms, annotations, comparison, electronic signatures, OCR, and extraction can be embedded in an existing construction application.
- The host platform remains responsible for routing, permissions, storage, project status, and business rules.
The five sections below show where each workflow breaks and which document capability addresses the bottleneck.
1. Daily Field Reports and Timesheets
Daily reports and timesheets often begin in the field but are reconstructed later in an office system. The same labor hours, equipment use, photos, and notes may be written on paper, photographed, and then entered again into a project or payroll application.
A handwritten log may be photographed, transcribed, and filed after the work happened. Capturing the report with fillable PDF forms in the field can remove that later transcription step. OCR can make supported scanned or photographed text searchable, while the host application associates the resulting PDF and form data with the project record.
Same-day capture is a useful operating metric because it shows whether the digital record is being created at the point of work or reconstructed later in the office.
The fix: standardize one digital field-report template per trade, and treat any paper note as raw input to be captured the same day, not filed as the permanent record.
The same point-of-work capture pattern can turn field evidence and pricing details into a controlled digital change-order record.
2. RFIs Lose Time in Document Search and Revision Checks
An RFI can stall before a reviewer even reaches the question. Someone first has to locate the relevant drawing, confirm the revision, check the specification, and find any prior correspondence. When those records are split across folders and email threads, document search becomes part of the response time.
An embedded PDF viewer lets users search and inspect the drawing without leaving the construction application. Document comparison can highlight changes between two revisions when the host application invokes the comparison, reducing the need for a manual side-by-side review.
The fix: pair searchable drawing sets with document comparison and in-app annotations, so the reviewer can identify a revision and mark the current PDF without creating another disconnected copy. This is the core review pattern used in construction document approval workflows.
3. Submittal Reviews Create Disconnected Markup and Version Confusion
Submittal review typically moves between the design team, general contractor, and subcontractor. When each round produces another attachment or scanned markup, reviewers have to determine which comments apply to which version before they can evaluate the technical content.
When markup happens inside the construction application instead of through printing, rescanning, and email attachments, reviewers can work from a controlled PDF record. The host platform still manages assignments and approval status; the embedded PDF layer handles document viewing, annotations, and revision comparison.
The fix: keep markup inside the host application with PDF annotations, and compare the as-submitted and as-approved versions before retaining the final approval record.
4. Subcontractor Onboarding Buries Teams in Compliance Paperwork
Subcontractor onboarding can involve certificates of insurance, W-9s, safety certifications, licenses, and signed project forms. The required documents vary by company, project, contract, and jurisdiction. Each record still has to be collected, checked against the host application's requirements, and stored with the correct subcontractor and project.
Repetitive, structured documents are a practical use case for intelligent document extraction. Extraction can return fields such as a policy number, coverage dates, or insured party for the host application to validate and store. PDF electronic signatures can support forms that need a drawn, typed, or image-based signature inside the application.
The fix: extract required fields during intake, let the host application apply its validation rules, and make the document-signing step available on supported web or mobile devices.
5. Manual Invoice and AP Approval Routing Drags Out Cash Flow
Invoice approval can require data entry, supporting-document review, cost-code checks, and authorization across project and accounting teams. The process slows when invoice fields are re-entered manually and the supporting PDF becomes separated from the approval record.
Structured extraction can return invoice fields to the construction or accounting application instead of requiring another round of manual entry. The host application then determines the approver, applies cost and permission rules, and records the approval status.
The fix: extract invoice line items automatically instead of re-keying them, and route approvals through a fixed digital path instead of email forwarding.
| Workflow | Current Friction | Document-Capability Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Field reports & timesheets | Duplicate capture and office re-entry | Structured digital forms + OCR at the point of work |
| RFIs | Drawing search and revision confirmation | Searchable PDF viewer + document comparison |
| Submittals | Disconnected markup and multiple attachments | In-app annotations + as-submitted/as-approved comparison |
| Subcontractor onboarding | Repetitive field entry and document checks | Field extraction + electronic signatures |
| Invoice/AP approval | Re-keyed invoice data and separated backup | Invoice extraction + host-application routing |
Why Paper Is Still the Default, and What Fixing It Actually Requires
Quickbase's survey shows that paper remains part of most respondents' processes even as firms adopt more software. The common thread across these five workflows is not simply a lack of applications. It is that documents cannot always be searched, compared, marked up, or converted into structured data at the point where users need to act on them.
AI extraction also depends on a usable digital input. Scans and photos may first require image preprocessing or OCR before required fields can be returned as structured data. None of these document-layer improvements require replacing the project management software already in place. ComPDF can embed PDF viewing, OCR, annotations, comparison, forms, signatures, and extraction in an existing application. The host platform remains responsible for workflow routing, permissions, storage, validation, and project status.
Frequently Asked Questions
What causes delays in construction projects?
Delays often develop at handoffs where teams have to locate a document, confirm its revision, re-enter its data, or move it into a separate signing and approval process.
How much time do construction workers spend on paperwork?
The amount varies by role, project, and reporting process. Teams should measure time spent capturing field information, re-entering it in the office, locating drawings, and rebuilding approval records.
What is the biggest inefficiency in construction?
There is no single workflow that is always the largest source of delay. The priority should be the process currently blocking a payment, field decision, compliance check, or schedule milestone.
How can construction companies reduce administrative work?
Start with the workflow currently blocking a payment or schedule milestone, since that's usually where digitization pays off fastest, then standardize one digital template per document type before adding automation on top of it.
What percentage of construction firms still use paper processes?
Quickbase's 2025 survey found that 91% of respondents still used paper in at least part of their processes, while only 12% reported fully automated systems. The survey covered 411 construction leaders in the United States and United Kingdom.
Conclusion
Across these five workflows, a file may exist even when the application cannot search it, compare revisions, capture annotations, extract fields, or retain the approved record efficiently. Improving that document layer does not require replacing the construction platform already in use.
Developers can review the ComPDF SDK for the supported platforms and document capabilities needed to build these workflows into an existing construction application.