Startup-Circle: How Powerplay Is Helping the Construction Sector Reduce Costs and Time

Powerplay - Your Construction Management App is an end-to-end construction management SaaS platform that aids in the simplification of communication and synergizing collaboration within project teams in the construction industry. The fluid and easy-to-use platform’s infrastructure has been driven, developed, and carefully mapped for seamless execution by its core team.

Iesh Dixit is the CEO and Co-founder of Powerplay, an end-to-end construction management SaaS platform that aids in the simplification of communication and synergizing collaboration within project teams in the construction industry.

For this Interview with Ciol, we invited Iesh Dixit, Founder & CEO of Powerplay, and we talked about the growth, challenges, and future opportunities in the Construction Industry.

Tell us about Powerplay and your offerings. Tell us about the team.

Located in Bengaluru, Powerplay, the SaaS-based construction management platform was founded by Iesh Dixit and Shubham Goyal, in the year 2020. Powerplay is a freemium app to simplify communication between construction sites and central office teams. It enables speciality contractors, general contractors, and builders to manage site work, materials, and labor on its SaaS platform. The platform has multiple modules that offer palpable convenience through its framework of seamless interoperability. The offered free modules are made readily available for the site teams to use on Android, iOS, and web browsers. The premium modules include project management, financial management, and procurement management services, which are suitable for office teams.

Construction is one of the key contributors to the Indian economy but still uses clunky & archaic solutions. Powerplay is helping the sector to reduce its construction costs and time by enabling smart management via the use of technology. We are on a larger mission of accelerating the growth of socio economic infrastructure in the country

Available in multiple Indian languages, Powerplay is a SaaS-based application for construction clients to track and manage their labor, material, and tasks. Meticulously tracking these day-in-day-out details is a painful task for construction businesses. They generally use traditional methods like pen-paper, WhatsApp, and excel spreadsheets to track these details daily. Powerplay helps them reduce their construction cost and time by carefully managing all on-site stakeholders at ease. The platform also provides features like - Geo Tagging, Org Level Dashboard, Native Indian languages, etc. It is available on Android, iOS, and the Web.

The application allows workers and supervisors to log their job data with multimedia proof and offers powerful analytics to assist them in planning their next phase of work. The startup uses a SaaS business model with free downloads and extra fees for each premium feature a user wants to use.

As we are the first mover in the market, there is an educational aspect involved in mainstream adoption. The main challenges are the awareness of the solution they provide and product usability for the site team workers, both requiring some learning curve.

Currently, we are a team of close to 100 Powerplayers, all passionate about the ‘tech-driven’ world.

What is the idea behind inception?

The initial spark was ignited when my father was building a house for their family, giving him a glimpse into how time and budget estimations go wrong in the Construction industry. But at that time, I never understood the reason for the same. Fast forward a couple of years, when Shubham & I moved in together in Bangalore to continue their entrepreneurial journey, they decided to get their apartment renovated, and this time again both the budget and timeline were exceeded by 40% — Forcing them to stay with the carpenter and painter for a week to keep the cost & time under control and understand the problem.

They wondered how such delays affected larger projects if smaller projects like theirs faced so many issues. That’s when we realized that owners lose a lot of money when construction projects exceed budgets and timelines. Shubham & I validated the problem by spending weeks on multiple construction sites and started to build technology to solve those problems. Making plenty of mistakes along the way, they’ve got some fantastic clients now and a long way to go.

Both of us completed our bachelor's from IIT Roorkee, where we became friends and worked on multiple ideas together. When I moved to Bangalore, both of us moved in together to continue our entrepreneurial journey from our apartment. They built multiple products ranging from AR Maps to subscription management before landing on Powerplay.

Tell us about the Challenges and obstacles faced while establishing the start-up?

When Powerplay was first launched, there were many skeptics who questioned the usability of the application. Since our target audience was mostly made up of traditional-minded construction business owners, there were concerns that the product might not work, and proceeding with it was not a wise decision. Despite these doubts, after almost two years in the market, we have successfully onboarded 1% of Indian construction businesses onto our platform, which is a major accomplishment. By defying the skeptics and encouraging traditional-minded individuals to embrace technology, we have become pioneers in the Indian Construction Management industry.

What are your views about the construction/real estate industry?

The Indian Construction Industry is growing like never before. Despite the price appreciation in the market, there is still quite a lot of demand. The industry is using futuristic technology while building the project and by providing great sales experience using AR and VR. However, it still uses an outdated methodology to manage the onsite construction of projects. They need to start using smart construction management tools in order to stay ahead of our competitors and deliver the project within time and utilize less cost.

What has 2022 changed for you? How are things now?

Everyone, from business owners to employees to customers, has become comfortable with technology. Fortunately, SaaS-based construction management platforms and applications are available to address this issue and bridge the gap. Therefore, by utilizing smart proptech applications to manage both site and business operations, companies have started to reduce the risk of project delays. Proptech has taken over a significant portion of business and construction operations both on and off-site. Real-time data analysis has become the construction industry's critical task for making immediate decisions. Ultimately, proptech has enhanced the overall experience and helped construction companies complete their projects on time and sell them seamlessly to customers.

Give your views on the future of the construction tech industry in India.

Initially, construction companies were slow to adopt technology and limited their use to Alexa-enabled homes. However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced every construction business owner to embrace technology for their business operations, not just the end product. The pandemic has led to extreme digitization of business operations across various sectors that previously relied on traditional methods. Tech adoption has become crucial for scaling businesses, including real estate and construction. Many small and medium construction companies struggled with outdated methodologies, hindering their growth. However, post-pandemic, many construction companies are using SaaS-based products end-to-end, thanks to increased digital literacy. SaaS has emerged as a savior for construction and property management businesses, providing dedicated applications and platforms for faster and quality results, such as managing materials, tracking work status, designing, managing properties, and performing sales. Leading SaaS-based platforms reduce construction cost and time, pre-empt risks, improve construction efficiencies, enable faster and better decision-making, and increase labor productivity.

Moreover, other key proptech trends in India include using AR/VR for faster decision-making during property visits by customers, AI to improve design thinking and management, and IoT to enable smart homes.

What are your growth priorities this year?

Our focus is on expanding nationally and internationally, and to achieve this, we are striving to create self-serve software with intuitive product flows to minimize human intervention and facilitate faster scaling. While we expect to increase our OS user base, our top priority is to ensure a seamless experience for our users as we grow. To fulfill this commitment, we plan to expand our tech team with experienced industry leaders. Our goal is to strengthen our core business and broaden our reach by developing an easy-to-use construction management platform for businesses worldwide. Being the first mover with support from top investors gives us a competitive advantage, and we aim to reach new heights.

Funding

Total Funding: $13M

Investors: Accel, Sequoia Surge, India Quotient, and the founders of Snapdeal.