Matt Cox, SVP of international sales at Newforma, discusses why email has become construction’s most expensive “free” tool – and what AECO firms can do about it
It’s 4:30pm on a Friday and somewhere in an AECO firm, someone is frantically scrolling through hundreds of emails, searching for a critical response that’s holding up Monday’s work. A contractor has been chasing for two days. The information exists – somewhere – but finding it means wading through reply chains, checking sent folders and hoping the right person was CC’d.
This scenario plays out thousands of times daily across the architecture, engineering and construction industry. And it’s costing firms far more than wasted hours.
“Email wasn’t designed to manage construction projects,” Matt Cox says.
“It’s a communication tool that we’ve forced to do project management’s job. And the cracks are showing.”
The hidden costs of inbox project management
Cox has spent years working with architecture, engineering and construction firms across Europe, the Middle East and beyond. What strikes him about the market is how deeply email is embedded in project workflows – and how reluctant firms are to acknowledge the problem.
“When teams actually calculate the time spent searching for project information in email, they’re shocked,” he explains.
“But the real cost isn’t just the hours lost hunting through inboxes. It’s the downstream effects: delayed decisions, duplicated work, disputes over who said what and when, and the near-impossibility of maintaining an accurate project record.”
Newforma’s research shows that proper project and information management can save 12 minutes per information request and submittal – which translates to 200 hours saved for every 1,000 items processed. On large projects, these inefficiencies compound quickly.
“I’ve seen disputes drag on for months because no one can definitively prove what was agreed,” Cox says.
“Email creates information silos. Ten people on a project team have 10 different versions of the truth, depending on who was CC’d on which thread.”
Why we can’t quit email
If email is so problematic, why does it persist? Cox points to three factors: familiarity, perceived cost, and inertia.
“Email feels free and it’s universal,” he says.
“Everyone knows how to use it, and there’s no upfront investment. But that’s a false economy. What you save on software costs, you lose 10 times over in inefficiency, risk and project delays.”
There’s also a cultural element. Construction has always been a relationship-driven industry, and email feels personal and direct.
The idea of routing all project communication through a structured system can feel bureaucratic or impersonal.
“I get that resistance,” Cox acknowledges. “But here’s the thing: better information management actually improves relationships. When everyone has access to the same accurate, up-to-date information, there’s less friction, fewer misunderstandings and more trust. The conflicts we see often stem from information gaps, not personality clashes.”
The compliance challenge
The stakes have risen considerably with evolving regulatory requirements around building safety and information management. Cox sees this as a potential turning point for how the industry handles project information.
“Modern building regulations aren’t just about construction quality; they’re about information accountability,” he says.
“You need to demonstrate a clear record of decisions, changes and communications throughout a project’s lifecycle. If that information lives in scattered email inboxes, you’ve got a serious compliance problem.” He points to the growing emphasis on digital recordkeeping and traceability.
“Email simply can’t provide that. You need structured information management where everything is captured, version-controlled and traceable. When an inspector or client asks to see the approval process for a specific design change, you can’t forward them a dozen email threads and hope for the best.”
What better looks like
Cox is careful to emphasise that solving the email problem doesn’t mean eliminating email entirely. In fact, email isn’t going anywhere. The idea is: let people use the tool they’re most comfortable with.
“Email is excellent for what it was designed for: quick communication, notifications, coordination,” he says.
“And although not ideal, project information is also communicated here – RFIs, questions, issues are raised, photos, attachments, design queries, submittals, change orders, meeting minutes… But this critical project information needs to be available to all stakeholders in a structured system where it’s organised, searchable and accessible to everyone who needs it.”
He describes a contractor who made this shift on a major mixed-use development: “They were drowning in email on early phases. Decisions were taking twice as long as they should because information was fragmented. When they implemented proper project and information management, they cut their response time by 40% and virtually eliminated the ‘I never saw that email’ excuse.”
The difference, Cox explains, is moving from push to pull: “With email, you’re constantly pushing information to people – and hoping it doesn’t get lost in the noise. With structured project and information management, data is available to all from one place and people pull what they need, when they need it. There’s one windowpane into the truth, and everyone’s contributing to this view from the tools they use.”
First steps for firms
For firms ready to address their email chaos, Cox recommends starting with the biggest pain points: “Don’t try to change everything at once. Pick one process – maybe design queries or submittals – and implement structured management there. Let the team see the difference it makes, then expand.
“We’re not asking people to change their process. We’re giving them access to the info without forcing them to give anything up.” He also stresses the importance of leadership buy-in: “This isn’t just a technology change; not even a workflow change. If project teams don’t understand why their project email inbox is now part of the whole auditable project record without needing to give up the tool that their stakeholders may be married to. They will experience the time savings and reduced frustration first-hand, and they then become your biggest advocates.”
“When teams actually calculate the time spent searching for project information in email, they’re shocked.”
The question Cox poses to construction leaders is simple but pointed: “How much is the email chaos costing you? Not just in hours but in delayed projects, dispute resolution, compliance risk and team burnout. Once you calculate that, the investment in proper information management becomes obvious.”
As the construction industry faces mounting pressure – from regulatory requirements, skills shortages and client demands for greater efficiency – the firms that thrive will be those that recognise email for what it is: a communication tool, not a project management system.
“Email isn’t going away,” Cox concludes. “So the sooner firms make a shift that allows them to access information that was formerly locked in individual inboxes from the same place the whole team can access all project information, the sooner they’ll see the benefits in their project outcomes, their team morale and their bottom line.
*Please note that this is a commercial profile.
The post The email problem no one’s talking about in construction appeared first on Planning, Building & Construction Today.
