Construction

Crew phones and site tablets you can actually see.

Construction companies use NounDesk to manage rugged crew phones and site tablets across multiple job sites: grouping devices by site, pushing each site's Wi-Fi network, seeing which devices are online or have gone quiet, keeping the safety and timesheet apps installed, and recovering devices that go missing from a truck or a trailer.

Recommended policy: Field WorkerDevices: Crew phones and site tablets

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The situation

Devices on a construction site live hard lives. They travel between trailers, get handed between crews, and spend weeks where signal is poor. The owner or office manager usually has no idea how many tablets are actually working until a foreman calls.

What NounDesk does for a construction company

Group by site

Create a group for each active job. Each group carries its own pushed Wi-Fi network and its own required apps. When the Elm Street job wraps, move its tablets to the next site's group and they reconfigure themselves.

Know what's alive

The dashboard shows online, recently offline and offline devices with honest definitions. A tablet unseen for three days is flagged, not silently counted as fine.

Keep the safety and timesheet apps on

Required apps reinstall if removed. Block apps from outside Google Play so a shared tablet does not fill up with whatever a crew member sideloaded.

Recover what walks off

Trucks and trailers get broken into. Lost mode locks the device, shows your number and reports location; erase keeps factory-reset protection so the device is worthless to a thief.

Recommended setup

Setting	Choice
Policy template	Field Worker, with USB data transfer blocked
Groups	One per active job site plus “Yard” for spares
Required apps	Safety/reporting app, timesheets, plans viewer, messaging
Wi-Fi	Site network pushed per group
Alerts	Offline over 48 hours (sites have poor signal), storage almost full, lost mode

Why construction companies pick NounDesk

Site tablets get set up by whoever is there, by scanning a QR code, not by a visit from IT. When crews change, devices move groups in a click. And when a tablet disappears from a trailer, the plans and photos on it are protected.

On a construction job the tablet in the trailer is the plan set, the safety sign-in and the daily report, and it is shared by whoever is on site that week. The risks are physical: drops, dead batteries, break-ins and signal that comes and goes. NounDesk tells you honestly which devices are working and protects the ones that walk off.

How a rollout works for a 30-device builder

A typical small builder runs 20 to 30 crew phones and a rugged tablet or two per active site. The setup is done once in the office, then repeated by whoever is on site.

1. One group per job, plus Yard
Create a group for each active site with its Wi-Fi network pushed, and a Yard group for spares. A device's group decides its network and its apps.
2. Required apps by name
Add your plans and project apps from managed Google Play, for example Procore or Fieldwire, plus timesheets and messaging. They reinstall if a crew member removes them.
3. Foremen enroll on site
Print the QR code for the site's enrollment profile. A foreman factory-resets a tablet, scans the code, and it is on the site Wi-Fi with its apps before lunch.
4. Give foremen the Operator role
They can lock, reboot and move devices between site groups as crews change, but cannot erase a device or change a policy.

Groups and employees →Team roles →

Groups

Field crewField Worker policy · 8 devicesBy team
Broad StreetKiosk policy · 3 tabletsBy site
Acme LtdStandard Business · 4 devicesBy customer

What 31 devices cost

A builder with 25 crew phones and 6 site tablets: 31 devices × $1.50 = $46.50 a month.

Rugged tablets cost the same
A rugged site tablet and a basic crew phone are both $1.50 a month, with every feature included and no tiers.
Sites open and close
No minimum and no annual contract, so the bill follows the devices you manage as jobs start and wrap.
Try it on every device first
The 14-day free trial covers up to 50 devices and needs no card.

Pricing →

Common situations

What happens when…

The situations that actually come up, and what you do about each one.

A tablet has not checked in for four days

The dashboard shows it as Offline and an alert has already emailed you. Four days usually means a dead battery in a trailer, so check with the foreman first. If nobody has it, turn on Lost mode: the tablet locks with your number on the screen and starts reporting location the next time it finds signal.

A crew moves from the Elm Street job to a new site

Select their devices in the device list and use the bulk action to move them to the new site's group. On the next check-in each tablet picks up the new site's Wi-Fi network, its required apps and its policy. Nobody types a Wi-Fi password on a ladder.

A trailer is broken into overnight

Open each missing device, turn on Lost mode, and note the last reported location for the police report. Erase the ones that do not come back. The plans, photos and timesheets on them are protected by the screen lock and encryption your policy already required.

A subcontractor needs a tablet for two weeks

Assign one of the yard spares to them as an employee, put it in the right site group, and hand it over. When the job ends, deactivate them and choose "Keep managed, unassigned". The tablet is ready for the next person without a reset.

Features this industry leans on

Dashboard & inventory

An Android device dashboard and inventory for small fleets: see which phones are online, offline or need attention, and filter by group, employee, policy.

Security policies

Android security policies in plain English: pick a template, set screen lock, updates, camera, Wi-Fi and encryption, and preview changes before publishing.

Lost-device recovery

Lost company phone? Lock it in lost mode, show your number on screen, see where it last reported and erase it if needed. Location only in lost mode.

Groups & employees

Group company Android phones by team, site or customer with their own policy, assign them to employees, and choose what happens when someone leaves.

Other industries

Field service Cleaning & home services Delivery & logistics Security companies Restaurants & retail Clinics & small healthcare Small schools & training Property management Transportation All industries

From the blog

Construction: questions answered

Can I organize devices by job site?

Yes. Make a group per site, give each its own Wi-Fi network and required apps, and move devices between groups as crews move between sites.

Do rugged Android tablets work?

Yes, as long as they are Google-certified Android 8 or newer and can be factory reset at enrollment. Most rugged Samsung, Zebra and similar tablets qualify.

A tablet has not checked in for three days. Is it broken?

NounDesk shows it as Offline, meaning not seen for more than 24 hours. That could be a dead battery in a trailer or a lost device. The alert tells you, and lost mode is one tap if you suspect the latter.

Can the trailer tablet be a safety sign-in kiosk?

Yes. Lock it to your sign-in or toolbox-talk form with kiosk mode, using the form's web address if it is a web page. The screen stays awake while charging and crews cannot reach settings or other apps.

Can I share safety data sheets and site plans with crews?

Yes. Company documents shares safety sheets, handbooks and forms with everyone, one site group or named employees. Crew members open them in the Company documents app after signing in with a one-time code sent to their work email, and every open is recorded.

Ten phones. Ten minutes. Protected.

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