The construction industry has been growing rapidly thanks to innovative technologies and their continually evolving advancements. Construction work is now safer, more accurate, and more efficient than ever. Technology has even helped construction companies utilize automated onboarding software to make construction management easier.
There are seemingly endless possibilities for the future. Anyone who has been in the construction industry for more than 25 years can attest to the fact that it’s a much more fluid process these days. These are just a few of the latest construction management advancements.
Building Information Management Technology
Building information management technology allows engineers and contractors to generate 3D building plans. With these plans, onsite safety is improving. Time estimate accuracy is also enhanced.
Construction Software Advancements
Construction scheduling software and task management software have seen significant advancements since the emergence of the internet. Many parts of the construction process use this software, including organizing your construction team, increasing their productivity, and tracking their progress. Employees can use it as a time clock, and it also offers features for billing. Construction estimating software helps engineers more accurately estimate the cost of a project. This estimate ensures that the project won’t go over budget.
Computer-Aided Design
Contractors are now able to begin a job before plan completion with the help of computer-aided design. Using CAD, assessing possible problems that could occur before the construction work commences, can reduce errors. This assessment ultimately saves time and money in the building process.
Tablets and Smartphones
Gone are the days of having to set up an onsite office, fumbling through paper documents, and rolling out blueprints. Mobile technology has made researching data more efficient. It’s also much less cumbersome when working onsite. Digital building plans can be accessed, created, and modified on the worksite from a tablet. In addition to digital plans being more precise, their convenience saves time and work area space.
Smartphones and tablets can also be used for real-time communication between construction team members and others, whether in the field or not. A manager can now complete orders and other business dealings onsite, whereas it would’ve been necessary to travel to an office or some different location in the past.
Safety Gear and Procedures
Modifying safety equipment and procedures improves onsite protection for workers. Safety glasses, headsets and other innovative gear are being made from more impact-resistant materials and with greater safety and higher visibility in mind. Others allow managers to track their team members in real-time with wearable technology that enables them to see what their team members are seeing.
Safety Sensors in Structures
Sensors attached to the superstructure itself can provide information about its integrity in real-time. They’ll communicate with a data collection center to keep people in charge of managing the building informed. This information helps to avoid a small problem turning into a disaster. The result is a safer structure, as well as a more efficient and cost-effective maintenance department.
Drones and High-Tech Cameras
The use of drones is one of the most exciting technological advancements in the construction industry. Drones can reach areas that are difficult to access or completely inaccessible to humans or other machinery. These days, drones commonly map out construction sites. This technology helps to more efficiently and quickly create digital blueprints that are more precise than traditional paper blueprints.
Eco-Friendly Procedures
Implementing environmentally-friendly construction alternatives will decrease the negative impact of certain materials on the environment. Companies are utilizing green materials and addressing air quality and energy efficiency. “Smart” technologies, such as smart thermostats and sprinkler systems, are standard equipment. Other methods of creating sustainable buildings may not even be high-tech (e.g., designing them to use natural lighting anywhere possible), but are environmentally-friendly nonetheless.
Construction industry advancements make managing a project virtually seamless, especially when compared to the job as it existed a couple of decades ago. This progress is changing the industry for the better, overall, creating a fast-growing and profitable enterprise. It’ll be interesting to see what the next 20 years hold for this industry.