Adding Tech Tools to Construction Job Sites? Plan for More Data.

The new technology for construction jobsites is exciting for its ability to improve speed, productivity, and cost efficiency of projects, all generated by easier access to more information.

Construction Dive recently conducted a survey identifying these top 5 technologies lauded by construction professionals: 

• Tablets & Mobile devices – Offer easy access to construction apps while on site, and easier photo documenting.
• Drones – Low-cost way to capture aerial photos for 3D site modeling and integration into plans.
• AR/VR Headsets – For design verification, quality control and assurance, and quick inspection and better visualization of site elements for planning.
• Laser Scanning – Used to examine deflections and to accommodate for tactical adjustments needed to ensure adherence to plan design (for instance, used for detailed area scanning to plan a concrete pour)
• Wearables – Keep tabs of workers biometrics like heart rate, and electric activity to ensure safety of workers.

While these technologies can really amp up speed and productivity, most of them generate more downstream or real-time data that needs complete information management to ensure return on investment. If the increase of new information is not planned for, the added incoming data could overwhelm staff. Even worse, it could be ignored or misinterpreted and cause mistakes that result in costly rework that derails your project timeline.

It’s essential with any new tech integration to ensure you have well-trained staff and clear process to accommodate the new tool. Of course you need your staff to have the operational training on the technology itself. However, it’s also equally critical to have ready staff who are trained on the new data and know how to integrate and synch it quickly into all of your relevant software. Remember to plan both for the increase in volume and for the faster speed of data transmission.

In these lean staffing times it’s not always easy to find available talent that's well-versed on all the new technologies. If you’re challenged with finding tech-savvy expertise to manage changes to your construction data, learn more about BarkerBlue Build at https://barkerbluebuild.com. BarkerBlue helps construction and facilities teams better control cost, time, and risk over the entire lifecycle of a building by streamlining construction data management to improve data integration and relevance.