Category: <span>Technology</span>

Category: Technology

3 Ways to Improve Communication on Your Jobsite with Drones

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By Devon Tackles.

Keeping tabs on a construction project is no small task. Every job has many moving parts. From tracking progress to managing subcontractors, communicating across teams can be challenging — no matter the size of your organization. The good news is, by spending less than an hour each week mapping your jobsite with drones, you’ll gain an entire toolkit to help you and your team work more efficiently, make more informed decisions, and communicate with ease.

Drone maps and models not only provide an aerial view of your project, but each map includes a rich set of data that can be used to further measure and analyze just about anything on a site. Here are three ways you can improve communication on your jobsite with the use of drones and aerial maps.

  1. Project Monitoring and Site Inspection

DroneDeploy, an industry leader in drone mapping software, discovered that 60% of their customers make maps weekly. This regular, overhead view is invaluable when it comes to tracking progress and inspecting for safety issues on construction projects. “Drone maps give my team a bird’s eye view of the site, which looks a lot different than being on the ground,” explained Matthew Forster, Project Engineer for Choate Construction. “It gives them a full picture.”

Although nothing replaces boots on the ground, weekly drone maps can significantly reduce the amount of time you spend walking an entire site for the purposes of inspection and monitoring. For more advanced oversight, you can import and overlay site plans right in the DroneDeploy interface, or export your maps into industry software like BIM, GIS, and CAD. You can easily export your data in the format you need or use open APIs to sync your data with everyday tools.

Contract Project Manager Nick Johnson of Tilt Rock of Texas does this to help him manage large, custom home projects. Homeowners make frequent changes to house footprints, models, and orientation, so Johnson overlays drone maps with utility, wastewater, and communications plans to help him can catch conflicts with services before they actually happen and redirect them at minimal cost.

“Aerial imagery identifies conflicts I wouldn’t normally see from the ground level. Now, I find out about conflicts in a matter of days, instead of months.”- Nick Johnson, Project Manager, Tilt Rock of Texas

  1. Take Volume and Area Measurements, Estimate Stockpiles, and Monitor Earthwork

Every location on a drone map is geotagged, so you can take basic measurements almost instantly, from any device. For situations that require centimeter-level accuracy, ground control points (GCPs) can be added to a map. These marked targets help mapping software accurately position your map in relation to the real world and afford the accuracy needed to make precise volumetric and linear measurements.

“I can tell how many square feet of roof we’ve put down, how much square footage of concrete is left to pour,” Ryan Moret, Field Solutions Manager at McCarthy Building Companies, said. “If we’re trying to figure out truck access, we can measure the width of a road or gate or how much room we need to clear out for material to make the site clean and organized.”

  1. Share Insights, Align Teams, and Inform Stakeholders

Drones make collaboration and information sharing, both internally and externally, easier than ever before. Cloud-based platforms make it easy to share annotated maps between team members, or keep external stakeholders up-to-speed on the progress of a project.

In contractor meetings, having a clear display of any current site issues is a powerful communication tool. Likewise, having an up-to-date drone map helps distribute information efficiently, even among large teams. Streamline the decision-making process by referencing a drone map any time changes need to be made to a project.

McCarthy Building Companies uses drones in many high-tech ways, but at the end of the day, “paper is still the common denominator for jobsites,” says Moret. On every McCarthy site, the wall of the job trailer is covered with weekly drone maps posted in sequence, giving anyone who walks into the room a clear picture of the project’s progress over time, as well as a snapshot of any current issues on the site.

“The trades love it, being able to walk up to the wall and see nine weeks of construction photos,” Moret said. “They pull these up in every sub meeting, every owner meeting. We have data from that week to show contractors, ‘hey, the site’s a mess; you guys need to go clean it up.’ You can see rebar spread out all over the place, so there’s no arguing. They see it for what it’s worth.”

BuiltWorlds partnered with DroneDeploy to bring you this article. You can read the full version of this piece here.

Study Finds Construction Industry Can Benefit From Artificial Intelligence Adoption

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A McKinsey & Co. study on artificial intelligence (AI) applications in the construction industry reports a combined use of machines and digital technology can enhance quality control, project scheduling, data analysis, and project cost savings, according to www.constructiondive.com.

The construction industry currently is the second-least digitized economic sector in the world, and the industry needs to lay the groundwork before AI can be widely adopted. The study identifies investment in data collection and processing tools like cloud infrastructure and advanced analytics as the first step.

There has been increased interest in sensors, cloud-based data sharing and mobile connectivity within the construction industry. Some employers already are using wearable sensory devices to monitor workers’ location and equipment at worksites. Data collected from the devices is transmitted to a cloud-based platform accessible from any compatible mobile device. AI algorithms advance the process one step further by deploying real-time solutions based on data analysis, helping employers ensure their workers stay safe on the job.

Industry employers may look to other industries that have successfully used AI to optimize processes, including the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. The study notes an AI algorithm is used by the pharmaceutical industry to predict medical trial outcomes; a similar algorithm may be used by the construction industry to forecast project risks and constructability. And image recognition algorithms used by the healthcare industry to support diagnoses may enable drones to assess construction site images for signs of defects or structural failures.

Note: This article first published on the NRCA website and can be viewed here.

RT3 Members Discuss the Current Issues, Trends and Opportunities for Technology in the Roofing Industry

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by Anita Lum

Technology has been at the forefront of nearly every industry for the past decade and roofing is no exception. The industry is ripe for change and has been transforming rapidly as more and more contractors embrace the use of technology in their day-to-day operations. David Huval of National Roofing Partners interviewed Trent Cotney of Cotney Construction Law, Lynn Foster of AccuLynx, and Tom Whitaker of Harness Software, to learn more about the current issues, trends, and opportunities with technology in the roofing industry during the International Roofing Expo in New Orleans.

Both Cotney and Whitaker expressed a current challenge that the whole industry can resonate with – the lack of skilled labor. To combat that need, the adoption of technology in the workplace is critical. Technology can be used to supplement this shortage by doing more with less; there are currently programs geared towards all facets of construction, including project management, work orders and health and safety.

Opportunities for technology in the industry are plenty. With the integration of applications in the workplace, the industry as a whole can really go digital. For instance, smartphones and tablets have become part of our daily lives, so integrating it into our businesses should be the next step. As Foster put it, “…the next couple of years is really going to be the mobile revolution.” This technology will allow instant transmission of information from the field to the office, which is critical to increase efficiency, decrease risks, and drive performance.

Other trends in roofing technology include drones; “Drone technology has gotten so much better over the last few years and it’s going to continue to make a huge impact,” said Whitaker. Cotney mentions the use of blockchain, a new way of engaging in contract payment method, to improve productivity by cutting out the middlemen.  According to Foster, integration is also set take off in the next couple years with “all these different entities getting together on one platform and integrating.” This will ensure much smoother processes by keeping all business information in one space.

While the roofing industry has been slow to adopt the new technology into their processes, this is beginning to change. With the technology tools identified by Cotney, Foster, and Whitaker, roofers can streamline workflows, manage clients, and share projects across the board, and ultimately grow their business.

Watch a recap of the interviews below.

Top 4 Benefits of Drones in Construction

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By DroneBase.

Drones are an innovative solution to deliver sophisticated analytics, provide a visual progress report, and allow worksite managers to track, map, survey, and manage projects easily. They are used on hundreds of sites nationwide and are equipped to perform construction flights safely, efficiently, and under compliance with all worksite regulations.

Plenty of construction professionals use drones to take their projects (and efficiencies!) to the next level. Here are a few of the top reasons contractors choose drones for their worksite needs.

1 – Site progress

Get project updates as they happen, regardless of your proximity to the worksite.

2 – Stakeholder communication

Share visual project updates with key stakeholders to keep all parties informed on progress.

3 – Surveying

Gather analytics via drone to vastly reduce time associated with traditional forms of site mapping.

4 – Stockpile measurements

Collect accurate volume data with a fraction of the manual labor.

 

Note: This article first appeared on DroneBase’s blog and can be viewed here.

Photo: Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

The Future of Construction Site Surveillance: Part 1

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By Cotney Construction Law.

There’s an unfortunate stereotype about the work being done on construction sites. Well, perhaps we should say the work not being done. The cliché is that a construction site is a place where workers are standing around doing nothing. Although anyone in the construction industry knows that this is simply untrue, the fact remains that the vast majority of projects end up running past their deadline and over budget. Construction companies are always open to looking for ways to avoid this dilemma.

The Penalties That Stem from a Delay

When deadlines are missed, this can result in financial penalties for contractors. Delays can also compromise a contract, affect the bidding process on other jobs, and, in extreme cases, ruin a professional’s reputation.

This two-part article discusses the future of construction site surveillance and how technology may speed up and finely tune the building process. If new processes can lessen delays by closely monitoring the work being performed at construction sites, everyone in the construction industry will prosper.

Groundbreaking Invention

Future projects within the construction sector may be supervised by robotic devices like drones and rovers. As you probably already know, most construction sites already use various types of drones for aerial shots. This footage can provide valuable intel for the exterior of construction projects; however, the interior area of construction sites have lacked advanced autonomous technology that can record, analyze, or inspect the building process of a site. That is until emerging tech company Doxel unveiled its newest, groundbreaking invention.

LiDAR-Equipped Technology

After recently receiving $4.5 million in funding, Doxel’s artificial intelligent rovers can provide construction sites with measured data that is much more precise than your standard inspector with a tape measure. Although the rover looks like an adorable and more sophisticated version of the robotic vacuums homeowners invest in to aimlessly move around their living space, these Doxel rovers are capable of a much more advanced level of technology and can roam pre-coordinated paths that encompass an entire construction site.

These LiDAR-equipped robots can be let loose at the end of a workday and scan entire sites and determine the progress of the whole project.

Digitizing the Industry

The term LiDAR may not be a household name yet, but it will be in the next decade. LiDAR technology is the integral force behind autonomous vehicles’ vision. As digitaltrends.com explains it, LiDAR technology is a “laser-based surveying method” that creates a “depth-based image of the world by shining out laser lights and then measuring how long it takes for the reflected pulse to be bounced back to the sensor.” In non-techy talk, this means that the Doxel rovers possess a LiDAR scanner that allows them to digitize all of a construction site by scanning it. This initiates the process of sending this data to cloud technology and allows the information to be immediately analyzed.

The Deep-Learning Process

The surveying rover is the medium used on the construction site to collect the data via the high-tech laser scanning process known as LiDAR technology. However, once this information is collected it’s immediately uploaded to a deep-learning process that analyzes the measurable results that the surveying rover collected. Utilizing advanced 3D technology, the cloud system algorithmically analyzes the data and determines the overall quality and progress of the work being performed on location. This highly accurate information verifies that the construction work was completed correctly and remained on schedule.

Note: This article first published on Cotney Construction Law’s website and can be viewed here.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is for general educational information only. This information does not constitute legal advice, is not intended to constitute legal advice, nor should it be relied upon as legal advice for your specific factual pattern or situation.

The Best Employers in the Built World Embrace Technology

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By Isabel Singer, BuiltWorlds.

The AEC industries have a workforce issue. According to the Associated General Contractors of America, 70 percent of contractors have difficulty finding qualified craftspeople and, in 2017, the National Association of Home Builders found that the median age of construction workers was 41.

Given the challenges facing the industry, how can you ensure that great people want to work for your company? According to Travis Voss, the answer lies in embracing technology.

Travis Voss is the Technology Manager of Mechanical Inc., one of the nation’s top 50 mechanical contractors. Voss’ efforts to get employees excited about and invested in innovative technology has transformed Mechanical Inc.’s workforce. Since Voss joined the company in 2016, he believes that Mechanical Inc. has become even younger, even sharper, and employees stay at the company for even longer.

Voss agreed to sit down with BuiltWorlds and share Mechanical Inc.’s secrets for creating a robust workforce.

Tech-forward organizations recruit first-rate talent

When trying to recruit young people, Voss makes sure Mechanical Inc. showcases its technology. Voss ensures that all the interns that spend time at Mechanical Inc. visit the technology department and, whenever Voss visits a job fair, he brings along a HoloLens or an HTC Vive.

“Keeping those shiny toys out in front entices young people to talk to us,” Voss laughed. “But in all seriousness, a few decades ago, you didn’t look at innovation as important when you were trying to recruit people. You just wanted to offer a stable position, good salary, and benefits. But, now the employment market is a seller’s market. You have to have a leg up to entice the talent in. They’re not going to want to work in a company that’s still doing things in an old school method when they know there is technology out there. Young prospective employees have grown up around technology and they know there must be a better way of doing things.”

Cutting-edge companies retain talent

Tech-forward companies retain talent because employees take pride in working for an innovative company. Furthermore, when a company has an innovative culture, employees have confidence that their company can weather adverse market conditions.

Voss related that employees “take pride in the fact like they’re working with a forward-thinking company, a company that is striving to innovate and bring new things to the industry. If another company offers everything similar across the board, but the competitor is still using pad and paper, employees prefer to stick around with the forward-thinking company because chances are the innovative company is better positioned to survive.”

Only GREAT Technology will help your company retain GREAT talent

Technology only helps retain talent if it improves employees’ work experience. Voss urges company leaders to experiment with new technology and not to fear failure. “You can rely on organizations such as BuiltWorlds and programs like the BuiltWorlds Pilots to help you curate different apps and gadgets and narrow down your focus,” he explained. “But, at a certain point, you have to invest in something that you feel is beneficial for your company. But, you should still treat the new tech like a research project. Don’t be afraid to walk away from a product that isn’t working for you. It’s a sunk cost.”

Voss also emphasizes that the opinions of field workers are vital when evaluating new tech. “I’m not a field foreman. I’m not a pipe fitter,” Voss said. “So, I have to admit that I don’t know what they know. No matter how awesome I think something is, I’m not the one that has to deal with the endpoint solution day-to-day. I always ask stakeholders, ‘do you think this will improve your job?’ and I accept that input.”

Note: This article was first published on BuiltWorld’s blog and can be viewed here.

Report Says U.S. Not As Prepared As Other Countries for Automation

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A report from Swiss technology leader ABB says the U.S. is behind other countries regarding its readiness for an increasingly automated world, placing ninth on a ranking of 25 advanced economies, according to www.savannahnow.com.

Researchers graded the countries in three main categories: innovation environment, which included money spent on research and development; school policies, from early curriculums to lifelong learning programs; and public workforce development, such as government-led efforts to retrain workers.

The report showed South Korea, Singapore, Germany and Canada are better prepared for automation largely because of their education systems and labor policies. Although it was acknowledged no country is “genuinely ready” for the technological shift expected to happen during the next three decades, the U.S. was deemed especially underprepared.

Guido Jouret, ABB’s chief digital officer, specifically referenced the U.S. educational system, which pushes students toward two- or four-year degrees. Colleges can be slower to keep up with technological changes, and companies will want workers who can adapt to cutting-edge technological developments.

By contrast, Germany encourages technical training, with 60 percent of young adults in the country training as apprentices in manufacturing, IT, banking, construction and other fields compared with 5 percent of Americans.

The Chinese government is updating public education to prioritize creativity rather than acing standardized tests; economists say these efforts are meant to train children and young adults to value independent thinking over regurgitation, which is a trait robots can’t yet replicate.

“Take the Southwest Airlines pilot—she did a phenomenal job landing that plane,” Jouret said, referencing a recent engine explosion that grabbed international attention. “This is the thing we need people to be good at—how to cope with the unexpected.”

Although U.S. leaders have praised apprenticeships as a way to help prepare workers for an increasingly technological world, economists say the U.S. would benefit more from continuous learning.

In Singapore, citizens were given cash in “individual learning accounts” they can use to cover job training courses at any stage in their careers. In Germany, lawmakers have proposed “employment insurance,” which would help workers pay for upgrading their skills during their lives.

The U.S. scores higher on research-and-development spending, which involves the dollars that fund advancements, devoting 2.79 percent of gross domestic product to the effort, which places the country fourth behind South Korea (4.23 percent), Japan (3.28 percent) and Germany (2.88 percent).

Note: This article first appeared on the NRCA website and can be viewed here.

Using Your Reports to Make Better, Profit-Driven Decisions for Your Roofing Business

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By Michelle Mittleman.

Software technology has opened the door for roofing companies when it comes to managing their business more efficiently and effectively than previous generations. CRM and ERP platforms, mobile applications and integrations give roofers 24/7 access to their business, including the information they rely on to make smart decisions.

It’s more than just knowing how many leads are in your pipeline, or how much revenue your top salesman generates on a quarterly basis. Dashboards and colorful graphs can’t always provide you with the in-depth analysis into the data that you need to see in order to make profit-driven decisions that impact your entire organization.

Going back and forth between Excel or separate programs means you are spending valuable time staring at spreadsheets, and not taking care of the things that really need your attention. As a roofing business owner, it’s more critical now than ever before that the reports you see and share with your teams are both accessible and easily generated from your software platform.

What Do Your Reports Tell You?

The greater the visibility you have into all of your data, the easier it is for you to extract the critical information necessary to run your business.

Is your reporting easy?

Reports are not helpful if you need to spend hours analyzing them. Reports generated from your CRM should easy to create, easy to to understand and easy to access.

Is your reporting customizable?

Being able to create custom reports from all of the data within your software platform means you get to pick and choose what’s important to you and not what a software company thinks you need.

Likewise, can your teams create their own reports that they need to succeed in their individual roles? Flexible data structuring and custom filtering means everyone has access to what they need.

Does Your Data Give You True Insight Into Your Business?

Being able to create calculations within your reports that allow you to derive meaningful insights and a greater understanding of what is happening in your business is the foundation of what software reporting functionality is about.

At the end of the day, these reports should be helping you make smart, profitable decisions for your roofing business.

Note: This article first published on the AccuLynx blog and can be viewed here.

South Florida Contractor Integrates Technology into Every Job Site

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Members of the BuiltWorlds team traveled through South Florida to learn all about the area’s key innovations that are pushing the built industry forward in new and unique ways. One of the companies spearheading that drive toward the future is Stiles Construction, a 67-year-old commercial real estate firm that’s shaped the Fort Lauderdale skyline.

As the BuiltWorlds team toured jobsites nearby Stiles’ Fort Lauderdale headquarters, they learned more about the company’s push for new technology on the jobsite. “That’s a 42-story tower that we plan on blanketing entirely with DeWalt wifi,” said Kris Lengieza, Vice President of Operational Excellence at Stiles, when referring to a jobsite beginning to lay the foundation. “We can more effectively use tools like Procore out in the field, then, so the guys don’t have to go back to the office.”

Streamlining the building process in that way helps Stiles run a particularly tight jobsite. Everything is scheduled, notated, and it’s getting easier to see who is on the jobsite, what they’re working on, and what tools they have. “We didn’t really track how good of a job we were doing,” Lengieza said of Stiles in the past. “I don’t think that’s atypical of organizations. I think we were pretty common in that.”

Where Stiles is atypical, however, is in their approach to remedying that gap in information. On top of deploying advanced technology on their jobsites, Stiles has noticed the reluctance the industry often has to adopt new technology and quelled its fears with friendly, enjoyable coaching sessions.

“We have provided all of our superintendents, all of our field guys, iPads, so now they all have the devices and we have now enabled them. We’ve given them no excuses not to do it. But that’s not enough. You need to get people understanding where the benefit for them is, so what we’ve done is gone with a grassroots effort where we will bring in superintendents and anyone that wants to join us for a training.”

The grassroots effort that Stiles is using to shepherd new technology onto their sites is only as effective as it is flexible, too, and as the company has quickly learned, taking input from everyday users is immeasurably valuable. Superintendents can suggest new avenues to use Procore on the jobsite, for example, and the company has taken these ideas on several occasions to better shape their software solutions.

As Stiles expands operations throughout the southeast, they’re continuing to call upon their workforce to propel change forward. To embrace innovation, they’ve learned, they must do it as a collective force. Changes can’t only come from the top down. “Now people are seeing the benefits of what we’ve put in place,” Lengieza explained. “We’ve also been changing the culture a little bit. If you have something that you don’t like the way it works, tell us about it. We might be able to fix it.”

Note: This article first published on BuiltWorld’s blog and can be viewed here.