Ten years ago, I wrote an article for Engineering News Record on how construction businesses underspend in technology. I referenced Gartner’s survey of technology spending by industry, showing construction dead last, which was the same ranking it held the previous year.
Back then, the construction CIOs I collaborated with were moving from 2D CAD technologies to 3D building information models (BIM). Some more advanced CIOs were improving their ERP workflows and investing in analytics. Many other construction companies, especially midsized general contractors and smaller subcontractors, were just getting started in their digital transformations.
Have construction companies transformed enough over the last decade where
technology, analytics, and now AI are driving efficiencies and a source of
competitive advantage? The industry is still playing catch-up,
ranking as one of the least digitized.
The gray work in construction drives inefficiencies
The hard part of modernizing technology in the construction industry is that
while projects have common workflows, they also have many project-specific
distinctions. Sometimes, this forces people at the jobsite to use a
one-size-fits-all workflow, which is often inefficient and may create
quality or safety risks. Other times, superintendents, project managers,
forepersons, and others with managerial functions resort to using
spreadsheets, documents, and ad-hoc communications to address
project-specific needs.
I’ve just described a construction business’s
gray work, the hidden,
unoptimized work that’s inefficient and can be dangerous on jobsites.
Digital trailblazers in construction recognize the importance of
dynamic work management, where processes and tools require flexibility, automation,
mobile capabilities,
real-time analytics, and
machine learning
to enable a smarter and safer jobsite.
The key to
dynamic work management in construction
is building semi-standard workflows that allow project managers to configure
and customize them to their project and job site’s requirements. Some are
simple integrations, like automating the integration of cost codes from the
ERP and filtering them to the ones needed for the project. However, the
bigger opportunities lie in creating and configuring dynamic work
applications that span the full lifecycle of managing a construction
project.
Digital trailblazing construction companies utilize a
no-code application platform built for dynamic work
to reduce gray work and empower developing and customizing workflows. Below
are three examples of dynamic work applications for construction
businesses.
1. Simplify health and safety management at the job site
Consigli Construction, one of the largest employee-owned construction
managers in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, knew that “safety isn’t just
checking a box.” Their challenge was that each job needed its own safety
orientation, requiring workers to sign physical safety documentation and
comply with required and frequently changing OSHA-required safety lessons.
Digitizing the paperwork wasn’t a sufficient solution.
Consigl’s dynamic work management
solution included building a low-code safety application with a mobile
interface. Field teams scan a QR code at the front of each site, which pulls
up a form workers fill out in their car instead of forming a line at a
job-site office. Site supervisors track the necessary safety requirements
and can easily approve or reject if a person is qualified to be on site from
their mobile device.
A second example is Harvey Building Products, which developed an
environment, health, and safety (EHS) management application. The app manages first aid safety observations, job hazard assessments,
and other recordable incidents and includes a compliance calendar to meet
OSHA and environmental regulations. This dynamic work application drove a
30% reduction in reportable safety incidents, enabled a 70% reduction of
lost time, and saved an estimated $300,000 on workman’s compensation
payouts.
2. Smart tracking equipment at jobsites
It’s common to have more demand than supply at job sites for specialized
equipment such as concrete saws, welding machines, surveying instruments,
and hydraulic tools. Personal protective equipment (PPE) such as
respirators, flame-resistant clothing, and chemical-resistant gloves may be
at a site for use by workers when required.
Tracking construction equipment
and other job site assets can be simplified, smarter, and optimized for the
project when treating equipment check-out-and-in as a dynamic workflow. For
example:
- Workers can photo QR codes on their mobile apps to check out and in equipment and report on maintenance needs.
- Forepersons can inquire about who has the equipment they need and where it’s located.
- Project managers can track equipment utilization, wear and tear, and maintenance needs, and machine language models recommend when to order more, service, or perform other proactive measures.
- Safety managers can define rules, ensuring only the right people with the completed training and safety credentials can check out specified equipment.
A dynamic workflow should help project managers proactively address job
site-specific issues. For example, there may be more equipment theft
precautions for city jobs, while they may need to order more equipment for
jobs spanning large areas or in challenging weather environments. In
addition, US states have different OSHA and other compliance requirements
that can be added as required.
3. Onboarding subcontractors and freelancers
Some of the most important dynamic work occurs when subcontractors and
freelancers are onboarded, from when contracts are signed to when workers
are cleared to work at a jobsite. If the onboarding communications with
subcontractors are done via email and every project manager has their own
onboarding checklist, then there’s an opportunity to convert this gray work
into smarter, more automated dynamic work.
Subcontractor management
can start with the estimating and bidding pre-construction steps and end
with tracking performance and payments. Onboarding is one of the mid-step
workflows where building a no-code configurable process can reduce
scheduling delays, decrease pre-mobilization meetings, help acquire the
necessary submittals, and address other pre-construction compliance
requirements.
A related issue is when construction companies utilize different
subcontractor management tools across their projects or have separate SaaS
tools for bidding, onboarding, and performance management. The result can be
significant gray work managing the subcontractor’s lifecycle on a project,
and the tool sprawl creates more data integration issues when trying to
develop analytics across projects.
Construction businesses looking to accelerate their digital transformation
can address both types of gray work by integrating enterprise systems like
Procore and Autodesk with a
construction dynamic work management platform. These construction businesses optimize workflows across multiple domains,
including contracting, onboarding, and job site management. Efficiencies are
created by having a centralized approach but project-specific
configurations. Construction companies also recognize other important
benefits in safety and compliance by reducing gray work and taking a more
company-optimized technology approach to developing dynamic workflows.
This post is brought to you by Quickbase.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do
not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Quickbase.
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