Over the past few years, technological advancement has revolutionized the construction industry. While such a development plays a significant role in the construction sector, many firms have not integrated these improvements into their systems.
Technology has numerous roles to play in the construction industry, including managing risks and promoting the safety of workers. In a 2017 study by KPMG, 93% of respondents accepted that technology could significantly influence their businesses.
Some of the technological tools that can transform the construction sector include drone technology, wearables, equipment tagging, robotics, virtual reality, RFID tagging, and Building Information Modeling (BIM).
Now, let’s look at the reasons why construction managers and contractors should adopt technology in construction sites.
1. Promotes Safety of Workers
As construction is considered one of the riskiest occupations, there is a need to embrace technology that can improve the safety of workers by reducing onsite accidents. Wearables and drones are the best safety technologies so far.
Wearables
Wearables are high-tech devices that workers put on to alert them of impending dangers in a construction site. They include vests, hard helmets, boots, wrist bands, and glasses. The devices can track and monitor environmental conditions and physical locations.
Some wearables have emergency alert buttons which workers can press to call for help. If a worker is injured, the construction manager can track the worker’s location using GPS technology. That reduces the response time to emergencies.
Specialized wearables can measure the worker’s health conditions, including the rate of heartbeat and body temperature. The devices can also measure the height and speed of fall during an accident.
Drones
As one of the most widely used technologies today, drones have improved the efficiency of many operations in construction. They can assess locations considered dangerous to workers, especially the hard-to-reach regions.
Drones can also help supervisors to manage projects easily by improving the surveillance of the construction site. Besides making work more manageable, the use of drones also saves time.
2. Enhances the Productivity of Construction Firms
Technology is an essential tool that construction firms use to improve their productivity. Most construction companies have adopted the latest technologies to remain competitive in the market, allowing them to operate within tight schedules.
With better technology, construction firms can now deliver high-quality services within a shorter period compared to traditional construction methods. Supervisors can check the progress of work with just a few clicks on a computer.
Technology such as time-tracking apps ensures that workers complete their tasks on time and get paid as agreed upon. As workers are aware they are monitored strictly using technology, they tend to be more productive.
3. Improves Project Organization and Management
With technologies like project management software, construction managers can easily oversee every operation in a project. The manager can keep track of every important information, including schedules, budgets, plans, and project reports.
Construction firms should adopt a project management system that can handle every task in a single place. Alternatively, they can use various software programs that integrate with each to promote work efficiency.
With the proper technology, construction managers can evaluate a project’s progress, make accurate estimates, collect accurate data, supervise workers remotely, and communicate effectively with workers. All these improve coordination between the client and workers.
4. Saves Cost
Adopting technology in a construction site makes it easy to optimize building operations, allowing the contractor to cut costs. With a well-established technological system, there are few errors during construction, and few workers are needed for tasks that can be automated.
With the intensive use of technology in a construction site, the number of employees will be low, reducing the cost of training. That allows the construction firms to deliver high-quality projects at a relatively low price and improve profit margins.
5. Motivates Employees
Considering that construction is a dangerous profession, workers get motivated when they use technology that prioritizes on their safety. Besides that, technology improves the efficiency of work, allowing the employees to perform their tasks without struggling.
Lack of technology in a construction site can result in poor employee performance. Embracing the latest technologies is one of the best ways to fix such shortcomings. Workers who use technology are more productive than those using traditional methods.
6. Builds Customer Relations
By using technology, contractors or construction managers can establish direct contacts with their clients, rendering it easy to share ideas regarding projects. An example of such technology is the use of social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Skype.
Besides improving the worker-to-client relationship, technology can help a construction firm to enhance brand awareness online. Customers tend to rely on construction firms with an enhanced online presence and technological reputation.
7. Makes Construction Firms Competitive
Integrating technology gives a construction firm a competitive advantage over other companies. While most construction firms use sophisticated technologies today to stay ahead of others, clients also tend to hire contractors that use advanced technologies.
Final Words
While it is possible to implement a construction project using manual labour, it comes with many shortcomings like delayed operations and poor-quality services.
Adopting the latest technologies in construction has numerous benefits such as improved safety and productivity of workers and better management practices.
Technology has also made payment of construction services more affordable. Follow this link, jobsite.procore.com/what-you-might-have-wrong-about-lien-waivers to see how the construction industry is different from other sectors in terms of fee payments.