What are the similarities between a pickup truck, a nail stick, a handheld circular saw, a cement mixer truck, and a modern hydraulic excavator? The simple explanation is that they’re all standard tools and equipment on today’s building sites. Another right response is that these are all examples of building technologies that were not available 100 years ago. Plus, if you’re looking to build a concreting company in Sydney. visit https://www.bkhgroup.com.au/our-locations/concrete-sydney/ to reading more about concreting company in sydney.
Consider what a building site would be like now if it didn’t have construction technology. We’d have to cut boards and dig holes by hand if we didn’t have power tools. Laborers would have to excavate areas and dig trenches with shovels and pickaxes if heavy equipment wasn’t available. Buildings would only be a few floors tall if they didn’t have elevators.
The argument is that modern concrete works technology has already propelled the industry ahead, so it’s strange that so many businesses are reluctant to embrace new construction technologies. We can build buildings that are heavier, bigger, and more energy efficient. Construction sites are now cleaner and jobs are more productive thanks to technological advancements. We’ve been able to boost efficiency, enhance teamwork, and take on more challenging tasks as a result of it.
What is Construction Technology?
Construction technology, according to the Construction Industry Institute, is “a range of advanced materials, machines, modifications, software, and other technologies used during the construction process of a project to facilitate innovation in field construction methods, including semi-automated and automated construction equipment.”
We will go even further by incorporating pre-construction technologies such as online bid boards, bid management tools, and automated takeoff solutions.
New building technologies are being built at a breakneck pace today. Linked equipment and tools, telematics, smartphone applications, automated heavy equipment, helicopters, robotics, digital and virtual reality, and 3D printed houses, which appeared futuristic 10, 20 years ago, are now here and being used and used on work sites all over the world.
Although building companies continue to underinvest in technology, venture capitalists are betting big on construction tech’s potential. According to a study published earlier this year by James Long LaSalle, Inc., venture capital funds spent $1.05 billion in global contech startups in the first half of 2018. That’s a nearly 30% increase over the amount invested for all of 2017. Since 2009, investors have closed 478 funding deals totaling $4.34 billion.
Here’s a look at some of the major areas where technology is impacting and improving the construction industry:
Productivity
Construction efficiency has been stagnant for decades, according to McKinsey & Company report. Construction is disjointed and siloed in the conventional design-bid-build process. Every construction site is different, with its own collection of risks and challenges. This makes streamlining procedures and increasing growth impossible, as it has been in sectors like manufacturing and retail. In this regard, you can seamlessly grow your concreting company Sydney features without much hassles.
Software & Mobile Apps
There are software and smartphone applications available today that assist with the management of all aspects of a building project. There’s tools out there to help you streamline your procedures and increase productivity, from preconstruction to scheduling, project management and field monitoring to handling your back office. The majority of computing solutions are cloud-based, allowing for real-time modifications and improvements to records, plans, and other administrative resources, allowing for improved connectivity and coordination.
Real-time data capture and transmission between the jobsite and project management in the back office is possible thanks to mobile devices. On-site workers can file timecards, payroll reports, requests for information (RFIs), job logs, and other checked documents using cloud-based solutions. This will save hundreds of hours a year of data entry and organizes sensitive archives automatically—no more rummaging through files searching for old records.
More cloud vendors are forming strategic relationships to enable you to easily merge your data with your other tech applications, making running your company simpler than ever.
Offsite Construction
Offsite architecture is often used in the design of apartment houses, hotels, hospitals, dormitories, jails, and classrooms, many of which have repetitive floorplans or configurations. Offsite work is carried out in a regulated climate, similar to that of an auto production factory. Staff have all of the equipment and supplies they need at each station to complete their mission, whether it’s building a wall frame or installing electrical wiring. This form of building in an assembly plant removes pollution and helps employees to be more efficient.
Modular and prefabricated construction are the two most common types of offsite construction. Entire rooms can be constructed with MEP, finishes, and fixtures already designed using modular construction. They can be as small as kitchens, or they can be assembled on site to create bigger spaces such as apartment units. The mobile units are sent to the job site, where they are inserted and connected to the concrete structure.
Construction parts are prefabricated and shipped to the construction site, where they are assembled or mounted. Framing, internal and exterior wall panels, door and window sets, floor structures, and multi-trade shelves, which are panels with all the ductwork, wiring, and plumbing packaged together, are also examples of prefabricated construction parts.
AI & Machine Learning
Data is now being used by construction companies to make smarter decisions, maximize efficiency, improve jobsite safety, and lower risks. Firms can use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning systems to forecast possible project results to achieve a comparative edge when forecasting and bidding on construction contracts, using the mountains of data they’ve accumulated over the years.
AI will boost job morale by reducing the time spent scouring the building site for machinery, supplies, and equipment needed to complete specific tasks. Smartphones or wearables are used to screen workers during the day.
Sensors on materials and machinery keep track of how everything else moves around the job site. If enough data sets have been compiled, AI may assess how employees navigate about and communicate with the web and find ways to reorganize tool and material positioning and make them more available to workers and minimize downtime.
Robots and artificial intelligence (AI) are now being used to increase jobsite efficiency by monitoring progress with real-time, actionable data. Per day, autonomous drones and rovers with high-definition cameras and LiDAR search and photograph the construction site with precise accuracy.
The AI then compares the scans to your BIM sketches, 3D plans, building plan, and calculations to inspect the consistency of the job and calculate how much progress was achieved each day.
Deep-learning algorithms are then used to detect and report mistakes in the work that has been completed. Excavation and site work, as well as mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, are examples of this. Even if only a portion of a building part is visible, AI will identify it based on its form, scale, and position.
These programs will inform you how much work was completed each day by classifying and calculating amounts constructed, which they will then equate against the building schedule and notify you if the project is behind budget. Additionally, the AI senses differences between mounted components and onsite work with templates, allowing you to easily find defects and prevent expensive rework.
Safety & Training
As the building industry begins to embrace new technologies, one sector that is receiving a lot of focus is improving safety. Construction workers accounted for 991 of the 4,963 workplace deaths in 2016. Any construction firm should prioritize worker safety, and technological advancements are making it easier to better train and track employees to avoid accidents and lower the rate of serious injury and worker deaths.
Final thoughts
With the launching of some concrete tech tools, concreting companies are expanding at a geometrical progression. This advancement also makes it super easy to launch a concreting company Sydney can immediately rely on.