What kind of changes have you seen in the construction industry over the last year? Now, what about the last decade? The construction industry of 2010 looks dramatically different than the one at the end of 2019 – and for a good reason. Today’s job sites are filled with more technology and talent than ever, and projects are being delivered at accelerated rates.
But, as in years past, more change is on the horizon. So, what can we expect to see in the construction industry over the next year – and even the coming decade?
My crystal ball predictions for 2020 construction trends? Considering that the building industry needs to increase output by 30% to meet demands, the pressure to deliver is mounting. I anticipate there will be a concentrated focus on these three areas to alleviate the stress:
- Off-site Construction– Better initial planning, site constraints, and tightened schedules will only be met with off-site Construction.
- Skilled Labor Shortage – Programs and companies will be investing in creative ways to fill this shortage. This will come by increasing investment in government, education, and company resources.
- Increased Technology Investment – The above two points need technology as leverage to accelerate these changes.
But this is just my perspective. Recently, we also turned to experts, thought leaders, and innovators in the industry to get their thoughts on 2020 construction trends and predictions. What we heard was a powerful mix of big trends, new strategic focuses, emerging innovations, and even internal cultural shifts. We’ve compiled their insight below, organized by prediction round-ups like mine and the categories that matter most in the industry today:
- General Prediction Round-Ups
- People
- Technology
- Business
You can use the navigation links above or scroll down to read the list in whatever order you choose. But if you’re looking for even more in-depth insight on the must-know 2020 construction trends, I recently moderated a webinar: “Tomorrow’s Construction: 2020 Trends and Predictions.” In our webinar, we hosted industry experts to discuss some of the biggest topics sure to drive buzz across the industry in the next year and future. Watch now!
These 2020 construction trends and insights below will inspire you to take a fresh approach to all your upcoming projects and work.
2020 Construction Trends: Round Ups
These 2020 construction trends and predictions summarize a range of the hottest topics and challenges facing the industry today.
Josh Cheney, Customer Outcome Executive, Autodesk Construction Solutions:
“2019 was an incredible ending to a great decade.
The jobless rate dropped from 9.6 to 3.5%, M&A/investment activity has been tremendous, and value added to the U.S GDP from construction activity is at a ten-year high.
What does 2020 hold in store? Here are my five predictions:
- Labor Shortages – Assuming Construction continues to grow at its current pace, I expect the pain of skilled labor shortages to become more of an issue.
- Rise of the Machines – Boston Dynamics, Dusty Robotics, Built Robotics, CivDrone, etc., are all making significant progress to offset the labor shortage pain. We are kidding ourselves if we don’t think robots will play an ever-increasing role in Construction.
- Mixed Reality (AR/VR/MR) – Mixed reality is another potential bandaid for labor shortages. Visually understanding a project in person will help to reduce design clashes and change orders. Hopefully, these savings will be passed on in the form of higher wages and better benefits for industry workers.
- Sustainability – Resources are finite, and our population is only going to grow. Software like BuildingTransparency.org‘s EC3 will begin to address carbon usage. Younger generations are also going to hold older generations more accountable for environmental effects.
- Industrialized Construction – I expect to see continued growth in modularized Construction and offsite prefabrication. There are too many efficiencies to ignore.”
[Tweet “Resources are finite, and our population is only going to grow. Software like BuildingTransparency.org’s EC3 will begin to address carbon usage. – Josh Cheney, @ADSK_Construct”]
Allison Scott, Director, Head of Construction Thought Leadership & Customer Marketing, Autodesk Construction Solutions:
“2020 is shaping up to be an exciting year for the construction industry:
- Increased commitment and investment in new business models – compression of the market with additional mergers and acquisitions as firms seek to gain more market share and improve bottom lines, including more firms adding other services upstream – like architecture/design services – and downstream, like fabrication or trade contractors in-house; or operations/facilities management services. Additionally, as technology adoption grows, we’ll continue to see more firms add technology and innovation services like VR/AR, drone capture, and laser scanning to their list of in-house capabilities.
- Continued focus on Digital Twins – the industry has been toying with the notion of Digital Twins for a long time. Creating a digital twin of a piece of equipment, like an air handler, is real today but is not yet fully functional for an entire facility. As BIM models become more sophisticated, the use of integrated smart sensors (IoT) grows, and AI comes into focus, the industry will heighten its focus on the Digital Twin concept and start to put some elements into deeper practice. It will still be many years before a full DT is realized, but it will get exponentially closer in 2020.
- Transformation of data analytics to business intelligence – putting data at the center of the project and the business has been of strong interest to the construction industry in the last year and will continue to become increasingly important in the future. As firms continue to get their hands around capturing, organizing, and analyzing their data, there will be an intensified focus on transforming those data points into actionable intelligence – takeaways that can help a business make better and more accurate decisions. We will see increased use of dashboarding tools, increased development of new analytics capabilities, and the desire to create new KPIs where once there were none. Additionally, as technology adoption grows, we’ll continue to see more firms add technology and innovation services like VR/AR, drone capture, and laser scanning to their list of in-house capabilities.”
[Tweet “As BIM models become more sophisticated, the use of integrated smart sensors (IoT) grows, and AI come into focus, the industry will heighten its focus on the Digital Twin concept. – @AllisonBroSco @ADSK_Construct”]
Ryan McMahon, Director Product Manager, Industrialized Construction at Autodesk:
“Significant changes and opportunities are on the horizon for the construction industry in 2020:
- Firms will tap into new labor pools to address the skilled worker shortage: The industry will continue to be impacted by the skilled labor shortage. As a result, construction firms will need to learn how to access and utilize different and diverse workforces.
- Increasing costs of mistakes and delays will require better planning to de-risk: Opportunity and material costs are on the rise. As waste is becoming more expensive, and project delays are resulting in lower project turnover, companies will look to enhancing planning and preconstruction to reduce overruns.
- Standardization will become more commonplace: Every project has activities that are more repeatable and standard and can benefit from more automated processes. Companies have started to see more value when designing from a common platform, including more confidence in estimation, de-risking projects, and accelerated time to create and deliver key portions, such as the capture of intellectual property. Designers will begin to see industrialized Construction as enabling, allowing them to spend more time designing and less time on those tedious, error-prone tasks. Today, professionals know that utilizing IC accelerates projects and reduces costs, but they aren’t always quantifying these results. In 2020, expect to see a focus on real metrics to drive industry change.