Does the right technology help keep your construction project within budget and on time?
There’s a reason 9 out of 10 major construction projects are over budget. Based on McKinsey & Company, major infrastructure projects like bridges and tunnels could exceed budgeted costs by up to 35 percent.
It doesn’t get better than this in commercial construction. A study conducted by the international researcher IDC discovered the following: 75% of construction projects exceed budget, and 77% are behind by an average of 70 days.
Also, it’s not only you. Construction projects, large and small, can be difficult to manage.
In this age of digital technology, innovative technologies streamline construction and offer alternatives to traditional projects that were destined to fail on time and cost.
- Research on the proven benefits of integrating workflows in construction
- A guide to calculating the ROI on investments in construction technology
- KPIs to gauge the performance against
- Three examples of integrating workflows in use
- A tool that can measure your progress with technology integration when compared with other peers
The benefits of technology in construction
Technology-enabled workflows have been around for a while. In the last few decades, we’ve witnessed digital transformation transform industries like agriculture and manufacturing. Construction has been slow, but this is changing.
In the construction sector, we are taking on technological innovation, just like how technology has revolutionized the process of building commercial aircraft or shipbuilding manufacturing.
The full impact of this change is decades off from now; however, now is the right time to invest in the latest technology that will allow for the future of success. According to research by McKinsey & Company, the impact of globalization, industrialization, and digitalization has brought $11 trillion in value and $1.5 trillion in real profits in the field of construction.
The positive side is that you’re already employing a variety of apps and tools for your job to help streamline the process of construction. McKinsey states that attitudes in this industry have been changing toward technology when compared to five years five years ago.
The conversation is beginning to change from ‘why it is important to make use of technology to how we can make use of it’ in order to speed up construction, improving speed, communication, and precision.
It’s about the integration of all those apps and tools together to store and access shared information in one central place ( Common Data Environment). We’re talking about utilizing technologies to build a unified construction environment.
Integrated workflows can increase efficiency, aid in making better decisions, and increase productivity at every phase of an undertaking. The net gain of these advantages can translate into having a better understanding of your schedules and budgets.
Did you realize the fact that over half (65 percent) of contractors, owners, and designers one have seen improvements in efficiency when they adopted digital workflows?
Many construction companies which make use of technology also boast the benefits of technology, such as:
- Better decision making
- Better collaboration between multi-company processes
- A lower number of changes to orders
- Greater cost predictability
- More productive labor
There are many benefits to having the integration of digital workflows in the construction industry.
However, here’s the thing you are looking for – what’s the expected ROI (ROI) of implementing new technology? And will it make a real impact?
Calculating the ROI of construction workflows: The most crucial factor in assessing the effectiveness of a construction workflow
All these bells and whistles, aside from us, we understand that you require more than just an ‘feels-like’ evaluation to be able to accept the notion of making a significant technological investment.
The conversation is now about measuring ROI (ROI).
Key decision-makers at the bottom are interested in knowing how these benefits are measured in terms of dollars and days. Here’s a quick review of how the benefits of connected technology translate into tangible metrics.
Although it’s unlikely to quantify every aspect, you can establish an objective and select some KPIs that match that goal. They can provide all the data you need to calculate the ROI on investment of the latest technologies.
ROI = (Net Profit / Investment Cost) x 100
Let’s now see how this is working on the ground.
Technology can enable seamless communication between offices and field
What causes construction projects to run over budget and miss deadlines? There’s more to it than the physical distance between what takes place at the construction site and the decisions taken at the office.
One survey that included more than 500 general contractors working in the construction industry for commercial purposes found that inefficiencies due to inadequate communication, including conflicts and rework, consume the equivalent of 14 hours of work per week per worker.
A $16 billion Site C Clean Energy Project to construct a dam and hydroelectricity generation station over a five-year timeframe illustrates the need for better communication during big-scale construction activities. Communication that is connected from the job place to offices and on to the external stakeholders ensures that everyone is kept informed with real-time information about the happenings right now.
At the beginning of the project, the team relied on thumb drives and hand-delivered updates to the office. Communication mainly was conducted via the wildly popular mobile app, WhatsApp. The way they worked was always somewhat out of sync, and so as the project progressed and roles changed, they moved to a connected-technology method that allowed instantaneous two-way communication.
Thanks to integrated technology, they could upload excavation plans with cosmetic adjustments to ensure that crews working on the job site could make the necessary adjustments without reworking.
Progress reports on the progress of compaction are produced within WorksOS to be approved prior to moving on to the next stage.
An integrated approach to technology aids in:
- Make it easy to transition seamlessly between shifts.
- Create safe workplaces by allowing contractors the ability to adjust to the actual working conditions.
- It will enable continuous monitoring of daily progress at the job site.
- Create 3D models for a visual representation of the process.
- Keep the job site’s activities organized and efficient.
- Gain visibility from beginning to end.
- Organize multi-trade work sequences.
Example 2: Efficient digital-first design & collaboration
Let’s take a moment to think about the process of designing some of the most magnificent structures: dams, bridges and complex tunnel systems and intercity transportation systems. Each one of these projects is intricately complicated.
Take away the paper and pen to propel the process into the digital realm. Does it look like the original? Does it look superior? These are the kinds of questions an European bridge network was willing to pose when they began to explore the possibilities of connected construction with an innovative design process that was digital first.
The Randsleva bridge, which was built in 2021, near Oslo, Norway’s capital city Oslo is a great illustration that shows how construction connected techniques can help solve design and collaboration issues with 3D modeling instead of drawings traditionally drawn.
“When you traditionally worked on this by drawing it would require around 200 drawings. When you revise each one of them approximately six or five times, you’d have a lot of sketches.” — Oystein Ulvestad BIM designer, Sweco Group
This allowed designing modeling, construction, and design to run concurrently, keeping the project on track and moving forward. It also allowed for a great deal of efficiency by automating and standardization.