Running a successful company, let alone a construction company, is challenging. Add in countless stakeholders and jobsites, and there is a fundamental need to know what is happening at each one – accurately and automatically – to manage risk, keep projects moving and maintain company standards. This is precisely why connected jobsites are the future of construction, founded on the belief that the more accurate, real-time data that is available, and which is currently collected manually, the better.
Go Digital
The construction industry requires a bevy of documents that are always changing hands. Permits, contracts, safety inspection reports, and more are seemingly endless. Cloud-based project management software helps companies “go digital,” providing a real-time, single source of the latest information that is accessible anywhere. With the right systems in place, employees in the field can update blueprints, check as-builts, respond to RFIs and more in real-time, reducing the potential for error, delay, miscommunication and costly rework.
Automate Manual Processes
Time and attendance is an essential part of any project, but tracking that information across jobsites and projects can be daunting. Even figuring out how many employees are on one site, and each floor, is time-consuming. Wearable technology that connects workers to the jobsite and the jobsite to key personnel provides unprecedented visibility that saves time, improves communication, increases transparency and accountability, and enhances safety. If you don’t know who is on your jobsite and where they’re located, how can you provide aid if it’s necessary?
Real-Time Reports
Processing individual reports from each site at the end of the day consumes too much time and leaves much room for error. What’s more, paper logs or spreadsheet reports lock useful data in outdated systems and makes it unavailable for real-time analysis and extrapolation. Connected jobsite technologies generate custom reports that allow superintendents, managers and executives to see what’s happening across various subcontractors, jobsites or projects, which allows them to manage projects more proactively.
Optimize Resources
A construction company’s two largest expenses are labor and equipment, so if managers don’t have the latest, most accurate data from them, it can cost significant time and money. Emerging construction technologies allow managers to see where all their resources are on a jobsite and how they’re interacting with each other, reducing waste and downtime, improving efficiency and helping the bottom line.
A connected job site is one that encourages safety and innovation. As more and more construction companies embrace the use of wearable technology to increase efficiencies and promote safety, connected job sites will become the industry status quo.