Business ideology is stealing from the construction industry all the time. In 2018, it was possible to encounter the phrase “cathedral thinking” applied to business-speak all the time. Before that, every manager was talking about “solid foundations.” It stems from the discovery that architects and builders in the Middle Ages constructed cathedrals with the long-term view of how the weight of the materials would cause subsidence over the years.
Some cathedrals and castles were even built up on one side more than the other so that the subsidence would happen evenly.
So why has the construction world been so slow to borrow technologies from the business sector? It turns out that construction has finally started to try out nascent technology to help in the completion of projects more quickly. Here are some recent innovations set to change the construction industry in 2019.
Autonomous Drones
They’ve been used for filming movie footage and home delivery, and now drones are going to be used in construction projects. They will map out the site digitally with a high level of accuracy. When they do a flyover, a drone will be able to spy out dangerous areas and safety code violations as well. The high-resolution photographs, like a construction camera, they take can be used to fashion a faultless model of how the finished project would look. They are reasonably priced and provide excellent data collection skills.
Estimating Software
One of the most time-consuming segments of a general construction project is determining the costs, materials, workforce, and schedule. That is rapidly changing this year with the advent of accurate general contractor estimating software. This technology makes it possible for the company to make precise bids that incorporate labor, profit margin, and tax—all in real-time and saved onto the cloud. Construction crews can concentrate on what they do best and leave the mathematical calculations to the software.
3D Printing
3D printers are being used to make parts for rockets and lunar missions, so it was only a matter of time before the construction industry began using 3D printers as well. Using this technology doesn’t just reduce the construction costs; it also makes it possible for wireless sensors to be embedded into property walls. This results in the seamless integration of tech and construction materials.
Virtual Reality
Soon the days of building an intricate architectural project to scale will belong to the past. Fiddling around with miniature plastic trees to give an idea of how the gardens will look and hiring interns to fold the buildings out of paper are over. Every stakeholder in a construction project will be able to walk around the actual buildings and gardens before they have even been built thanks to virtual reality.
These are some of the latest innovations that are going to change how the construction industry operates in the years to come. From the architect’s office through to the jobsite restroom facilities, technology will be calculating how the project will look and how much the portable restrooms will cost.