How Construction Technology is Changing the Way we Build
Date Posted: July 1, 2019
Posted In: Ideas,
From Procore Jobsite: Construction’s somewhat tricky relationship with technology has been put to the test in recent years, as increasing demands, ever-tightening margins and a shrinking labor pool have all squeezed the industry. Nevertheless, more firms than ever before are turning to technology to build safer, smarter and more efficiently.
As a result, we’ve seen some pretty amazing technology develop as adoption has picked up and its role in the industry has come into clearer focus, from automation to the cloud to virtual reality. This sea change has had a major impact on workers and construction as a whole.
“These new inventions have made public and private construction easier and safer. Not only are projects done faster with automation, projects are also completed with more accuracy and precision while reducing the cost–reportedly doubling output for construction firms. VR, AR, and drones in the high-risk construction industry are already reducing injuries and fatalities on jobsites but are also replacing manual labor,” noted a study by the Midwest Economic Policy Institute.
Fourth Industrial Revolution
This “Fourth Industrial Revolution,” as it’s sometimes known, inevitably raises the thorny issue of how workers will be impacted by the industry’s increasing reliance on software and methods designed in part to mimic or even replicate jobs that, until recently, only humans could do. The same report found that approximately 49 percent of all construction tasks can be automated, and that as many as 2.7 million workers could be displaced or replaced by 2057.