Tech in Construction: Ignore It (and maybe it will all just go away)

The Story of Mr Clayhouse

Once upon a time, around 8,000BC, people built houses out of clay. They would literally just slap lumps of clay one on top of another until they had made what passed for four walls (You might argue that little has changed with some blocklayers, but bear with us, please). Unfortunately, these walls had a tendency to crumble apart in the sunshine, or slump into a mess in the rain.

So what happened? Technology happened. It didn’t take people long to get sick and tired of living in fall-down houses. They got creative and invented ‘technology’, using anything they could find to make the clay walls better: reeds, ground up bones, cowdung, straw, blood and urine were all tried by various people to make stronger walls.

Best of all, Mr Brickman had the bright idea of baking the clay: lo and behold, the mighty brick was invented. There are brick structures in Jericho that are still standing over 10,000 years later, but archaeologists have yet to find a still-standing lump-of-clay house!

‘Time Machine’ Time

Now, this is pure idle speculation – you can’t beat a bit of idle speculation – but if you went back in time to ancient Jericho, would you rather invest your hard-earned lump of gold in the business run by Mr Brickman, or would you give it to Mr Clayhouse, the builder who insists on building “the way my father did, using good old lumps of clay”?

Quite simply, technology in industry and construction has always made things better – whether that’s easier, faster, stronger or longer-lasting; after all, if it doesn’t, it disappears (like Mr Clayhouse’s construction business, or the square wheel).

There are plenty more examples of construction technology improvements, and the thing with good ideas is, they last:
• We still use brick construction, 10,000 years later.
• We do not use clay walls.
• We still use concrete, invented by the Romans over 2,000 years ago.
• We don’t use wattle-and-daub, as it’s too labour-intensive compared to technological alternatives.
• We still use steel for reinforcement, beams and columns.
• We don’t use cast iron.

All of these have been radically successful technological improvements on what went before.

Smart Tech
Technological progress is still continuing in construction materials, but these days the fastest changes of all are taking place on the construction management front. Computer and smartphone technology has completely revolutionised how we manage construction projects.
Doubtful?
Let’s imagine the modern-day equivalent of Mr Clayhouse. Mr Clayhouse still draws mostly by hand. He duplicates drawings, sends them by post, and only ever takes calls in the office. He refuses to use a smartphone for anything—
‘Stop!’ you say. ‘Enough. That’s just a joke of a person. You couldn’t survive in construction doing things like that!’

No, that’s true, but that’s how absolutely everyone in construction operated less than 20 years ago, and it wasn’t all that different 100 years before that, or 100 years before that.
But you’re absolutely right: that person wouldn’t last a week in the construction industry nowadays, because technology has completely changed how construction is managed.

How to avoid getting left behind

Okay, so computer technology has simply revolutionised how we do business, and if you fail to adapt, you’ll be like Mr Clayhouse. None of us want that, and the solution is easy: with all the increased paperwork required in construction, you must use technology wherever you can, whether you need to save time or money, or both. The good thing is, the technology already exists to help you manage your construction projects. If you are not already using apps for these processes, you really should be:

• Planning Applications.
• Project Tendering.
• Production of Contract documents.
• Monitoring Multiple Projects.
• Change orders – our own frustration with doing essentially the same thing over and over for hours every week led us to develop +AddJust.
• Ordering Construction Materials.
• Compliance with All Legal Requirements.
• Managing Teams and Workflows.
• Compilation and Sharing of Health & Safety documentation.
• Processing Timesheets.
• Delivery of Safety Files.
• Handover Management.
• Maintenance Period Management.

Most software cost little and make your life a hell of a lot easier. Getting a little smarter with readily available tech will keep you firing ahead for years to come, like Mr Brickman, and give you the edge over the likes of poor old Clayhouse.

Technology is rapidly changing construction, so either:
Adapt by adopting… (in other words, +AddJust)
…Or get left in the dust!

– Benny Neylon, 2017