Communication can make or break a construction project. A report from the Project Management Institute found that ineffective communication was the main contributor to project failure one-third of the time. An even more alarming finding from the research is that 56% of budgets allocated to projects are at risk due to poor communication.

Without objective insights alignment among field and office teams, knowing what’s happening on a project becomes a daunting task—one that could put a project (and its profitability) at risk.

3 common communication challenges in construction

1. Delayed communication

Timely communication (especially between the field and the office) is hard to achieve. Field teams are focused on a hundred different things at once, and relaying project updates typically happens at the end of their day. Because field leaders aren’t able to instantly communicate every facet of a project’s progress as it happens, there is a lag time and gap in each day’s reporting.

2. Inconsistent communication

In addition to being delayed, communication from the field to the office isn’t always consistent. The more variables and people added to the equation, the more potential for confusion and uncertainty. Communication on a project can very quickly turn into a game of telephone—and teams are forced to hold more meetings and conversations to ensure mutual understanding.

3. Missing communication

While delayed and inconsistent communication can hold a project back, missing communication can halt it entirely. If proper communication isn’t happening, neither is profitable building.

All these challenges in communication don’t just create extra stress and work on a project—they can have a deeper impact on the data and tracking, too. Without everyone on the same page, the reporting and insights are left to everyone’s individual perspective. As a result, the project’s insights suffer.

The value of objective insights

Accurate, reliable data allows construction companies to remove subjectivity and replace it with objective accountability. Insights that are trackable and consistent bring everyone together on the same page to make informed decisions, faster.

Improve communication and progress tracking

• Objective insights alleviate the friction of project communication and save everyone time. Gone are the days of asking for updates or trying to wrangle everyone together in one room. Companies that leverage shared project data have a real-time look into progress and can collaborate to build more efficiently. The information isn’t just received faster—it’s more accurate and can be distilled down to the entire team without pulling valuable resources away from the job at hand.

Streamline billing and accountability

• With shared insights around the percentage of the build completed, contractors have a source of truth they can use for billing. Instead of blindly trusting what subcontractors report on, companies can verify progress and reconcile it with what’s reported to keep building partners accountable.

How do companies get objective insights?

The key to collecting reliable insights is through automated progress tracking. The right tool can increase team alignment and communication, without adding effort to the project team’s plate.

Doxel brings predictability to construction projects by providing critical insight with objective analytics. The AI-powered computer vision builds a digital twin of the jobsite on a weekly basis—providing true progress reporting and near real-time data. Doxel acts as a digital surveyor to capture and quantify project progress and eliminates the need for teams to manually calculate and report on it. The result is detailed, shared progress tracking from a single source across every project stakeholder and subcontractor.

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Doxel CEO Saurabh Ladha is featured on The QTS Experience Podcast with David McCall. David and Saurabh discuss the impact of waste and rework in construction.

Saurabh discusses how Doxel integrates AI with established processes to build faster. Join us for the conversation, on the next QTS Experience. Episode 191; Saurabh Ladha: Intuitive Construction, AI, Doxel, Innovation, Data Center.

Many construction companies are at a crossroads as they think about the future of their business, and who will be a part of it.

More than 40% of the current U.S. construction workforce is expected to retire over the next decade. This generation of seasoned superintendents and project leaders will leave behind big shoes to fill in both skill and knowledge, and the industry’s current skilled labor shortage doesn’t exactly help either.

While many owners, GCs and trade contractors have programs in place to mentor younger generations and train them to step in, it won’t be enough to bridge the gap. That’s why it’s important for companies to ensure they are innovating to attract more workers of a new generation.

Appealing to a tech-savvy generation

The construction industry has made huge strides to change and adopt more technology, but it can’t stop now. The younger generation that’s coming into the workforce over the next ten years was raised in a time where technology was already prevalent and is like second nature to them.

If a company wants to attract and retain a new generation of field leaders, they need to have processes in place that don’t just utilize technology, but are on the forefront of innovation, too.

The old way of progress tracking

A project isn’t truly done until it’s done done. And whether or not it gets to done done on time and under budget all comes down to how it’s being tracked during the construction phase. The old way of progress tracking involves a ton of manual effort and even more paper. Field teams would have to document what happened by hand on a regular basis and manually report on the overall progress completed.

Not only was this inefficient and extremely time-consuming, it also made it nearly impossible to try to predict where the project was headed or spot any potential issues fast enough to fix them. Even with the utilization of 3D and BIM models, knowing where a project stands hasn’t been as automated as it should be.

Convincing new, younger workers to take on these outdated processes isn’t an easy sell. Chances are, they’ll feel their time is being wasted since they are so used to the convenience and automation that technology can bring. In order to attract more workers to be on project and field teams, the processes they follow need to be seamless and even a little exciting.

AI-powered, automated progress

Construction companies that are leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the collection and analysis of project data are already ahead of the game. While the new generation may be more traditionally more technologically savvy, AI is new and exciting to everyone.

Rather than spending hours per week manually inputting and calculating progress and materials, solutions like Doxel use AI alongside 360-degree capture to automatically identify true, objective progress. This ability to bring predictability to projects doesn’t just save field teams time—it provides critical insights that help avoid delays and cost overruns at the overarching project level.

Instead of them feeling like just another cog in the machine there to collect data over and over again, technology of this caliber empowers workers to think critically about the status of projects and seek a deeper understanding of what’s happening each day. Not to mention the sense of fulfillment that comes when a team works together on a project that is able to be completed earlier with increased safety, less expense, and higher quality.

Ready to embrace the future of progress tracking?

We can help you empower a new generation of field leaders. See how Doxel works in a personalized demo today.

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Now more than ever, construction companies are looking for ways to stand out from the competition—and that starts with staying on top of the latest technology that helps them build more efficient, profitable projects.

The future of construction technology will be a hybrid of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning working alongside the industry’s workforce.

But what does that mean?

• ‍Artificial intelligence, according to IBM, is the use of computers and machines to mimic the problem-solving and decision-making capabilities of the human mind.
• ‍Machine learning is a subset of artificial intelligence that leverages algorithms to automatically learn and improve from data without the help of humans or consistent programming.

Put more simply, artificial intelligence is the brain of the computer, and machine learning is the part of that brain that learns from data and makes informed decisions based on what it has learned.

How Artificial intelligence is Being Used in Construction

1. Generative Design

Computer scientists have found a way to make the process of designing a building more efficient and accurate. By starting with the goals and parameters of a project, generative design is able to explore every possible iteration of a solution until it comes up with the best option.

This technology and its use has the potential to save architects and designers countless hours upfront—but it doesn’t replace the human touch completely. Once the optimal solution is found for the design of a building, a designer still needs to fine-tune the details and take it from there.

2. Construction Robots

Robots are being utilized on construction projects to perform repetitive tasks (such as bricklaying) using AI to detect changes in conditions and maximize efficiency. While only a few robots have been added to the project ranks so far, it is expected that more of these AI-powered workers will be used as a method of streamlining productivity.

What’s our favorite robot in construction, you ask? Meet Spot: a robot dog created by Boston Dynamics used to carry image-capturing or laser scanning equipment that ventures where humans can’t. Spot’s ability to walk himself autonomously around a jobsite, including on uneven terrain, makes him a project’s best friend. Spot may not have AI infused into his DNA yet, but the future generations of Spot will incorporate AI for predictive and preventative analysis.

3. Smart Tools

Milwaukee Tool first dabbled into the technology space with their wirelessly connected tools, but they’ve since enhanced their capabilities with AI to pinpoint the exact locations of where a tool was last seen. And they didn’t stop there—by adding algorithms and more advanced sensors to their tools, Milwaukee is able to combine the data of a motor drive with motor load information to make decisions on false trips.

4. Predictive-based Safety Monitoring

It should come as no surprise that these technological concepts are being applied to the most important priority in construction: safety. Companies like NewMetrix have created an AI-powered solution to help predict (and prevent) safety incidents on projects.

By leveraging a construction-specific AI model, their platform can analyze existing data along with their proprietary program to provide actionable incident insights that have the power to keep workers safe.

5. Progress and Quality Analysis

While BIM has opened the door for 3D modeling of a project, it’s still nearly impossible to tell the progress or quality of a build without a human resource to manually sift through and analyze images. That is, until now.

Doxel’s computer vision-based progress tracking leverages AI to act as a digital surveyor that delivers insights and reporting in real time. It can automatically analyze visual data, measure installed quantities, and inspect quality for more than 75 different construction stages. This not only saves companies time, it also mitigates the risk of errors and delays that could become costly.

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Ever since the pandemic, QR codes have had a resurgence in society. When the world turned contactless, restaurants and businesses began leveraging QR codes for menus and signage. These small codes have since become a go-to for pulling up web pages quickly and conveniently.

As QR codes continue to become more prevalent, other industries have taken note and discovered ways to leverage them—and construction is no exception.

But before we get into that, let’s cover some basics.

What are QR codes?

The ‘QR’ in QR codes stands for Quick Response, which makes sense when you think about the way they work. By pointing a device’s camera at the code, a destination link is pulled up and can be accessed instantaneously.

While they may have become most popular after 2020, these codes are not a new technology. QR codes were first created in 1994 by the Japanese company and Toyota subsidiary Denso Wave as a more accurate way to track vehicles and parts during the manufacturing process. The original intention behind QR codes was to reinvent the barcode by making something that was easy to scan and could hold more data than the average barcode.

In a time where businesses needed to (and continue to) adapt, QR codes and smartphones have become a powerful duo to further streamline access to information.

Leveraging new types of technology in construction

It’s no secret the construction industry is facing some challenges. From labor shortages to supply chain, the circumstances have further shown the importance of operational excellence on a project. To help combat these challenges, maintain a high standard of execution, and minimize risks of mistakes, many construction companies have found technology to be the answer.

Can QR codes play a part in this? In our webinar Almost Done Isn’t Done, one Doxel customer shared his team’s innovative way of incorporating QR codes around the job site to bring everyone on the same page, faster.

Increasing field-to-model transparency

By strategically placing QR codes around key points of the job site, all the contractors for the project are able to instantly access the corresponding models and plans needed. That way, when the contractor is getting ready for the install or build, they can simply scan the QR code to confirm what they need to accomplish.

Putting the model in the hands of field teams every step of the way gives them immediate access to see where their efforts line up (or don’t) for the project. This makes it easy to ensure accuracy while progress is being made versus waiting until it’s too late.

How do companies make their own custom QR codes? Here’s a handful of solutions to consider:

• QR Code Generator
• Beaconstac
• Delivr
• QR Code Tiger

While this technology is helpful enough on its own, the destination of the QR code is what can really make the difference on a project’s path to operational excellence.

Let’s talk about what happens when laser scanning and real-time progress tracking join the party.

Empowering better progress in real time

Doxel’s AI-powered tool automatically maps and overlays 360-degree video to the BIM and 3D models. The split view allows teams to quickly understand what’s in progress and what’s done, along with the quality of installed systems.

Site progress is automatically quantified and visualized and can be differentiated by trade to compare what’s there to what should be—and as a result everyone is objectively aligned on true progress.

Imagine all this at the touch of a button, a scan of a code. With the convenient access of QR codes connected directly to Doxel, field teams can better (and more instantly) answer two of a project’s biggest questions:

Are things where they are supposed to be?

Are we on schedule?‍

By having the color-coded, easy to understand analysis of progress just a QR code scan away, project teams can be more proactive and accurate in their work.

Getting started with predictive progress and insights

If you’re ready to take your project models to another level, schedule a demo of Doxel today.

Construction is a unique industry in many ways, one of which being the flow of cash and accounting process for projects. Whereas many industries have straightforward transactions and payments, construction costs tend to be more complex and nuanced—which makes it more difficult to stay on top of a budget with money constantly going out and coming in.

From estimation and bidding to delays and change orders, there are many stages and factors that go into determining the cost (and profits) of a project.

How can companies know if they’re on schedule and under budget before the project closes? Work in progress is the answer.

Tracking work in progress

A work in progress (or, WIP) schedule is a detailed report that shows the percentage of progress completed on a project—and takes into account any work that’s in progress in relation to budget and profitability. Below are four reasons WIP Reporting is essential on every project!

1. Creates objectivity

When it comes to a project’s progress, communication is critical. Without clear, real-time communication, project teams waste valuable time meeting to discuss and determine where a project stands. Progress can also be misrepresented or miscalculated, which directly impacts the budget and schedule of a project. With so many moving parts to balance, construction companies can’t afford to make mistakes due to miscommunication.

WIP reports provide accurate progress data that project teams can trust across the entire site. This reduces any subjectivity throughout the building process and gives everyone one source of truth to work from.

2. Minimizes under and overbilling

Many contractors choose to implement progress payments, which means the project is billed based on certain percentages of completion as they’re reached instead of waiting until the end of a job. Combine progress payments with inaccurate progress reporting, and the project can very quickly become overbilled (revenue billed exceeds the work completed) or underbilled (work completed exceeds what’s been billed).

WIP tracking provides the exact progress percentage of work completed to create a shared understanding and accountability for project costs accrued so far—and can help shed light on any discrepancies in the budget to prevent future cash-flow problems. This is especially helpful for those project managers who like to ‘guesstimate’ based on a gut feeling, then try to do the math later to even it out.

3. Identifies risks and issues

Hindsight may be 20/20, but it won’t keep your project profitable. A problem is much harder to fix after it’s already happened. While discussing what went wrong at the end may help your next project, the power to be able to notice and act in real time is invaluable. Project teams need to be able to spot potential problems as early as humanly possible to minimize the impact and keep everything on track.

That’s where work in progress tracking comes in—it’s in the name. Using technology that quantifies progress all the way down to the subcomponent level allows stakeholders to catch an issue and course correct as soon as (if not before) it happens. This prevents mistakes from becoming costly and provides insight for better business decisions in the future.

4. Increases predictability

While catching issues early on is one thing, being able to predict a project’s future is another. With the right AI-powered progress tracking, companies can track project performance for deviations from plan and forecast a more accurate estimate at completion.

Knowing where your project is heading before you get there means you can plan accordingly and get ahead of costly trends. WIP tracking data gives project teams the ability to confidently manage the schedule and predict delays.

See the future with WIP

At the end of the day, work in progress reports give a true and accurate view of the financial health of a project. However, they require accurate project progress data to be effective.

Companies that leverage technology with AI-powered progress tracking can truly reap the benefits of WIP reports—and ultimately keep their projects on track and profitable.

Construction—an industry that’s been around for nearly as long as civilization—is long overdue for a change in the tools used to build the world. While technology has become more and more common on a jobsite, most of it has been focused on taking companies from pen and paper to digital data and drawings. This is a step forward, but still requires a significant amount of manual effort and calculations to be effective. One tool alone may not completely transform an industry, but the right technology in combination could unlock the secret to more profitable and productive projects. That’s where machine learning comes in.

When you hear the term “machine learning” or “AI” (artificial intelligence), your mind probably goes straight to what you’ve seen in movies and television. While there isn’t a terminator on a jobsite (yet), construction companies are beginning to leverage an entirely new generation of technology to further reduce manual effort and increase visibility and insights.

3 ways machine learning leads to faster digitalization

Mapping project progress

A lot of the existing construction technology leverages visualization software to overlay captured data onto a 3D design. While this helps add an extra layer of visibility, it won’t tell you much more about true progress without someone having to look through every photo and laser scan. When given the choice, most jobsite managers would rather walk around and measure progress manually than spend even more hours doing it on the computer.

Computer vision-based progress tracking takes it one step further. By letting the AI automatically analyze visual data, construction companies are able to measure installed quantities and inspect quality—without having to sift through data or manually record the entire jobsite. What used to take someone hours is now an automated, real-time progress and quality report they can access anytime.

Imagine being able to automatically track more than 75 different construction stages and generate progress, down to the materials installed, and all it takes is a 360° camera, BIM, and AI-powered platform.

Increasing visibility

This automated progress tracking isn’t just for the project teams. Traditionally, if an owner wants a project update, they either have to physically come to the jobsite or rely on the reporting of project managers and subcontractors. This reporting takes valuable time, and is often incomplete and delayed (or missing entirely) depending on how busy the team is.

AI platforms take the burden off of project teams by enabling them to capture more detailed data, faster. Artificial intelligence can essentially act as a digital surveyor to capture hundreds of thousands of square feet on a project every week—freeing field crews up to focus on making progress, not reporting on it. Those uncomfortable OAC and weekly trade coordination meetings where progress isn’t clearly measured or communicated can quickly become a thing of the past.

Real-time project visibility allows companies to spot potential issues or overruns faster, and gives them enough time to make changes before it’s too late.

Managing schedules and risk

In construction, the four biggest factors to a project’s success are time, money, quality, and productivity. The right balance of these factors could mean the difference between coming in on time, under budget and losing money on a project. The increased visibility and reporting that AI-based software gives managers can directly translate to real-time feedback on schedule, budget, and quality.

Machine learning provides companies objective schedule and cost budget analysis to ensure everything is progressing to plan, and can prevent costly rework or delays. It isn’t enough to be able to see what’s happening as it happens—companies need to be able to look into the future of a project using predictive forecasts, too (another AI specialty).

The future of construction technology: Saving time and money

Real-time feedback and insights have the power to take construction companies to a new level of project success. Machine learning isn’t about replacing people with machines. It’s about leveraging automated, artificial intelligence to increase productivity and visibility so teams can make better business decisions, faster.

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Healthcare projects are not typical commercial construction. Aside from the complexity and cost, healthcare carries a higher level of risk and liability with patient care depending on the outcome of the project. With more at stake, accuracy and predictable outcomes are paramount to the success of the project.

At the foundation, there are three pillars to success for any healthcare project: transparency, risk management, and benchmarking.

Let’s take a look at each of these pillars—and at how automated progress tracking can help companies meet these requirements to help teams complete projects on time and under budget.

Build Transparency and Communication Into Every Process

Transparency between owners, general contractors, and subcontractors is critical in hospital construction because it ensures every step of the way that the project is following the schedule, budget, and required quality standards.

Clear communication and the sharing of real-time information makes it easier to identify and resolve any issues that may arise during the construction process, which can prevent delays and cost overruns.

Additionally, proper transparency makes sure all parties are working towards the same goals and that everyone is aware of the project’s progress and any necessary changes. In the case of hospital construction, it’s important that transparency is maintained to ensure the safety and well-being of the patients, staff, and visitors—both during construction and after it’s completed.

How can construction companies improve transparency among all stakeholders? Here are five processes that can help.

• Use autoated progress tracking software: Utilize progress tracking software that has real-time updates and progress tracking capabilities. This will enable both the owner and GC to access the same information from the same place, so everyone can stay on top of the project status. Also, make sure the solution is tracking all visible trades so that your data has the granularity needed to effectively manage the project
• Share progress reports: Send regular progress reports to all stakeholders, including the owner, the GC, and other members of the project team. Reports should be easy to read and understand, and should clearly show the progress of each task, any issues that came up, and any changes that were made.
• Communicate effectively: Establish standardized digital communication channels, such as email or instant messaging, to share updates and progress reports. This will eliminate the risk of a message getting lost while ensuring that everyone is on the same page so problems can be identified and addressed quickly.
• Use visual tools: A picture or graph speaks louder than words. Leverage visual tools such as Gantt charts, timelines, and progress bars to provide a clear and easy-to-understand view of the project status. This helps teams reduce misunderstandings and increase transparency.
• Schedule regular meetings: Implement a consistent cadence of meetings between the owner, the general contractor and other stakeholders to review progress, discuss issues, and plan for next steps.

Mitigate Risks For Better Outcomes

Due to the costs and complexity of healthcare projects, it is crucial to mitigate risk to ensure safety, quality, and compliance. Risk is inevitable in construction, but there are steps you can take to reduce and ensure better outcomes for your projects.

• Develop a comprehensive project plan: This should include detailed project scope, schedule, budget, and risk management plan. Doing this helps make sure that all parties are aware of the project’s goals and objectives, and have a clear understanding of where the project’s progress should be at all times.
• Communicate consistently: Identifying and resolving any issues that may arise starts with effective communication. The faster all parties are alerted to potential risk, the quicker everyone can spring into action to mitigate or eliminate it from becoming a bigger problem later down the road.
• Use automated progress tracking: AI-powered progress tracking can provide real-time information and analytics on the project’s progress, and helps identify areas of risk without relying on the manual efforts of the project team.
• Conduct a thorough risk assessment: Identify potential risks and proactively develop mitigation strategies to reduce the likelihood of those risks occurring.
• Establish a quality control program: Implementing a comprehensive quality control program ensures that all work is performed to the required standards, and leveraging technology to check for quality means any problems are found faster.
• Make it easy to access Building Information Modeling (BIM) tools: Utilizing BIM can improve communication and collaboration, and provide a visual understanding to better maintain quality and standards.
• Continual monitoring and review: What you don’t know could come back to haunt you. By continually monitoring and reviewing project progress at every phase, it’s easier to make adjustments as needed for the project to stay on track and within budget.
• Implement an effective change management process: Establishing a collaborative change management process means that any changes to the project are properly documented, reviewed, and communicated, so everyone can adapt quickly as needed.

By following these steps, healthcare construction projects can manage risk and improve outcomes. Even better, there’s technology that alleviates the manual component to many (if not all) of the steps needed to mitigate risk.

By pairing 360-degree video capture with AI-powered progress tracking, teams are able to objectively measure progress of work in place with every data capture, every week. This provides healthcare construction projects with real-time information on the progress and quality of what’s been completed.

Automated progress tracking is the best way to bridge everything together to keep project teams on the same page and catch potential issues faster with enough time to fix them—ultimately preventing delays and unnecessary overruns. This greater degree of transparency and accountability helps to ensure that all parties are meeting their obligations and building to the required standard of the project.

Benchmark For More Predictable Outcomes

Benchmarking in healthcare construction provides a way to measure and compare the performance of different projects. Leveraging benchmarks helps to identify best practices and areas for improvement, which can be used to set goals and targets for future projects. Benchmarking can also reveal trends and patterns across projects to identify any potential risks and opportunities earlier on.

Healthcare construction benchmarking can inform decision making and contribute to the success or failure of a project. For benchmarking to be most impactful, project progress should be collected in a standardized and repeatable way. Implementing an automated way to analyze project progress in real time helps save time and ensure meaningful insights—ultimately leading to more predictable outcomes, as well as improved quality, cost, and schedule performance.

Leverage AI-Powered Progress Tracking For Project Success

Automated progress tracking works to streamline the three pillars for project success by providing objective information and greater visibility into the project’s progress. Between project teams and stakeholders, everyone is able to be more closely involved to make more informed decisions faster.

With all parties working towards the same goals, everyone is aware of the objective progress metrics as well as any changes needed. With the right solution in place, teams can increase efficiency, decrease risk, and save valuable time and resources.

Not sure where to get started? Click here to learn more about Doxel’s digital surveyor and analytic tools for healthcare construction today.