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.

‍

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.

‍

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.

In his February 5, 2023 opinion piece in the New York Times, Ezra Klein rings the alarm that the $1.6 trillion U.S. construction industry has not shared the productivity gains of other industries. He cites Goolsbee and Syverson’s paper “The Strange and Awful Path of Productivity in the US Construction Sector,” which explains that construction productivity has decreased since 1950 while manufacturing productivity, for example, has increased ninefold. I appreciate Mr. Klein’s alarm as well as his humility in admitting he has no idea how we get construction productivity rising again. Two decades into a career focused on bringing productivity gains to construction, I do have an idea.

But before I get to my idea, let’s consider Mr. Klein’s prime culprit – regulatory “paperwork, and paperwork, and more paperwork.” No doubt regulation impacts construction productivity; regulation impacts most industries. While Syverson’s paper does not provide data connecting productivity declines to increased regulation, it does note that the construction industry invested 46 percent less in R&D and software purchases compared to the broader economy in 2020. And, a separate paper by Syverson, “The Slowdown in Manufacturing Productivity Growth,” (my fellow construction colleagues will take solace in knowing we are not alone in facing Syverson’s economic scrutiny) explains that information technologies (IT) were the main driver for productivity gains in manufacturing from 1994 to 2005.

Why did IT so dramatically impact manufacturing, but not construction? In both construction and manufacturing, IT can improve productivity once information about the real world is transformed into data. Consider an assembly line producing widgets. The assembly line has sensors that send data to machines to respond in real time and to plant managers who learn of bottlenecks and continuously improve the assembly line. This investment in sensors produces the data that powers IT and drives productivity increases.

Applying IT to construction is not so easy. While a factory produces millions of widgets, a construction project is the assembly of millions of different components to produce only a single facility. A single sensor cannot automatically monitor the installation of thousands of square feet of walls or linear feet of ductwork. And that limitation means that IT is starved of data that would help construction workers and managers gain insights to continuously improve their processes. Thus, until recently, investment in IT has been limited to the design phase and certain aspects of construction administration. Yet, labor is the greatest cost on any project in the U.S. And, IT has had virtually no impact on the productivity of that skilled craftworker laying a brick or welding a beam to a column.

But, that reality is changing. With artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision, leading builders are transforming 360 video into near real-time measurements of construction processes. This near real-time reality capture of the construction site acts like sensors in a factory, feeding IT with data that empowers project teams to increase productivity. For example, a construction superintendent constructing a retirement community recently used this automated progress tracking technology to identify that a certain duct installation activity was not yet complete on the 3rd floor. Ceilings were set to be installed the next day. Without this insight from technology, the unfinished ductwork would have been covered up by the ceiling trade partner. And, when they later discovered the oversight, they would have had to rip open the ceiling. That rework would have put a big dent in their productivity. Instead, the AI-powered IT indicated the ductwork was not 100% complete. Augmented with this information, the superintendent applied his expertise in coordinating trades to get the ducts installed right away to avoid the rework. And, the general contractor and retirement community owner no longer had to explain to residents why they were going to be moving in two weeks late.

This technology is new; we only began building it in 2015. But we’re seeing results. At Doxel, we’ve created automated progress tracking for construction that reduces time spent manually tracking progress by 95%. This automation creates data that is now fueling productivity gains from IT just like in manufacturing. And, it gets data to decision makers 5x – 10x faster, which gives 5x – 10x the opportunities to unlock the full potential of construction teams to accelerate schedules and deliver projects under budget. We’re not alone in augmenting construction team expertise with AI; companies such as Procore, Autodesk, Oracle, Dusty, Rhumbix and dozens of others have built technology that makes construction easier for millions of workers every day. And, forward looking facility owners are hungry to adopt solutions that reduce their risk and make the job easier for superintendents and trade partners, because they know the investment will translate to projects that are on time and on budget.

Of course, an industry’s health depends on more than a single metric. Construction provides nearly 11 million jobs in the U.S., including many high paying roles that do not require a college degree. They are rewarding jobs that contribute to society. But, the work is not easy. It frequently requires complex problem solving or complex physical skills. These are great jobs, partially because they can’t be easily automated to increase productivity. Still, productivity is an important metric not just for economists, but because it tends to correlate with the industry’s per capita income. According to Syverson, construction pay could be 10% higher if the industry’s productivity gains tracked the economy as a whole. Society needs construction to be easier, too. As we face challenges supplying healthcare, delivering energy, and investing in infrastructure, construction will either be a bottleneck to change or it will be a catalyst to change. AI augments the experience and skills of construction teams, so they have better data and tools and owners have the confidence to invest in projects that solve society’s 21st Century challenges.

Written by Reid Senescu, California Licensed Professional Engineer and PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University. He is the Vice President of Product at Doxel.ai in Menlo Park, California. His research focused on how technology can improve construction team collaboration. At Doxel.ai, his products use computer vision to help teams collaborate and deliver projects on time and on budget.

Doxel, an AI-based construction technology solution that enables proactive risk mitigation of projects and portfolios, announced its integration with Oracle’s Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (EPPM), the solution for globally prioritizing, planning, managing, and executing projects, programs, and portfolios.

The Doxel and Oracle integration will enable customers to track construction progress continuously and automatically against their Oracle Primavera P6 schedules. Unlike manual methods of progress reporting that can be subjective or delayed, Doxel’s AI technology enables Oracle’s customers always to have real-time, objective visibility into their schedule performance.

The impact?

Proactive mitigation of delays and identification of opportunities to accelerate construction—enabling customers to deliver their projects faster while collecting valuable benchmark data for future planning in Oracle Primavera P6 EPPM.

“This integration with Primavera P6 is by popular demand from our mutual customers, and we couldn’t be more excited,” says Saurabh Ladha, chief executive officer of Doxel. “Nearly 100% of our customers use Primavera P6 for scheduling, and this unification of workflows will supercharge our customers’ abilities to manage their projects and portfolios proactively.”

Doxel, based in Menlo Park, California, has built a widely adopted platform that applies AI and computer vision technology to 360-degree video of construction sites and measures progress in a granular, real-time, and automated fashion, and then contextualizes actual progress against Primavera P6 EPPM plans.

Through Doxel’s cloud-based dashboard, customers can instantly see where they’re ahead and behind, informing their decisions with data that can always be trusted and delivered in time for proactive actions that ultimately land projects on schedule and budget.

“We see project teams use Doxel AI and Primavera P6 side by side in construction trailers. P6 is an amazingly powerful scheduling and planning tool and requires information from the field that can accurately, objectively, and with higher frequency measure and constantly update progress. Because if you don’t have high-quality data feeding into it, its value diminishes exponentially,” says Garrick Ballantine, Doxel’s chief revenue officer.

He adds, “General contractors and owners use the combination of P6 and Doxel to objectively partner with their trade partners on a week-to-week basis, bringing the field and office on the same page with our cloud-based visual dashboard and to make payment decisions on billions of dollars’ worth of construction nationally. This integration has happened because the industry demanded it.”

Frank Malangone, Oracle’s executive director of innovation and industry strategy, said, “Our customers continue to look for ways to objectively and accurately measure progress to update the schedule for reliable insights. This connection between Primavera P6 and Doxel speeds up this process without constantly having to be at the job site and improves communication and coordination between the office and the field.”

This article original appeared on Oracle’s blog.

With inflation and rising cost of materials, it’s critical for healthcare companies to keep construction projects on schedule and within budget. Here are 4 ways to help verify your construction billing and keep your project on budget.

1. Reduce overbilling and cash outflow

Automated construction progress tracking provides an objective view into exactly where the project stands, which can help mitigate contractors overbilling for a higher percentage of completion. Companies that use a single source of truth for progress tracking (like Doxel) can reduce monthly bills by up to 10%.

With money still left on the table, contractors will be more motivated to finish the job so they can get paid.

2. Gain better visibility into change orders

Change orders are inevitable—but transparency around them should be, too. Before a major healthcare provider started working with Doxel, they estimated 4% of their total spend was caused by inaccurate progress tracking. These additional COs are passed onto the healthcare company, and are avoidable with the right solution in place.

Leveraging AI-powered progress tracking takes the mystery out of CO estimates. While using Doxel, one healthcare company found their typical change order estimates were inflated by at least 10%. That money is going out the door, and eventually it will add up. With more accurate project tracking, companies can more accurately pinpoint where change orders should be and reduce unnecessary spend.

3. Make the most of HealthTrust materials

Due to the unpredictability of material requirements, HealthTrust Contracts run the risk of being underutilized, and healthcare companies miss out on potential rebates and discounts offered. Doxel helps drive 100% contract utilization with more accurate, objective, and standardized measurement of materials installed across projects—which in turn allows more materials purchased through HealthTrust and greater financial savings.

For one Doxel healthcare customer, that meant the ability to purchase 10% more through HealthTrust, and the savings added up to a whopping $18.56M annually through discounts and rebates on materials.

4. Save contractor time and improve productivity

Time is money. When a project’s progress is manually tracked, the process itself to collect and report on the data takes valuable time away from contractors and field teams. What used to take 60+ hours of manpower a week to manually assess progress now takes a mere 3 hours per week using an automated solution like Doxel. All that time can now be focused on safety, quality control, and coordination of trade partners.

See why healthcare companies (and contractors) choose Doxel

Doxel’s image recognition gives healthcare facilities objective progress data and real-time insight into materials installed. With automated project tracking, everyone wins—contractors spend less time counting and reporting, and healthcare companies have better control over project costs and governance.

Healthcare facilities using Doxel are delivered earlier with increased safety, less expense, and higher quality. To learn more about how they do it, schedule a demo today.