Let’s face it: Getting stuff done is hard. And getting stuff done in the face of today’s shortages, supply chain issues, and inflation is a daunting task for any construction company.  Automated construction progress tracking can help you finish projects faster.

Before we get into that, let’s take a closer look at what’s going on.

Skilled labor shortages

Less people from younger generations are choosing a trade or apprenticeship. As a result, the industry is facing a shortage of skilled workers to help complete project milestones. Without knowing how many people can get the work done (and get it done correctly), companies struggle to stay on track.

A less experienced workforce

Those who do choose to go into construction today are still green in their careers and don’t have the experience that seasoned employees do. This creates a learning curve and requires additional time needed to get them up to speed.

More design changes

Unpredictable factors create unpredictable change—and change requires an added degree of flexibility for the project to adapt to the circumstances. As a result, companies are seeing more design changes come through, and the need to stay on top of assessing and documenting them.

Issues in the supply chain

Speaking of unpredictable, the industry ha seen an influx in supply chain issues, causing delays in shipments and—in some cases—a limited supply of the necessary materials available.

Rising inflation

Across every industry, prices are going up. Companies must now reconcile their bids and project scopes to maintain profitability.

Doing more with less

When the going gets tough, construction stays tougher. The industry is no stranger to uncertainty. Now more than ever, companies need to pinpoint areas of improvement and streamline their processes to maximize efficiency.

With all these factors weighing on a project’s productivity, the margin for error is very low—which means operational excellence is critical for success. Many projects get to a certain stage or near completion, but struggle to accurate assess what’s happening (or not) to get the rest of the way there.

Almost done isn’t done.

If the last 10% of a milestone takes more than 20% of the time—that’s a big, potentially costly, problem.

That’s where automated construction progress tracking comes in. With the right technology in place, companies can save 25% of superintendents’ and field teams time that would otherwise be spent on tracking progress and bringing everyone on the same page. That’s less time in meetings and back-and-forth conversations, more time building.

4 ways automated construction progress tracking can help:

1. Increase trade flow

Real-time automated construction progress tracking gives everyone on a project visibility into the current state, without the need for individual communication. This ensures the project moves as quickly as it can and prevents trade stacking.

2. Proactively address issues

Stay on top of milestones with the ability to forecast and predict any slowdowns before they happen—instead of catching them after it’s too late. By automatically capturing more than 75 stages of construction, automated construction progress tracking technology can spot potential issues more efficiently in real time.

3. Manage cash flow

By providing accurate and automated cost budget analysis, companies are able to better understand their project and where it stands with the budget. When unforeseen factors or delays hit, you want all the knowledge and numbers you can get to properly adapt and minimize the impact.

4. Show, don’t tell

In construction, communication can be slow and sparse. Automated construction progress tracking gets everyone on the same page without having to meet to discuss. Having a digital surveyor gives everyone the information and insights they need to collaborate faster—without relying on project resources to collect and report on it.

No matter what gets thrown at the construction industry, a company needs to be resilient and smart to see success on the other side. Companies who invest in the right tools that save time and automate processes have the advantage of receiving data and insights in real time. The faster something is flagged, the faster it can be fixed.

Want to learn how Scripps Health and McCarthy Building Companies are automating construction progress tracking to increase project visibility? Register for our upcoming webinar Almost Done, Isn’t Done.

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In a 2021 Workforce Survey Analysis, AGC found that 88% of companies surveyed were experiencing project delays—that’s nearly nine out of ten. Now more than ever, construction companies are faced with the challenge to do more with less and keep projects on track in the face of unforeseen circumstances.

While certain conditions and factors in the industry can’t be controlled, there are 3 construction workflows that can reduce the margin of error to ensure a project stays resilient. This requires operational excellence in the areas that can be predicted and made more efficient.

What are the three construction workflows a company should prioritize?

1. Project team communication

Communication among field teams, supervisors, and the office is crucial—and can be cumbersome. With so many moving pieces of a project happening at once, getting the necessary message out to everyone in a timely, effective manner is no easy feat.

Companies need to find a way to remove the barriers to communication. By doing so, they’ll save everyone on the project team valuable time that would otherwise be spent tracking progress, in meetings to get everyone up to speed, or playing telephone.

2. Finding and addressing quality issues

Quality of construction can make or break a project’s ability to stay on track. Quality issues or mistakes found too late in the process can be the kiss of death for moving onto the next phase—and as a result, teams remain stuck in the final 10 or 20% of completion for too long. This won’t just cost time and manpower, it’ll directly affect a project’s budget and profitability, too.

The only option to streamline and prevent these costly quality issues is to catch them early and address them quickly. Technology that helps companies see progress in real time opens the door for making smarter decisions and adapting faster.

3. Reporting on construction completion

When a project does make it through the final 10%, the work isn’t over yet. Teams must provide an objective, detailed overview of the completion—which again takes time and resources. There’s more information to gather, and no efficient way to compile it using manual efforts alone.

Teams should be focused on projects, not paperwork or reporting. Streamlining the process for creating detailed reports can free up their focus while enhancing the level of reporting and insights for a company.

All this sounds easier said than done, doesn’t it? Enter, automated progress tracking.

The secret to saving time while increasing accuracy

By implementing a technology that can continuously monitor performance and provide predictive insights, construction companies are able to achieve operational excellence.

Platforms like Doxel act as a digital surveyor to automatically track progress across more than 75 different construction stages in real time, freeing up the project team’s time and resources.

Instead of manually walking the jobsite every day or week to capture exact progress, Doxel works with a 360° video to act as a digital surveyor in minutes. Combining the power of computer vision with BIM means companies have an objective truth of the status of a site—and can understand progress, schedule, and budget better than ever before.

If it sounds too good to be true, it isn’t.

Tune in to our webinar Almost Done, Isn’t Done to hear from two successful construction companies on how they’re leveraging real-time progress tracking to automate and achieve more.

Introduction

Traditionally, project managers have relied on site visits and progress reporting from their field teams to stay abreast of construction progress.  On large capital projects like data centers, semiconductor wafer fabrication plants, or healthcare infrastructure this can become problematic where even small schedule delays lead to large cost overruns. Doxel’s Production Rate Data provides a solution that empowers project teams with additional data in order to monitor construction progress.

What is Production Rate Data?

Production Rate Data is the information gathered through reality capture inputs (e.g., 360-degree imaging or drone footage), to continuously track and analyze construction site progress in real time. By comparing actual work completed against the planned schedule, this data serves as a single, reliable source of truth for measuring construction progress. It provides project owners with objective, accurate insights that are crucial for managing schedules and ensuring on-time project completion. This innovative approach equips teams with the data needed to identify delays, optimize workflows, and ensure efficient project delivery.

By leveraging this advanced technology, owner’s representatives can monitor projects with a data set they control, guaranteeing transparency and accuracy. Here’s how Doxel tracks completed construction:

• By Trade: Architectural, structural, electrical, fire protection, mechanical, plumbing, and more.
• By Floor: Including different levels such as parking garages, mezzanines, and multiple building floors.
• By Zone: Specific areas within a construction site.
• By Stage: quantities tracked by trade, for each stage of construction.

Example: Mechanical Pipes and Walls

Doxel’s Production Rate tracking capability simplifies the comparison of completed construction against the schedule, offering a powerful tool for project owners to measure progress and manage schedules effectively.

How Doxel Captures Production Rate Data

Understanding how construction software tracks progress can be complex. Doxel simplifies this with a robust methodology:

• Baseline Management: Production Rate Data uses planned activities as a baseline for managing construction progress.
• Integration with Primavera P6: Doxel captures milestone data directly from your schedule.
• Reality Capture: Using 360-degree imaging, Doxel conducts regular scans to capture completed “as-built” construction.
• Automatic Updates: Doxel automatically updates progress for each stage, trade, zone, and floor.

Calculating Productivity

Productivity is calculated using specific units of measure for each stage based on your work breakdown structure (WBS) in Primavera P6. For example, if the plumbing installation requires 100,000 linear feet of pipe, the unit of measure would be linear feet. The planned number would be 100,000, against which completed construction is measured.

As construction progresses, Doxel updates the number of completed activities. For instance, if only 20,000 linear feet of pipe have been installed for the drainage system, the 360-degree imaging would capture the work, and Doxel would update the percentage of completion for both the stage (drainage system) and the trade (plumbing) to 20%.

Allocating Resources to Stay On Schedule

To help manage schedules effectively, Doxel introduced the Production Forecasting Calculator. This tool allows users to simulate different scenarios by adjusting crew sizes and production rates to forecast completion. General contractors can manage subcontractors to ensure they stay on schedule. At the same time, owner’s reps can monitor production rates remotely, gaining confidence that construction progress is on track based on actual data.

Key Benefits of Production Rate Data

• Real-Time Decision Making: Provides immediate insights through real-time data, allowing for informed schedule management.
• Labor Optimization: Ensures efficient allocation of labor by visualizing plan vs. actual progress in a clear chart format, reducing manual tracking time.
• Risk Mitigation: Reduces the risk of delays by verifying the feasibility of schedule commitments against historical data and current progress.
• Enhanced Collaboration: Improves communication between project owners, general contractors, and trade partners by providing clear, data-driven insights and visual comparisons of planned vs. actual progress.
• Effortless Data Collection: Eliminates the manual effort involved in gathering and analyzing production data, saving valuable time for the construction team.

Peace of Mind for GCs and Owners

Production Rate Data compares completed construction against your schedule, providing a single source of truth for measuring construction progress. Doxel’s system allows you to manage productivity for each stage of the construction project by trade, zone, and floor. This capability empowers project owners with a controlled data set that facilitates better communication with general contractors and helps address potential schedule delays proactively.

By giving project owners control of the data, Doxel ensures a higher level of transparency and efficiency in construction management. This innovative approach enhances collaboration and significantly reduces the risk of delays, optimizing time and resources. With Doxel’s Production Rate Data, project owners can confidently steer their projects to successful completion.

Healthcare construction is more complex and has a lot at stake. If not done right, these projects can be costly for everyone involved. Healthcare projects also require a higher attention to detail to keep everything running smoothly.

With more stakeholders involved in the process, companies need to be able to benchmark and be equipped for better prediction, transparency, and ultimately the ability to detect (and curb) problems, deviations, and cost overruns.

Automated progress tracking can meet these requirements and reduce manual effort, helping you complete your projects faster and on-budget.

Healthcare Projects Are More Complex With More Stakeholders

Progress tracking is critical for project success in healthcare because it allows for real-time monitoring of project performance and a faster identification of issues and challenges, and implementation of corrective actions.

By regularly monitoring progress and performance, project managers and teams can quickly identify areas that are falling behind schedule or budget—and take the necessary steps to address them before they become major issues. Accurate and reliable progress tracking is essential for effective communication and coordination, especially with multiple stakeholders and a higher level of complexity.

Progress tracking can be beneficial beyond one single project, too. Objective progress data and insights can also help to identify areas of success and best practices that can be replicated in other projects, improving overall project performance and company-wide outcomes.

Greater Complexity Requires Greater Transparency

Automated progress tracking can improve transparency during hospital construction by providing real-time, accurate information on the progress of the project. Automated systems can be configured to collect data from a variety of sources, create a single source of truth and present the information in a format that is easy to understand and always accessible.

With the enhanced, real-time visibility that automated progress tracking brings, stakeholders are able to see exactly where the project is at any given time. This clear picture of project status helps improve communication, transparency, and accountability with objective data that eliminate any debate in progress tracking.

Automated progress tracking is a faster way of providing stakeholders with access to the same information. With an automated system, stakeholders are able to see the same data and reports, regardless of their location. Ensuring everyone is working with the same information saves time in reporting and mitigates the possibility of miscommunication or misunderstanding.

Since hospital construction projects often involve large sums of money and have a significant impact on patient outcomes, it’s also useful to have an auditable record of each project’s progress that can be used in demonstrating accountability to funders and regulatory bodies.

Catch Problems Early to Reduce Cost Overruns

Healthcare construction projects need an efficient way to manage and mitigate risk. Proper real-time visibility into the progress of the project can help spot potential issues before they become major problems. This enables project managers and other stakeholders to take proactive measures, rather than waiting until it is too late to take corrective action.

For example, if progress tracking reveals a particular aspect of the project is running behind schedule, the project manager may be able to adjust the project plan to effectively avoid potential delays or cost overruns.

Additionally, progress tracking can help project managers manage and coordinate dependencies between different parts of the project, which further reduces the risk of delay, prevents trade stacking, and mitigates other issues arising from one part of the project impacting others.

Pair Project Tracking With Benchmarking

Progress tracking can help with benchmarking by providing a clear understanding of the current status of the project, including the status of all trade and any related delays or setbacks. This data can then be used to compare the project’s progress against similar projects or industry standards, making it easier to identify areas where improvements can be made.

With multiple sources of information on a single project, a digital progress tracking tool can deliver accurate data to one shared source of truth, making benchmarking markedly easier.

Additionally, progress tracking stored data can be leveraged for benchmarking future progress against previous internal projects for better forecasting future project and completion dates, as well as for identifying potential cost savings or other opportunities to optimize the project.

Leveraging Powerful Progress Tracking for Healthcare Projects

The more detailed information teams have on the progress of a project, the more proactive they can be to keep it on track. Identifying potential issues early on allows for corrective action to be taken sooner rather than later, reducing hours, rework, and delays to deliver projects on time and on budget. But detailed and timely progress tracking shouldn’t come at the cost of crews’ time and resources.

That’s where a solution like Doxel’s automated progress tracking can help. Doxel significantly reduces hours tracking progress, while delivering accurate, reliable objective insights that improve communication and transparency across all stakeholders.

Click here to learn more about how Doxel’s AI-powered progress tracking paired with 360-degree video capture can help ensure hospital construction projects stay on track and on budget.

Healthcare construction is a specialized niche in the industry, and the projects within it require a high standard of attention to detail to meet their deadlines. These projects are complex and involve the coordination of large, cross-functional teams to complete them on tight schedules—which means a project’s success is majorly dependent on the efficiency and collaboration of the team building it.

Every day that the facility is delayed or past schedule means another day patients can’t come in, and the owner or company will lose money.

Enter, AI-powered project controls – automated construction progress tracking.

Staying on schedule and ahead of trends

The construction of healthcare projects is a delicate balance of innovation and realism. As one of the more technology-driven sectors, these facilities aim to have the latest and greatest equipment, but at the same time needs to be planned months in advance and available within a certain deadline. Teams must stay on top of an ever-changing landscape and varying demands—so having accurate, objective project progress data throughout is essential.

One of the biggest factors to staying on schedule is knowing exactly where you are. Without a single view of project progress, sticking to a set schedule becomes a risky guessing game. Progress tracking using the power of computer vision enables project teams to build faster and more accurately together.

After all, knowledge is power. Teams that leverage AI-powered performance monitoring are armed with accurate data in near real time to see backwards at what’s been done, as well as ahead at predictive insights.

Eliminating avoidable rework

Rework can be a project schedule’s worst nightmare—and the later it’s caught the bigger a scheduling headache you have on your hands. Rework takes valuable time away from what should be forward progress. In order to achieve schedule predictability, a project team has to be able to spot (and avoid) potential rework on the critical path.

Using computer vision automated construction progress tracking that acts as a digital surveyor, superintendents can quickly catch any missing or incorrectly installed components before the next trade covers up the error. This foresight can help avoid weeks of delays and schedule compression, which ultimately helps the facility stay on track to open on time or earlier.

Reducing downtime during maintenance

Real-time automated construction progress tracking doesn’t just help with new healthcare construction—it can also help reduce downtime during facility operations down the road.

Picture it (if you dare): A construction company closes off an area to cut into the wall and fix MEP services only to discover that it wasn’t installed per as-built plans. Instead of adhering to the plan, dreaded rework is now required.

But what if you had x-ray vision instead? Comprehensive reality capture of an as-built facility ensures maintenance teams know exactly what was installed and where, so any maintenance and retrofits can be done efficiently without the rework. Instead of costing days of downtime, teams can get in and get it done as planned the first time.

Using Doxel to increase construction efficiency

At its core, Doxel is automated construction progress tracking that provides objective, accurate data on materials installed for real-time project controls. The more teams can document in the moment, the more productive and proactive they become.

Find out how healthcare projects have used Doxel to deliver facilities earlier and at a higher standard of quality.

Gainesville, VA – (November, 2023) – Corscale, the exclusive data center platform of the Patrinely Group, has announced that it will be deploying Doxel, the leader in AI automated construction progress tracking to speed the pace of construction and reduce waste on upcoming data center construction.

“Corscale is focused on implementing industry leading construction and sustainability initiatives. We are committed to building efficiently. Doxel will help us accelerate construction schedules and deliver critical data centers faster.” said Nic Bustamante, Chief Technology Officer for Corscale. Prior to his current position, Nic was the Senior Vice President of Development at Corscale and held leadership roles at Apple, Google, and Microsoft.

The rise in artificial intelligence, specifically Natural Language Processing (NLP), computer vision, and machine learning, and robotics, is increasing the already strong demand for data center solutions. Corscale will now harness the power of AI to build the data centers that deliver AI.

“Doxel is thrilled to partner with Corscale in revolutionizing the landscape of data center construction. Corscale’s commitment to industry-leading initiatives aligns  with Doxel’s mission to transform construction through the power of AI. We aim to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of constructing data centers, setting a new standard for the industry. This collaboration represents a significant stride toward the future, where AI not only powers data centers but also drives their seamless and sustainable construction.” – Saurabh Ladha, CEO of Doxel.

The partnership with Doxel reflects Corscale’s forward-thinking approach to stay at the forefront of technological advancements. By incorporating AI into the construction process, Corscale not only meets the rising demand for data center solutions but also pioneers a path toward intelligent, sustainable, and swift data center deployment.

ABOUT CORSCALE

Corscale Data Centers is focused on delivering sustainability at scale. As the exclusive data center platform of the Patrinely Group, Corscale, together with its capital partner USAA Real Estate is delivering tomorrow’s data center, today. The company has assembled a top-tier team of industry professionals who bring decades of experience designing, building, and operating sustainable, high-density data centers for some of the largest and most sophisticated hyperscale operators and enterprises. Corscale delivers highly scalable, secure, and energy-efficient build-to-suit powered shells as well as flexible modular deployments. To learn more, please visit Corscale.

ABOUT DOXEL

Doxel is focused on speeding up construction and reducing waste by using AI to automate progress tracking. Doxel believes in the power of aligned teams and designed Doxel to unlock their full potential. With Doxel, owners have full observability on their site while providing their field teams with powerful tools that prevent delays, over-billing, re-work, and trade stacking. Backed by Insight Partners, Amplo, and Andreessen Horowitz and with a growing team of engineers, scientists and construction veterans, Doxel is driven to help their customers win.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Corscale Media Relations
press@doxel.ai

Doxel Media Relations
press@doxel.ai

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.