More than half of contractors say their methods of collecting and analyzing data from their jobsites need to get better over the next three years, in part for their companies to use these data to predict employee and project performance.
That’s a key finding in a new 40-page SmartMarket report that Viewpoint and Dodge Data & Analytics have released, entitled
“Improving Performance with Project Data.”
The report is based on an online survey conducted from August 14, 2017, through September 12, 2018. The survey used Dodge’s Contractor Panel and contacts provided by Viewpoint. Of its 187 respondents, 98 were GCs, 47 specialty trade contractors, 28 construction managers, nine design-build firms, and four design-contracting firms. Thirty-seven percent of respondent companies generate revenues between $50 million and $250 million.
The research focused on five key types of data: project progress, manhours, productivity, safety, and equipment management.
Respondents were asked how they gather, store, manage, secure, analyze, and report on each of these types of data. Key trends include a rapid shift away from paper-based forms, reports, and spreadsheets to digital tools and platforms, some that leverage cloud technology; increasing use of apps on mobile phones and digital cameras in the field; the desire for more accurate field data that enables trends analysis across projects; and a focus on data security.
More than three-fifths of the contractors surveyed say they’ve seen improvements in their data gathering and analysis capabilities over the past three years. That’s especially true among larger companies. By far, the most important project data being gathered is performance information such as scheduling and costs, followed by payroll and manhour data.
The top-three benefits from data analysis, say contractors polled, are improving their ability to complete projects at or under budget (53%), greater productivity (47%), and greater profitability (46%).
However, more than half of the respondents (54%) admitted that they need to improve how they gather jobsite information over the next three years. And 45% think their ability to analyze trends across projects must get sharper, too, as well as their ability to gather current data from the field.
Relying on physical records, like paper forms, for data collection is steadily giving way among contractors to custom-designed or commercial software, a trend that is likely to be more prevalent over the next three years. Nearly three-quarters of respondents say they were satisfied with using software as a way to collect data.
Most pros (65% of the ones polled) still store their digital information in on-premise servers. But 37% have turned to third-party cloud providers, such as Amazon, to host their field information. The benefits of using the cloud are manifold, the most prominent being the ability to access data from the field while working in the office or remote locations, and vice versa.
Well over half of the contractors surveyed deploy mobile phone apps and cameras to collect and send data from the field. Expect that wave of data to rise, as drones, sensors, and wearables gain more traction as jobsite tools. However, contractors are also acutely aware of how their use of devices presents security risks. That explains why 86% of contractors say they are using anti-malware software, 78% are using enterprise-grade firewalls, and 56% have imposed policies for managing the use of mobile devices.
a plan to gather data
More than one-fifth of contractors surveyed have had experience with predictive analysis of data and business intelligence. That compares with just 7% for artificial intelligence and 6% for machine learning. The largest group of respondents noted they are aware of and understand the concepts of each of these emerging technologies but have not implemented them in their own organizations—39% for predictive analysis, 47% for artificial intelligence, and 33% for machine learning.
But it is clear that technology is advancing faster than the AEC industry’s ability to assimilate it. The report’s authors offer a multi-step process to structure a company’s data collection, analysis, and reporting.
• Determine what aspects of project delivery would benefit most from better information to guide your data strategy.
• Identify which types of field data will best-enable the proper analysis to generate critical decision-support information. And think about the minimum level of completeness, accuracy, and timeliness required for each type.
• Develop a focused technology and plan for collection and analysis that incorporates the specific data needed and types of analysis required, as well as financial and human capital investments, the time frames for implementation, clear roles of responsibility, and measurable goals for success.
The report includes two case studies—how Leander Construction is using the cloud to enhance productivity; and how W. Soule & Co. is using data to build better—as well as a Q&A with Jit Kee Chin, Suffolk Construction’s Chief Data Officer. Chin laments that what’s keeping AI from becoming a more efficient construction tool is the lack of useful data. Her viewpoint may explain why she sees “great potential” in automated monitoring.
Related Stories
| Feb 11, 2011
Sustainable features on the bill for dual-building performing arts center at Soka University of America
The $73 million Soka University of America’s new performing arts center and academic complex recently opened on the school’s Aliso Viejo, Calif., campus. McCarthy Building Companies and Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects collaborated on the two-building project. One is a three-story, 47,836-sf facility with a grand reception lobby, a 1,200-seat auditorium, and supports spaces. The other is a four-story, 48,974-sf facility with 11 classrooms, 29 faculty offices, a 150-seat black box theater, rehearsal/dance studio, and support spaces. The project, which has a green roof, solar panels, operable windows, and sun-shading devices, is going for LEED Silver.
| Feb 11, 2011
BIM-enabled Texas church complex can broadcast services in high-def
After two years of design and construction, members of the Gateway Church in Southland, Texas, were able to attend services in their new 4,000-seat facility in late 2010. Located on a 180-acre site, the 205,000-sf complex has six auditoriums, including a massive 200,000-sf Worship Center, complete with catwalks, top-end audio and video system, and high-definition broadcast capabilities. BIM played a significant role in the building’s design and construction. Balfour Beatty Construction and Beck Architecture formed the nucleus of the Building Team.
| Feb 11, 2011
Kentucky’s first green adaptive reuse project earns Platinum
(FER) studio, Inglewood, Calif., converted a 115-year-old former dry goods store in Louisville, Ky., into a 10,175-sf mixed-use commercial building earned LEED Platinum and holds the distinction of being the state’s first adaptive reuse project to earn any LEED rating. The facility, located in the East Market District, houses a gallery, event space, offices, conference space, and a restaurant. Sustainable elements that helped the building reach its top LEED rating include xeriscaping, a green roof, rainwater collection and reuse, 12 geothermal wells, 81 solar panels, a 1,100-gallon ice storage system (off-grid energy efficiency is 68%) and the reuse and recycling of construction materials. Local firm Peters Construction served as GC.
| Feb 11, 2011
Former Richardson Romanesque hotel now houses books, not beds
The Piqua (Ohio) Public Library was once a late 19th-century hotel that sat vacant and deteriorating for years before a $12.3 million adaptive reuse project revitalized the 1891 building. The design team of PSA-Dewberry, MKC Associates, and historic preservation specialist Jeff Wray Associates collaborated on the restoration of the 80,000-sf Richardson Romanesque building, once known as the Fort Piqua Hotel. The team restored a mezzanine above the lobby and repaired historic windows, skylight, massive fireplace, and other historic details. The basement, with its low ceiling and stacked stone walls, was turned into a castle-like children’s center. The Piqua Historical Museum is also located within the building.
| Feb 11, 2011
Justice center on Fall River harbor serves up daylight, sustainable elements, including eucalyptus millwork
Located on historic South Main Street in Fall River, Mass., the Fall River Justice Center opened last fall to serve as the city’s Superior and District Courts building. The $85 million facility was designed by Boston-based Finegold Alexander + Associates Inc., with Dimeo Construction as CM and Arup as MEP. The 154,000-sf courthouse contains nine courtrooms, a law library, and a detention area. Most of the floors have the same ceiling height, which will makes them easier to reconfigure in the future as space needs change. Designed to achieve LEED Silver, the facility’s elliptical design offers abundant natural daylight and views of the harbor. Renewable eucalyptus millwork is one of the sustainable features.
| Feb 11, 2011
Research facility separates but also connects lab spaces
California State University, Northridge, consolidated its graduate and undergraduate biology and mathematics programs into one 90,000-sf research facility. Architect of record Cannon Design worked on the new Chaparral Hall, creating a four-story facility with two distinct spaces that separate research and teaching areas; these are linked by faculty offices to create collaborative spaces. The building houses wet research, teaching, and computational research labs, a 5,000-sf vivarium, classrooms, and administrative offices. A four-story outdoor lobby and plaza and an outdoor staircase provide orientation. A covered walkway links the new facility with the existing science complex. Saiful/Bouquet served as structural engineer, Bard, Rao + Athanas Consulting Engineers served as MEP, and Research Facilities Design was laboratory consultant.
| Feb 11, 2011
A feast of dining options at University of Colorado community center, but hold the buffalo stew
The University of Colorado, Boulder, cooked up something different with its new $84.4 million Center for Community building, whose 900-seat foodservice area consists of 12 micro-restaurants, each with its own food options and décor. Centerbrook Architects of Connecticut collaborated with Denver’s Davis Partnership Architects and foodservice designer Baker Group of Grand Rapids, Mich., on the 323,000-sf facility, which also includes space for a career center, international education, and counseling and psychological services. Exterior walls of rough-hewn, variegated sandstone and a terra cotta roof help the new facility blend with existing campus buildings. Target: LEED Gold.
| Feb 11, 2011
Chicago high-rise mixes condos with classrooms for Art Institute students
The Legacy at Millennium Park is a 72-story, mixed-use complex that rises high above Chicago’s Michigan Avenue. The glass tower, designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz, is mostly residential, but also includes 41,000 sf of classroom space for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and another 7,400 sf of retail space. The building’s 355 one-, two-, three-, and four-bedroom condominiums range from 875 sf to 9,300 sf, and there are seven levels of parking. Sky patios on the 15th, 42nd, and 60th floors give owners outdoor access and views of Lake Michigan.
| Feb 11, 2011
Iowa surgery center addresses both inpatient and outpatient care
The 12,000-person community of Carroll, Iowa, has a new $28 million surgery center to provide both inpatient and outpatient care. Minneapolis-based healthcare design firm Horty Elving headed up the four-story, 120,000-sf project for St. Anthony’s Regional Hospital. The center’s layout is based on a circular process flow, and includes four 800-sf operating rooms with poured rubber floors to reduce leg fatigue for surgeons and support staff, two substerile rooms between each pair of operating rooms, and two endoscopy rooms adjacent to the outpatient prep and recovery rooms. Recovery rooms are clustered in groups of four. The large family lounge (left) has expansive windows with views of the countryside, and television monitors that display coded information on patient status so loved ones can follow a patient’s progress.
| Feb 11, 2011
Grocery store anchors shopping center in Miami arts/entertainment district
18Biscayne is a 57,200-sf urban retail center being developed in downtown Miami by commercial real estate firm Stiles. Construction on the three-story center is being fast-tracked for completion in early 2012. The project is anchored by a 49,200-sf Publix market with bakery, pharmacy, and café with outdoor seating. An additional 8,000 sf of retail space will front Biscayne Boulevard. The complex is in close proximity to the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, the downtown Miami entertainment district, and the Omni neighborhood, one of the city’s fast-growing residential areas.
