2021 was a challenging year for the construction industry. We saw major supply chain issues, material cost spikes, and labor shortages. Unfortunately, those trends are spilling into 2022 as COVID-19 continues to control the global economy. What we’re seeing most in this pandemic era is contractors needing to adopt new technology more than ever to not only keep up with competitors, but also to collaborate and communicate with their hybrid teams in the office and on site.
Against all odds, the construction industry remains resilient in the face of unprecedented conditions. Below we look at forecasted obstacles, solutions, and what construction technology is moving toward in 2022.
2022 Obstacles
Workforce
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2020 the median age in the construction industry was 42.9. We have an increasingly aging workforce which contributes to the ongoing labor shortage. The biggest problem the construction industry faces is training for trades. With fewer trade schools available – like Vo-Tech – for high-school age students, the budding workforce is missing opportunities to learn important skillsets. The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act failed to approve $45.5 billion for states to offer two years of free community college tuition, further burdening our industry with less skilled training available.
Supply Chain and Pricing
Supply chain issues are wreaking havoc across global industries with production plant shutdowns caused by the pandemic. The cost of transporting materials has skyrocketed along with increased shipping times, severely affecting the construction industry with delays in project completion. The Q3 Commercial Construction Index report by Dodge showed that 98% of contractors say material cost fluctuations have a moderate to high impact on their business.
Volatility and Adapting
COVID-19 has changed our world, our culture, and the way we do business. There will be times where contractors and project managers can’t be in the field and must work remotely. They need the ability to collaborate with teams on site and fast, using cloud-based software apps like STACK Build & Operate. Smaller companies (2-5 employees) will have to work with more than just email and Excel in these instances. In the next six months, we should see smaller firms in the market joining the tech space.
Data Integration
Data integration is also a huge concern in our industry. According to the JBKnowledge 2021 Construction Technology Report, 62.4% of construction professionals are using mobile devices in the field for daily reporting, 60.2% for photo/video, and 43.8% for plan management. There is a colossal amount of data produced in the office and the field, but the time wasted on manual integration is staggering. Businesses are still using manual entry for data because they lack integration with their software, or don’t use technology to begin with.
The report said the most limiting factors in trying or adopting new technology were employee hesitance, budget, and lack of staff to support the new tech. Our industry needs to invest in hiring a tech-savvy workforce and implementing software with API connectivity in order to enable seamless data integration.
Solutions
Digitalization
Contractors need to start filling their digital toolboxes. The average person spends 1.5 hours per day “looking for things,” and in the construction industry that starts with data (blueprints, takeoffs, estimates, punch lists). With greater connectivity from the office to the field, digitalization means boosting efficiency and productivity in construction.
Data is the connective tissue of a successful business. Cloud-based general contractor software allows you to make decisions in real-time, accessing data from anywhere. By updating workflow processes with new technology, it allows for better collaboration, time and money savings, less rework, and improved failure rate.
Chief Information Officers (CIOs) are in the limelight now. They need to make the transition from tech leaders to profit drivers. Large players in the industry are working hard to adopt new technology like STACK Takeoff & Estimating and STACK Build & Operate, and CIOs will be at the forefront of this shift.