Top 10 Construction Industry Trends To Watch, the construction industry will come out of a rough time of changing predictions and changing expectations and grow. The construction industry is being pushed to its limits by rising prices for materials and labour as well as a lack of workers. At the same time, rules are getting stricter, leaving less room for mistakes and waste.
Because of the COVID-19 outbreak that started last year, the building industry has had to change how they do business. The aftermath of the pandemic will have a big impact on many industrial developments in the future. Technology changes in the construction industry are changing the way it works and making projects more profitable. Trends and movements are causing professionals and people who do direct service to have to adjust to new realities.
As the market and competition get tougher, it’s important to be able to take advantage of these changes in the construction industry. Here are the top 10 construction industry trends you need to watch in 2022 to make sure your business does well.
Table of Contents
- Locations far from work and portable connections Security gear Need for workers is on the rise
- Costs of inputs going up
- Buildings that are good for the environment can be made with modular and off-site construction.
- Software for Managing Residential Construction Projects
- Cities that are on the cutting edge of technology
Guards and Equipment
The COVID-19 epidemic hit the construction industry hard, and as a result, new state laws have been passed that put more emphasis on safety and cleanliness on building sites. More union involvement in projects could cause costs to go up and schedules to slip.
There are now more machines that are made to find and get rid of safety hazards in an entire industry. Work boots that can connect to Wi-Fi and sound an alarm if the wearer falls are just one example of how wearable technology is making its way into the workplace. “Mules” are used to move heavy or dangerous materials, and robots can build scaffolding or lay bricks without any help from a person. Aside from making workers more aware of their surroundings, headsets may also help reduce noise pollution.
Aside from worker gear, robots are already starting to take over some jobs completely. To be more specific, these robots are not “replacing” people. Instead, they are changing the tasks that people do by making it easier for them to make decisions (like understanding and translating data results into actionable insights) and making room for new, higher-level jobs.
Some of the dangers of other forms of transportation have been lessened as 3D printing has become more popular. At construction sites, sensors that measure noise, temperature, wind speed and direction can warn workers of impending danger and allow expensive machinery to be moved without risk.
Engineering That Works
The year 2018 is likely to be marked by technology in construction, especially technologies that make work go faster. The COVID-19 pandemic has also made building technology more important. Here are some types of technology that will keep getting more and more popular long after 2022:
Contracts that make sense
Experts say that blockchain technology will improve connections in the construction industry. It will do this by making the process safer and faster, which is good for everyone involved.
With smart contracts, everyone involved in a project has access to a single platform where they can request, track, and settle payments for services. Companies might save time and money by using smart contracts, which act as a central tracking system where rules and deadlines are set and enforced through the blockchain, instead of getting contracts from different parties and keeping an eye on their deliveries. The solution will make it possible to finish projects faster, make them safer, track them more accurately, and fully automate the supply chain.
Using UAVs to build a building
Since last year, the use of drones in the construction business has grown by 239%. This is one of the trends that is growing the fastest. The technology can be used for a lot more than just real estate and business.
Drones are now commonly used to make quick, long-distance maps, and the heat maps and thermal photos they make are very useful. The development of software for drones has made it possible to collect data in real time, which speeds up decision making for everyone.
The two biggest risks in the industry are still the loss of life and of equipment. Drones can do jobs that are dangerous for people to do, like climbing very tall buildings. Drones can be used as security equipment on-site. They can save money on labour and make theft less likely, which helps keep projects on track with less downtime.
In the future, more advanced applications might include keeping track of depreciation and using AI to make it easier to move construction equipment.
An example of augmented reality in the real world (AR)
By the end of the decade, the augmented reality market is expected to be worth more than $1.2 trillion, up from an estimated $37 billion in 2019. Augmented reality (AR) makes project staging more effective and helps potential buyers and renters get a better idea of how their pre-construction projects will look.
Augmented reality lets people in the construction and building industries use wearable tech and 360-degree video to:
- Possibility to look at possible developments in 3D with the existing landscape
- Automation in measuring for construction
- Building changes can be simulated quickly and for a low cost.
- Prevention education and exercises that mimicked dangerous situations.
Building Information Modeling is what BIM stands for (BIM)
BIM technology has made it possible for companies to be more productive, which has helped the most successful ones in the field. With BIM, users can make virtual models of buildings and utilities, as well as infrastructure like roads and bridges. Since these models are easy to use and share, it is possible to improve the prefabrication of parts, which leads to a quick and accurate finish. Autodesk calls it a “intelligent 3D model-based method to help professionals manage buildings and infrastructure.”
Financings Online says the following are the best BIM software options on the market in 2022:
- Autodesk
- BIM 360
- ArchiCAD
- Trimble Connect,
- Navisworks
- Revit BIMx,
Demand for workers keeps going up.
One of the most important things to happen in the construction industry in recent years is that it has needed a lot more workers. Today’s market is very competitive, so it’s hard to find good workers. Robots can help, but they can’t do everything.
Even with the help of these robots, more highly trained workers will be needed to handle and evaluate the data that new technologies generate. Thankfully, more and more women are going into fields that have usually been filled by men. Even though only 10.9% of construction workers are women, the number of construction businesses owned by women grew by 94% between 2007 and 2018. In 2018, 30% of construction companies promoted a woman to a senior position.
Generation Z, or people born between 1995 and 2010, is also getting a lot of attention in the workplace. People used to have the wrong idea about how valuable trade schools were, which made it hard for the construction industry to find new workers. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused people to change their minds about alternative education options and become more positive about trade school, construction companies are in a great position to highlight the career growth potential in their industry and the many chances to try out new technologies.
Hotdesking and access to the office from anywhere
Mobile apps have made it easier than ever to get to building sites. They allow for real-time inspections, accountability on-site, and accurate measurements using a smartphone camera.
COVID-19 said that teams had to keep working together even though they were cut off from resources and other teams. AECOM made technology that lets public approval sessions happen electronically so that public projects can move forward even when people can’t meet in person. AirMeasure, which is an app that helps with measurements, and Infotycoon, which is an app for managing assets, are two more examples of similar products that can be used on mobile devices. People who don’t have full mobile connectivity will be less productive and sell less in the future.
Costs of inputs going up
The Producer Price Index for construction items went up 17% from 2020 to 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. As interest rates go up, the overall cost of building is likely to go up as well. Drones, augmented reality, and building information modelling will be very important to keep the number of projects going and keep costs down.
Prices may go up for new living materials and technologies, even if they save customers money in the long run. Here are some examples of materials that are at the cutting edge:
- Concrete that fixes itself on its own
- Three-dimensional graphene
- Aluminum, which can be seen through completely
- It is made of things that let light into concrete.
- Solar panels that aren’t visible at all
Eco-friendly building
Homeowners, renters, and customers of businesses all now assume that building in a way that is good for the environment is the norm. Even though ecotech and green architecture will become more common over the next ten years, many environmentally friendly features are still seen as a luxury.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration says that renewable energy made up 11% of the energy market in 2019, and this number is likely to go up as access to these sources gets better. Buildings still use 40% of U.S. energy and produce 30% of greenhouse gases, so this is a very big market.
One part of green construction is using technology to reduce a building’s carbon footprint. Other green practises include saving resources and coming up with new ways to build. The benefits to the people who live there are a big reason for green construction. Environmentally friendly buildings have been shown to make people feel better, both those who live in them and those who just look at them.
Greenscaping is the practise of putting plants and small parks on roofs. It is becoming popular in cities all over the world. This is shown by Google’s new, multilevel office building in London. The architects called their design a “landscraper,” which means it has the same overall size as a skyscraper but is laid out horizontally instead of vertically. Because of this, the building may be surrounded by a lot of greenery, which will make it more resistant to strong storms caused by climate change.
Building Off-Site and in Modules
There has been a steady rise in modular and prefab building for many years, and it doesn’t look like it will stop any time soon. By 2025, the modular construction industry, which is led by the residential sector, is expected to be worth about $110 billion. This is due to a lack of qualified workers and the rise of cost-cutting technologies.
Because of advances in technology, these prefabricated and modular structures can now be built in sizes that have never been done before. New York’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development is working with a modular developer to build affordable housing in East New York. The CitizenM Bowery Hotel in downtown Manhattan, which has 21 stories, is the highest modular construction project in the U.S. Many big construction companies around the world have said they want to cut their on-site work to 25% or less by 2025.
As a result of the widespread COVID-19 epidemic, a number of prefab factories have closed. This has led to a severe lack of large-scale, hospitality-focused prefab modules. On the other hand, building away from the site won’t go away any time soon. If you value privacy at work, modular construction projects are a great choice because they give you more control over worker safety by giving you more control over temperature and ventilation.
Tools for the building industry to help with management
Comprehensive construction management software is a must-have if you want to stay competitive, grow a profitable business, and master operational efficiency.
Even though the features and services offered by the best software services vary slightly, they all include things like requests for information (RFIs), data compilation, file sharing with mobile teams, budgeting, document storage, payroll and human resources, and inventory management.
In 2022, the best software for managing construction projects will be:
- Autodesk
- Procore
- Buildertrend
- Fieldwire
- Quickbase
- RedTeam
It’s important for your business to get reliable software for construction management. First, make sure the software is easy to use and can work with what you already have. So that you can keep up with your needs as they grow, you should look for software that fits your current needs. And can be expanded to meet your future needs. Think about the customization tools, updates, and extra features. That are available, as well as set-up resources like tutorials and help.
The focus will be on projects around the house.
Some of the best construction companies, like Skanska. This have said that they will no longer work on large public-private transit projects in favour of lower-risk agreements. This is because tech companies are investing more and more in complicated megaprojects around the world.
Less people are interested in big projects, so the private sector is starting to come back to life. In 2021, the cost of building a single-family home went up by about 25%. And starts are expected to go up by another 7% in 2022.
Cities that are on the cutting edge of technology
IBM, Microsoft, Cisco, and other global IT giants. They are putting a lot of money into megaprojects to make cities smarter and more sustainable. Because these cities are so complex and connected to each other, planning and building them. It takes a lot more time and effort than most megaprojects. By 2025, the global market for smart cities can be worth $2.5 trillion. Which is 20.5% more than what is thought today.
Masdar City in the United Arab Emirates, the Songdo International Business District in South Korea. The Hudson Yards in New York City. And the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor in India are just a few. Which of the most exciting megaprojects going on in the world.
Over the next 10 years, costs are likely to keep going up. And there will be a shortage of qualified workers. In addition, regulations might get harder as workplace safety and adapting to climate change get more attention. Builders and developers can improve their financial standing. Get more contracts, and take on more profitable projects by using new methods, using cutting-edge technology, and funding new projects.
The epidemic made a statistical outlier, but the future of the building business is still bright. As the U.S. economy recovers from the epidemic and new economic hubs continue to grow. Development is expect to pick up through 2022. BigRentz can help your business meet the growing demand for more productivity. And security by putting you in touch with a reliable network of rental equipment.
