“Haste makes waste.” “Waste not; want not.”
Wasting time, labor, materials… For a construction business, waste means fewer profitable projects or worse. A good question we should be asking ourselves is, “Why do we waste so much?”
A more important question is, “How can my construction business waste less to earn more?”
Construction Business Technology Drives Efficiency
“Rework costs, including labor, materials, equipment and subcontractors can run from 2%-20% of a project’s total contract amount. That equates to an estimated total of $15 billion a year,” says communications professional Eric Harris. The construction industry also generates 39% of global carbon emissions; a lot of it is due to waste.
If you’ve implemented processes to increase productivity and efficiency, good for you. But if your construction business team is ignoring the amount of waste you’re generating as well as the amount of energy you lose to reworks and runarounds, you’re only tackling part of the problem.
BIM (building information modeling) is a process utilizing technology to digitally generate and manage construction business projects. This streamlines production in theory but sometimes fails in reality.
Ordering more materials “just in case” is a prime example of wasteful working practices we need to manage. Most companies don’t even realize how much waste they were generating until they get the technology to measure it.
Here are 3 examples of companies that used technology to reduce waste:
- A project timeline was shortened from 120 to 42 days at a cost savings of $500,000 by using a materials management system and modern technology vs. manual methodology.
- An excavation operations construction business worked 41% faster with 75% increased accuracy when machine-control technology was introduced.
- Working from 2D drawings, one company averaged 10%-15% waste in rebar fabrication. Using constructible models, 99% of the rebar was fabricated correctly.
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