A survey revealed 89% of construction firms and specialty trades use building information modeling (BIM). Concrete contractors have many incentives to adopt digital layouts:
- Improves accuracy
- Increases layout versatility
- Easier placement of nonlinear shapes
- Saves time
- Easier multistream home office coordination
- Simplified workflow
But the biggest incentive is ROI (return on investment). Construction firms say the “payback” is swift:
- “Only need 1 person-layout.”
- “Paid for itself in 2 jobs.”
- “Paid for itself in 2 months.”
- “Saves time on every project.”
Concrete Construction Firms Say “Goodbye Batter Boards, Plumb Bobs, Tapes, and Strings”
If the project is large, walking back-and-forth with strings is tedious and time-consuming. “And the further you stretch the strings, the less accurate your measurement becomes,” says one concrete professional. Using traditional layouts, your margin of error includes:
- Calculating correct angles/degrees
- Complex layouts – angles/arcs/curves
- Difficult onsite weather conditions that move the tapes/strings
- Keeping the tapes/strings steady
- Verifying distances more than once
If your concrete construction firm hasn’t made the move to digital, you may soon find yourself unable to compete. One foundation specialist said with BIM software, “I’ve done as many as 4 layouts before noon, starting at 8:30 a.m…I couldn’t do that the old way.”
Teams’ Transition to Digital Easy
Our crews had no trouble adapting. I was pleased with how
quickly they picked it up. –Josh Hollingshead, Sobcun Concrete
Shortly after digital conversion, concrete crews are able to use:
- Field-controller tablet computers
- Optical instruments that more precisely measure horizontal/vertical angles and distance
- Pole-mounted reflecting prisms
- Software that provides a streamlined, intuitive approach to measurements and workflow
- “Within minutes, we were ready to lay out the foundation.”
You have plenty of software options. But nothing is set in stone (or concrete). Read. Ask questions. Learn what’s available and how much money it can save – or make – your company.
Construction Monitor has developed software that takes huge amounts of information and sorts it into easy-to-use, actionable information for your company, your locale. If you don’t use it, you lose it – business opportunities, that is.