Construction Technology Report – 2017

This article originally appeared in the June 2018 edition of the Ottawa Construction Association’s Construction Comment magazine

Each year, JB Knowledge, a Texas-based construction technology consultancy issues its Construction Technology Report, a scan of the top technology trends in our industry.

The 2017 edition is the company’s sixth, and it surveyed the habits and opinions of 2,690 builders from across the United States, Canada and the world.

This year, the survey asked builders about their technology workflows, solutions and budgets. One of the principal findings of this year’s report is that technology continues to be a difficult sell for many builders. Construction continues to budget the least of any industry towards IT. Managers are hesitant to adopt, and are largely unaware of, the right technology solutions.

“The Construction Technology Report provides our members with a snapshot of where the industry is, what tools are being used and where they should allocate more resources towards improvement,” said Sean McGuire, Director of Construction Technology for the Mechanical Contractors Association of America.

So, where is the industry at? According to this survey, it’s showing gradual improvement. In 2017, IT budgets slightly increased. Employees reported greater comfort with BIM technology. More companies expanded their research and development budgets, and, for the first time in this survey’s history, builders decreased manual-data entry.

The upcoming digital construction landscape promises existing and immersive technical solutions to construction challenges.

Hopefully, this year’s positive technical trends will continue, and our industry can take full advantage of the technological sophistication available to it.

Click here to read the full article.
Click here for the report.