ConstructConnect Blog

Lean construction is all about efficiency. Construction firm owners should care about it because it has the potential to saves firms time and money. Lean construction accomplishes savings by allowing teams to complete jobs faster with less waste of materials, time and labor. This is especially important to construction companies after the end of the recession.

The adoption and use of Building Information Modeling (BIM), the digital representation of physical and functional characteristics of a facility that creates a shared knowledge resource for information about a facility to form a reliable basis for decisions from conception to the end of its lifecycle, has skyrocketed over the past few years. Some of the benefits of BIM include faster delivery time, improved collaboration among stakeholders, reduced costs for construction and facility operations and a reduction in change orders.

Commencement of construction on most commercial construction projects is the date at which the time begins to run, based upon the project schedule. The project schedule provides for delivery of materials and performance of certain items of the work, including final punchlisting and occupancy, constituting the ultimate completion of the entire project work.

What is the biggest current challenge facing the construction industry? It’s certainly not demand—in fact, the worldwide demand for construction is quite high. According to professional services provider PwC, global construction output is projected to grow 85% by 2030, with an average of 3.9% per annum up to 2030, which outpaces global GDP by a whole percentage point. Much of the recent growth in the construction industry can be attributed to both developed countries recovering from the 2008 recession and undeveloped countries continuing to industrialize.

As we rapidly approach the end of the year, it’s time to release ConstructConnect’s list of the “Top 5 Coolest Buildings of 2016.” In order to be eligible, the building has to have been completed, topped out or opened within the calendar year and has some aspect that makes the building cool. The competition was stiff with lots of great projects to choose from, so narrowing it down to just five wasn’t easy. So without further ado, and in no particular order, here are our “Top 5.”

Whether you have a construction fleet of five or 500, the key to keeping your company’s vehicles and heavy equipment operational is implementing an effective preventive maintenance program. The average cost for a piece of heavy equipment is over $20,000. Depending on how much heavy equipment your company owns, a large percentage of your company’s assets could be in construction vehicles and heavy equipment. Regardless of whether you outsource your construction equipment maintenance or do it in-house, a proper preventive maintenance program can extend the useful life of your equipment, prevent costly repairs and reduce downtime due to equipment being out of service.

The Maintenance of Construction Equipment

When it comes to construction safety, does your company take a reactive or proactive approach? For most companies, their safety programs probably contain a combination of the two approaches. Proactive in some ways, but reactive on other aspects of safety.

Construction is a complex industry and business, requiring informed and dedicated companies, supporting staff, and skilled craft workers. This team should also include the assistance of experienced construction counsel when:

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently released their 2015 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) and the construction industry once again topped the list with 937 worker deaths. This is about a 4% increase in occupational fatalities over the 899 reported for 2014. This is the largest number of construction worker deaths since 2008.