Embrace but carefully choose new technologies

By Laurie Kendall
Dolan Media Newswires

PORTLAND, Ore. — It is often said that technology makes the world go round. Each year televisions seem to get bigger yet thinner, computers get smaller, and Internet speeds get faster, especially on our mobile devices. We anxiously await the latest and greatest and watch as the early adopters line up outside retail spaces to be the first to get them.

Likewise, the construction industry is always hungry for new innovation. Access to new technology is increasing efficiency in our industry, improving work quality and helping contractors build the highest-performing buildings the world has ever seen.

In fact, we get something new and then we wonder how we ever lived without it. Then something newer, faster and cheaper replaces it.

“It wasn’t long ago that we wondered how we got by without fax machines,” said an Associated Builders and Contractors member I visited with recently. “If our fax machine rang right now I would probably wander around the office for 10 minutes trying to figure out where the sound was coming from.”

Contractors get bombarded everyday with new technological advances. The options are endless but the budgets to pay for them rarely are. I really enjoy seeing how contractors are using new products, and I’m often reminded that the applications are not just good for the contractor. They also benefit the customer.

Smartphones, tablets, mobile apps and even social media are providing contractors new ways to find efficiency and collaborate across their field teams.

The ability to snap a photo or video  from a smartphone or tablet and leverage people across an entire company to troubleshoot a problem is helping contractors solve tricky problems while sending fewer employees to a job site.

Even social media is proving beneficial to contractors looking to engage a variety of audiences about latest industry developments, share best practices and contribute to larger conversations in their community.

“Social media isn’t just talking about your company and posting a picture of your latest project,” said a contractor recently. “It’s about engaging with the community around you, adding to the conversation, and building a network that would not have otherwise existed.”

But don’t adopt new technology or innovation just for the sake of doing so. You’ll wear out your workforce and probably waste a lot of money. When weighing whether to adopt new technologies, ask these questions:

• Is the latest technology cost-effective?
• How will something interact with other tools already in place?
• Will it improve efficiency for the team?
• How soon will it be obsolete?

The possibilities are endless. New building technologies are driving energy consumption down through innovative control systems that better regulate temperatures, enhance the use of natural light and save the customer enough money to justify the expense.

Technology isn’t just about computers. It includes amazing new building materials and construction methods. From multidimensional computer modeling to high-performance engineered wood products and energy-saving eco-roofs, a variety of new options are emerging to deliver better buildings to construction consumers.

It is exciting to see how new technologies and applications are not just the domain of teens posting via Instagram, and the way we use them can improve the bottom line and drive efficiencies in traditional trades.

Kendall is president of the Associated Builders and Contractors’ Pacific Northwest chapter.