Stimulus spending is said to be behind today’s reported jump in manufacturing spending. It occurs to me that we may be witnessing the stimulus “mouse” working its way down the belly of the construction “snake” as projects progress down the path towards groundbreaking. We’ll know in the coming months if the snake fully digests its meal.
Is Boost in Mfg a Leading Indicator to Construction Rebound?
January 4, 2010 by Rob MathewsonFiltering Jobsite Information
December 1, 2009 by Rob MathewsonIn telecommunications the “Last Mile” problem refers to the difficulty service providers have in connecting thousands of houses in a neighborhood to a main high-speed data line. Put another way, the Last Mile problem is a distribution problem, distributing a pipe full of data through many many smaller pipes.
Jobsites have a “First Mile” problem, that is there are thousands of simultaneous operations on any sophisticated site, each of which is generating its own critical “data”, with no centralized means of collecting the data and then delivering it to back office operations. Pick any of your existing operations software solutions; accounting; scheduling; project management; every one of these requires human intervention in order to “extract” new data from the jobsite.
However, there’s a problem with the current method for extracting data from a jobsite. It’s the human problem. Whenever we rely on a human to transfer information by observation, there’s a natural filtering process that takes place. Especially when that human is a stakeholder in the process. Schedule updates are the most common casualty of this type of stakeholder filtering. Ever hear a superintendent utter this most damning phrase, “Oh, we can make up that time. No Problem”?
The Right Time for SaaS in Construction
November 27, 2009 by Rob MathewsonTerrific discussion about the benefits for the construction industry in switching to Software as a Service.
Rob’s Interview with Blogger Mikhail Surkan
November 25, 2009 by Rob MathewsonI sat down for a chat with Mikhail Surkan to discuss the challenges and opportunities for a starting a company in the middle of The Great Recession. Speaking of challenges, we also discuss the prospects for Geedra in gaining traction in the construction industry.
What Does a Construction Job Cost in Stimulus Dollars?
November 2, 2009 by Rob MathewsonThe folks over at SoftwareAdvice.com just released an interesting analysis of the effects of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) on construction employment on a state by state basis. Though the data presented is interesting, I think it creates more questions than it answers. For instance, if you look at the two subsets of data below two questions pop to mind; 1- What has Massachusetts figured out that makes it so much more efficient at turning stimulus dollars into construction jobs? 2- It’s no surprise that California is one of the most expensive places to create construction jobs (or do just about anything, for that matter) but they really stick out when you compare them in size and population density to the second through fifth states in the “Cost per Construction Job” ranking.
| Top Job Generators | ||||
| State | Amount Awarded | Amount Received | Jobs Created | Cost per job |
| MA | $1,500 | $361 | 5174 | $69,831 |
| NY | $2,900 | $838 | 5108 | $164,101 |
| TX | $2,500 | $1,300 | 4199 | $325,891 |
| CA | $3,700 | $2,200 | 4197 | $535,171 |
| OH | $1,500 | $462 | 3820 | $120,908 |
| Most Expensive Jobs per Stimulus Dollar | ||||
| State | Amount Awarded | Amount Received | Jobs Created | Cost per job |
| CA | $3,700 | $2,200 | 4197 | $535,171 |
| CT | $324 | $221 | 432 | $511,053 |
| NH | $221 | $128 | 284 | $448,984 |
| LA | $723 | $420 | 1056 | $397,895 |
| SC | $810 | $366 | 941 | $389,290 |
A Wishlist for an iPhone Punchlist App
September 23, 2009 by Rob MathewsonFrom the Software Advice Blog… Bringing Your Punchlist into the 21st century.
I applaud the fresh approach to solving the Punchlist Problem. However, there are certain functions on Chris’ list that will require some heavy lifting to accomplish. Take a look below and then share your hi-tech dream application for construction.
A couple of taps brings up 3-D floor plans; you manipulate the 3-D model with your fingers until you drill down to your exact location in the room; tap the specific problem area, tag it’s location, take a picture and quickly fill out a form describing the problem.
- 3D floorplans are a rarity in jobsite trailers, much less on handhelds. A quick browse through iTunes didn’t turn up any existing applications with this capability.
- location tagging; How? By GPS, grid, room, room type? GPS coverage inside a finished building can be spotty. Are the other locations pre-loaded? If so, by who? If not, you’ll need quite a robust interface to accommodate the various grid/room combinations that can occur on various projects.
- take a picture – yep, we can do that
- quickly fill out a form – lots of work to be done here. Ideally, checkboxes and dropdowns can streamline this function, but some original content generation will be required. A voice recording could make this easier, but you better have a high-quality, noise-reducing microphone.
Finding That Critical Project Photo
July 13, 2009 by Rob MathewsonImagine what it’s like to dig a hole in the sand at the beach. Hand over hand, you dig away and watch as the hole changes constantly with each shift in the sand. Whenever you see anything interesting in the hole (a sea shell, piece of sea glass, etc.) it’s covered over almost as quickly it’s uncovered.
Essentially, this experience provides a summertime analogy for tracking the work on a construction site. No matter what your role on a jobsite, you depend on knowing the condition of your area of interest continuously over the course of the project. The advent of digital photography has made it possible to inexpensively record the physical condition of the project in extreme detail. Unfortunately, recording the digital images are the easy part. After shooting hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of jobsite photos, finding that critical construction image after the fact becomes the ultimate challenge. (Raise your hand if you have a hard drive choked with project photos that are organized by project and date.)
I would like to know what you, as a construction-related professional, do to extract meaningful data from your jobsite photos. Feel free to leave your comments and exchange ideas with your fellow readers.
Silos with Windows
June 16, 2009 by Rob MathewsonAny jobsite is a conglomeration of various interests, each holed up in the silo of their own discipline (e.g. trade specialty, consulting specialty, specialty inspector, etc.) The GC acts as the conduit that ties each silo into the project. Unfortunately, there’s no established protocol for neighboring silos to share information. Except of course, when there’s a problem. Then there’s plenty of conversation, though it could be somewhat contentious.
Think about your relationships with your neighbors at home. There are those that you chat with frequently and those that barely wave. When it comes time for you to take over all of the street parking for your kid’s birthday party, which neighbor is going to be the one who blows up at you and starts yelling across the street?
Keep that scene in mind the next time you’re on site and you come across a new inspector, engineer or low voltage electrician that you have no reason to talk to. Five minutes of “Hi, How d’ya do?” Could pay off for both of you down the road.
Miscommunication Between Owner and Contractor Can be Dangerous
June 5, 2009 by Rob Mathewson
The "Croc Slot"
Who Let the Smarts Out?
May 26, 2009 by Rob MathewsonThe folks at Compendia focus on a serious situation for the construction industry with this post. Their point is that those companies left standing will have made serious staff reductions and suffered a significant loss of tribal knowledge in the process. Gearing up to (hopefully) meet to coming increase in demand means training new employees and building the company’s knowledge base up from scratch.
While the author certainly makes a valid point, I find it a bit ironic. After all, how much tribal knowledge do construction professionals leave behind willingly with every finished project? Yes, construction projects are temporary affairs. But every completed projects has taught scores of valuable lessons to the project team. Unfortunately, without any systems in place to capture and replicate those lessons, many evaporate forcing others to re-learn the same lessons at some time down the road.
