The Construction Technology Handbook. Hugh Seaton
VR can help GCs
Marco Faccini, for an English perspective
Martyn Day, for a pointed English perspective, especially on design tools
Matt Carli of Latticrete, for insight into the technology of materials
Matt Daly of Structionsite, for insights into technology on the jobsite
Matt Diesner of Autodesk, for a perspective on sales in construction
Mike Prefling, for sharing stories of innovation in construction
Mostafa Akbari‐Hochberg of Holobuilder, for explaining the future of construction site imaging
Nathan Wood of the Construction Progress Coalition, for inspiration and deep insights
Ned Beatty of IrisVR, for thoughts on virtual reality in construction
Pat Sharpe of The Digit Group, for being a friend and endless source of insight
Quinn Murphy of Sandberg Phoenix, for telling me technology brings transparency, which is a good thing
Ricardo Khan of Mortensen, for pushing the industry forward and showing us what innovation looks like
Richard Harpham of Katerra, for a blindingly insightful first talk that showed me how big these issues are
Rob Fischer of CURT, for an owner's perspective and some great cases of how owners can drive everything
Robert Friedman of TechPrefab, for an excellent deep dive into Prefab
Sam Spata of Exyte, for a great explanation of Lean Construction
Shane Scranton of IrisVR, for thoughts on virtual reality in construction
Stefan Larsson of BIMObject, for a vision of what BIM could be
Steve Holzer of BIMObject, for specific examples of what BIM should be
Steve Jones of Dodge Analytics, for a great overview of data in the industry
Tauhira Ali of Milwaukee Tool, for helping me understand how software is reinventing hardware
Taylor Cupp of Mortensen, for great perspectives of a construction technologist
Teemu Lehtinen of KIRA Hub in Finland, for a perspective on Finnish innovation
Terry Cotton of SAM Floors, for a supply chain perspective
Tim Etherington of Gensler, for a truly global perspective on architecture, from China to Spain and back
Tim Hensley of Hensel Phelps, for a patient walkthrough of how a Senior Superintendent uses tech on the jobsite
Todd Mustard of TUAC, for perspectives on associations as drivers of innovations
Tony Bruno of Omnibuild, for explaining how he uses construction tech on the jobsite
Travis Voss, for a vision of what a rockstar technologist can bring to their company
These folks and more have done their best to help me see what's going on – any failure to get it right is my own, not theirs.
CHAPTER 1 Introduction
How you think about the world affects what you can get done in the world.
By thinking differently, you can do different things. Books like this one expand how you think, and will therefore expand what you are able to do – not because of quickly outdated “how to” lessons, but because of powerful frameworks for viewing all of what you do as a kind of technology, and viewing new technologies not as separate from what you do, but simply new tools in an expanded toolkit.
This is a book about technology that is used in construction. “Technology” is one of those words that gets used differently by different people, which makes it hard to discuss. To be able to think clearly, differently, we need a concrete definition of what words like “technology” mean. In fact, the first point I want you to agree with, accept, and internalize is that you cannot think clearly with fuzzy concepts, and technology will introduce you to a lot of concepts that are fuzzy to you at first. In this book, we will stop and define as many new terms as possible.
Construction is an industry composed of trades and practices that are taught as much by showing as by talking, so the culture isn't always one of directly asking people that you don't know what they are talking about. There can be a sense of discomfort about asking, because at some point technology, especially software, has made everyone feel stupid.
Read this book and that will happen less, I promise. However, the point is to feel confident that it's not your ignorance of whatever new concept is being discussed, but the vendor's or presenter's failure to make sure there is common understanding.
In the case of technology products and processes, it is always the job of the provider to make sure you are clear – hold them to it.
What Technology Is
So, let's get in that habit of clear definitions by creating one for technology:
Technology is the application of some effect, usually scientific, to get work done.
The word “technology” can also be used for two other levels of meaning:
1 A collection of things that work similarly, like construction technology.
2 The whole class of human effort that creates tools for a given culture, like digital technology.
We are going to focus on the first meaning. It is important to think at this level first, because you will be dealing with specific products not big groupings or abstract classes of products.
When faced with a new technological product, like construction software, we can be struck by what we don't know, struck by how different it feels from how we've done things in the past. But technologies do not come from nowhere. To be of any use, a new machine, process, or software will have been developed so you can do something you already do, just faster, safer, or cheaper.
Understanding a Technology's Basis
Technology of any sort is based on some underlying effect, some realization that nature, or human nature, works a certain way. There is some effect, or phenomenon, that makes the technology work. So we build a process, or a tool, or a machine, that exploits this effect to make human work better in some way. Often, these technologies make impossible things possible.
For example, think of a hammer. We don't think of this as a technology, but it is. Here are some of the effects in the world that a modern, handheld hammer exploits:
1 Every force creates an equal and opposite force (Newton's third law, the same one used in rockets)
2 Steel is hard
3 Cold rolled, high carbon steel is very hard
4 Metal is harder than wood or gypsum
5 The end of a pendulum is faster than the handle
6 Force applied to a given area gets multiplied when transferred to a smaller area
All of that in a simple hammer. Think then of what a hammer does: it uses motion from a human arm to transfer force from one steel object, the hammer's head, into another steel object, the nail. This force then drives the nail through whatever material is being worked on.
Let's take a moment and think about what you do, all day long. Whether it's putting electrical conduits in place, managing a team of mechanical contractors, managing a jobsite as a superintendent, or managing an entire job as the project manager – everything you do works because of some effect in the world. Some of those effects are very human,