The last two years, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen a massive shift in just about every industry you can think of with construction being chief among them. Suddenly, employees were forced to work from home for the foreseeable future. Even as vaccines continue to roll out across the country, new variants of the Coronavirus are still taking their toll - calling into question exactly how businesses will continue to operate once we settle into some form of "new normal."
Prior to all of this, remote work wasn't something that was done often in construction. State-of-the-art technology has thankfully risen to the challenge, allowing contractors to manage job sites digitally. In-person staff can be kept to a minimum, all while minimizing disruption and maximizing productivity as much as possible. As the old saying goes, "necessity is the mother of invention" - and in this situation, "necessity" has given birth to the hybrid construction trend that could very well indicate the future of the industry in general.
The new hybrid construction model offers a wide array of benefits including better transparency, more efficient collaboration, a better work/life balance for employees, and more. It even offers advantages when it comes to the recruitment of top talent as well.
Visual imaging tools, for example, can be used to get an instant look into the status of a construction site. Cloud-based project management software can allow for efficient collaboration, even with people who aren't physically present on the job. All of this would have been unthinkable even as recently as a decade ago, but thanks to concepts like computer vision, artificial intelligence, and the quality of cameras that are available to businesses, it's very much become a reality.
Project managers can now conduct walkthroughs of a job site without actually needing to be there. The speed at which information can be shared via the cloud means that everyone is always working from the same data to base their decisions on, regardless of where they happen to be. They can make better and more informed choices faster than ever - all of which benefits the quality of the finished product.
Not only that, but it's been estimated that the improved level of transparency can help significantly decrease the amount of rework that is needed on a given job. Considering the fact that rework-related issues are estimated to make up between 4% and 6% of the cost of an average project, it's easy to see why this is such an advantage.
Hybrid construction also decreases the number of trips to a site that are necessary, helping to improve the work/life balance of employees - something that almost always leads to higher productivity in general.
In the end, certain people will always need to be physically present on a job site to make important decisions. This is part of the nature of the construction industry in general. But contractors are nothing if not innovative, and by embracing this new era of technology they can accomplish much more with much less. They can save money, time, and make it easier for their workers to operate at their best - all of which are welcome to companies that have already been operating with thin profit margins for years.