Week 6 – Databases in Construction Firms

As construction firms move towards a more technological approach to site inspections, construction, and management, they are increasingly reliant on having an accurate electronic database. Portable information appliances, which can be carried or worn by the user, have the computational and connectivity capacity to perform those tasks. Retrieving and storing data needs to be simple, as the user will also be moving around the job site inspecting various items and checking the quality and performance of other ongoing objectives. Some examples of these appliances are the PDA, tablet PC and iPad and Android Tablets and smartphones.

A company database needs to be established so that the superintendent of the firm can readily access the database from any site and capable device as he or she needs information for various tasks. These tasks include comparing planned to constructed conditions, completing punch lists, Coordinating scheduled events and site deliveries, among others. Because each construction site is unique, the chosen device must be adaptable and flexible.

During my experiences in co-op I was able to interact with construction workers on a daily basis. On my first co-op, what struck me the most was that the construction industry was very resistant to change as they resisted the use of tools such as tablets for use in jobsites. There was paperwork everywhere, and much of the information was buried in the file cabinets and hard to retrieve. By the time I was working my third co-op, this mindset was changing and they were converting all paperwork to be stored on hard drives or online databases such as e-builder, where information can be searched for at the click of a button or the swipe of a finger. In my experience, e-builder is an adequate database for sharing drawings and spec sheets between owner and contractor, which could use some improvements in user interface but the idea is great.

This change in mentality took so long because disruptive technology is difficult in the construction field for many reasons:

·         Field managers often rise through the ranks and learned from their predecessors on how to run a site (who had little to no interest in current tech).

·         Field work is demanding and rough, so suitable tech needs to be durable (and therefore difficult to build) because a slip up in the tech means the schedule gets pushed back which means increased costs.

·         Construction is very schedule driven, and the time investment to learn how to operate a new tech is often too steep to implement it.

Comments on other posts:

Brian Benson - So SEED is a program designed to suggest specs for building structures, piping, duct sizing, and other utilities? Does that mean it comes with a default database of suggestions or does it need to have a database of previous projects input by the owner? Great post!

Ivan Pineiro - I enjoyed this read on RDBMS. It is great to see the progress of database management headed in this direction, as this ties in very well to the integrated design process we were taught in AE 390/391.

Yijun Qian - A very good post on how databases can help the construction industry. A construction firm has a list of priorities which a properly created database, such as e-builder, can help address.