During the past two years, construction contractors have been steadily turning to technology to help improve productivity, enhance site visibility and safety, decrease costs and, ultimately, boost bottom line profitability.

A July 2017 McKinsey survey found that 44% of contractors had implemented digital solutions, a number that is expected to grow to 70% by 2020. This is due in part to the flood of outside investment in construction technology start-ups that is resulting in new, jobsite-specific solutions. And the investment dollars are growing as well: $1.05 billion was invested in the first six months of 2018 alone, representing a 30% increase over 2017.

These new digital solutions are streamlining manual processes, improving safety, and recovering lost time and costs, all of which help improve the bottom line.

Following are five ways that technology is making a difference on and off the jobsite.

Connect Stakeholders With the Latest Information

Cloud-based software is connecting different project participants in new and important ways. With a single stream of information that is available from any smart device, project leaders and teams can combat the errors and delays that arise from misinformation and miscommunication, such as building from outdated blueprints.

In addition, a robust cloud-based project management platform can collect diverse project information such as certificates of insurance, blueprints, manhours and safety certifications. With greater transparency into project requirements and activities, contractors and subcontractors can save time tracking down information and instead have real-time access to it to stay on top of workflows and ahead of potential issues.

Provide New Insights Into Site Operations and Resource Productivity

Sensors and other connected technologies are automatically collecting information from people, equipment and tools, providing critical visibility into the work that is happening onsite.

With new insights into where resources are located and how they’re being utilized, project leaders can better coordinate and deploy these resources around the site to minimize downtime and maximize worker and asset productivity. For example, with real-time equipment and machinery location, workers can save time locating the boom lift that needs to be serviced or deployed to another site.

In addition, by knowing how much equipment onsite is actually being utilized, contractors can ensure they have the optimal number of machines to complete the task on schedule, and either redeploy under-utilized assets or make a case for adding more resources to keep a project progressing.

Additionally, improved records of manhours can help contractors develop more accurate bids. For example, with better visibility into how long different trades are onsite, and how long it takes to create a specified amount of work, contractors can better estimate the time and cost for future bids.

Turn Trailing Indicators Into Real-time Indicators

In addition to providing remote, real-time visibility into how many workers are onsite or where they’re located (saving supervisors valuable time spent manually tracking down information), aggregate data can be used to proactively highlight trends, such as having fewer trades onsite than expected, or identify near-miss incidents before they become trailing indicators like schedule overruns and safety incidents.

Armed with real-world, objective data, contractors can develop robust, timely insights into what worked and what didn’t and identify opportunities to improve productivity and safety on future projects. As more data is collected, the industry will be able to develop better insights and scale best practices to build smarter, safer and more productively than ever before.

Catch Safety Issues Early

In addition to the human impact of health and safety issues, contractors face significant operating and insurance-related costs. According to The Bureau of Labor Statistics, construction has one of the most expensive hourly workers’ compensation costs, which, when combined with the natural resources and maintenance fields, averaged around $1 per hour worked—more than double the amount for all professions.

In addition, the median number of days away from work because of a job-related injury or illness is 10 days for this industry group, which leads to lost manhours and can stall projects. Combined with the fact that the number of workplace injuries or illnesses requiring time out of work in construction, natural resources and maintenance is more than 80% greater than that of all occupations, this lost productivity really adds up.

Being able to detect and better respond to possible incidents or jobsite hazards with new technology can make jobsites safer, and more profitable, in the long run. With intuitive tools to report site hazards or signal distress from anywhere onsite, supervisors can respond to potential issues faster, assess and control exposure, and reduce the likelihood of a severe situation.

In addition, technology can be used to better quantify safety practices onsite or modify behaviors to improve the overall safety and risk management culture. As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and when it comes to safety, being able to better detect, respond to and report issues can result in improved productivity, quality and contractor reputation—all of which can boost the bottom line.

Keep an Eye on the Environment

Sensors, infrared technology and cameras are documenting environmental conditions onsite. For example, by monitoring temperature, humidity or water intrusion, contractors can identify potential issues before they become full-blown problems.

According to FMI Corporation, almost half of all builders’ risk claims result from some type of weather or escape-of-water event. In addition, internal water system failures accounted for almost 25% of its builders’ risk claims between 2006 and 2017. With real-time monitoring that allows contractors to identify environmental issues early, firms can prevent potential damage or rework that would impact bottom line profitability.

With technology to capture, monitor and integrate data addressing all aspects of a construction project—productivity, safety, site conditions and more—contractors can gain critical visibility into what’s happening across their project sites at any point in time.

Many forward-thinking contractors are already using these new insights to proactively manage resources and tasks so they can minimize downtime, limit unforeseen issues and control the accompanying costs.