McKinsey have produced a report into the global construction industry – if you’re pushed for time and think TL;DR (too long, didn’t read it), then here are the nuggets of gold, mined by yours truly at Conker. There’s $1.6 Trillion down the back of the Construction sofa.

Productivity in your company can go up 50 to 60 percent, by enacting innovation across these 7 areas:

  • Reshaping regulation
  • Rewiring the contractual framework to reshape industry dynamics
  • Rethinking design and engineering processes
  • Improving procurement and supply-chain management
  • Improving onsite execution
  • Infusing digital technology, new materials, and advanced automation
  • Reskilling the workforce

There is a way in which Conker can help you.

Infusing digital technology. As an official partner of the Chartered Institute of Building and a headline sponsor at the Construction Manager of the Year Awards, we have been privileged to meet with some of you and listen to the challenges you face and the pain those challenges cause.

If you are a Project Planner, Project Manager, Contracts Manager or Site Manager, then you know well, that you get more done with your PC than you ever did with paper and pencil.

The communication gap between site and office however, is still quite fractured and this leads to schedule and cost overruns, contractor disputes and a ton of duplicated admin.

A mobile computer with some nifty software could help that and the likes of Elecosoft, GenieBelt, Aconex and Viewpoint all do some smashing software. We reviewed the Elecosoft kit here last week and have Geniebelt coming in next month and have asked the others in to be weighed and measured too. Keep an eye out on our blog for those.

There’s $1.6 Trillion down the back of the Construction sofa

The problem then becomes, how do you get the software on to site? Consumer tablets are not built for construction sites. They break when dropped, they get filthy and can not be easily cleaned without running the risk of water getting inside, basically they are just not up to it.

One of our large construction sites also had a problem with security. If you hand a lovely iPad or Samsung tablet out to your subcontractors  and they ‘forget’ to bring it back when they’re done, then you’ve just done your budget on tech.

If you want to ask them to sign for it, to make sure they are returned in one piece and on time, what happens when one of your young subbies, on not much money accidentally drops it or damages it – as will happen on a construction site? Are you really going to dock some 19 year olds wages for something that wasn’t fit for purpose in the first place? Thought not.

Bringing the oh-so helpful software to site and getting the benefits of improved communication, reduced admin, reduced contractor disputes, and avoiding cost and schedule overruns needs some tech that is up to the demands of a construction site.

It needs to work with whatever software you choose.

It needs not to disappear when out of site and not break or drown when in use.

That’s what Conker do. Construction-grade rugged tablets and smartphones, that can take the punishment of being just another tool in your toolbox.

Call us on 01279 295800 and ask to try our tablets and phones – seeing is believing.