Construction Industry: How are we working remotely in an ever-demanding & deadline-driven industry?

As the Coronavirus pandemic continues to upset the business environment, it has become even more crucial to follow health guidelines, be safe, and work remotely. Amidst this, the construction industry is facing several unprecedented challenges such as falling behind on project timelines, workforce health and safety, and integration of real-time project management solutions and educating their team to get up to speed.

But, does the future belong to remote working?

Today, some of the construction sites are partially or completely closed to administer the spread of the disease. The organizations are continually evolving to discover and fill the gaps in their existing remote work scenario to enable a holistic environment for their workforce to perform well and deliver effective and efficient projects within the stipulated timeline.

The use of several construction software solutions is on the rise to create a more collaborative environment for stakeholders across the team and client to connect without any hindrances. Both small scale and large scale organizations across the construction spectrum have to embrace digital transformation as it has become crucial for existence.

We, at TechnoStruct LLC, are working remotely since the beginning of the pandemic and will continue to do so – as we evolve to provide best-in-class engineering and design solutions to our clients while keeping the safety and health of our workers at priority.

Here’s how we are working remotely in an ever-changing & deadline-driven industry:

1. Focus on communication & collaboration: There are a million things that can go wrong when we are not working in an office or closed-collective environment, especially in the construction sector, as we are not nearby to reach someone immediately. But, seamless communication via digitization has helped us overcome the challenges and help build an even more effective collaborative environment. 

2. Connect Data with Respected Tasks: As we continue to work remotely, our teams ensure that all the project stakeholders stay on top of their tasks and report crucial updates in real-time. All the data collected from the field gets updated and linked to its respective task, and that the right people were updated and given access to the right information to understand what’s coming next and define the project’s needs in a good time.

3. Track Tasks Aligned and its Progress: Completing the task within the set timeframe is the target, but to reach there, we undertook every measure to ensure that the progress is being tracked every day on every project – such that any lag in the project can be identified way before it becomes a disaster or goes out of control. Tracking progress in real-time helped streamline a lot of processes and allow for better project management.

4. Invest in Training: Working remotely was and still is the need of the hour, and so shifting all the work processes to digital media was more than just necessary. We were vastly dependent on the latest technology to keep us protected against the repercussions of the Coronavirus outbreak, and our team proactively participated in being trained on the software and more to keep the company running – and now we are in better shape and at a stronger position than ever before. Upgrading our knowledge helped us stand against the test of these unprecedented times.

5. Plan Ahead: The Coronavirus outbreak across the world has presented most challenges to the AEC industry, which shed light on numerous challenges faced by the sector in all – such as lack of accountability, improper and siloed communication, excess workload, and more. So, to ensure that there is no room for delays, we plan our daily, weekly, and monthly work progress while ensuring that it is being communicated across multiple divisions.

While commenting on the same, Roy Anirudhha, Director at TechnoStruct said, “The AEC industry is driven by people, work processes and technology, and so, the majority of our team is proactively looking after the needs of the clients while working from the comfort and safety of their homes using advanced technology for collaboration. We have taken every step to advance our employees’ skills to enable them to be more productive while ensuring that we have the right amount of bandwidth to get the job done. As always, our priority is the safety of our people, teams, and partners, and so we continue to assess and monitor the on-going changing environment to adapt and re-adapt as and when required, and stay within budget while avoiding unnecessary delays or costly reworks.”

Conclusion:

With the increasing number of cases in the country, the only go-to strategy today is to work remotely for as long as possible to control the spread of the virus and keep everyone safe. Yes, remote working in construction is here to stay, and embracing it is the most convenient and strategic option to progress while adapting quickly in a timely and responsible manner. Digital systems and processes are paving the way for a more advanced construction ecosystem, and it is what the industry needs to accelerate and become more efficient, both today and in the times to come.

TechnoStruct is one of the leading  BIM Companies in the USA that specializes in providing  Mechanical Electrical Plumbing (MEP), Seismic support, designing and engineering solutions,  solar engineering solutions, and construction solutions, to  large-scale commercial, transportation, healthcare, industrial , residential etc.  projects across the AECO spectrum. (feel free to rewrite but on these lines)