The AEC industry moves quickly and a lot of amazing innovations have been made over the last decade. Building Information Modeling, GIS mapping and CAD have made firms more efficient and have sped up project work. But when it comes to work in the office, many AEC firms still use old and outdated practices that are wasting time and effort. Here are a few:
Tedious Manual Tasks in the AEC Industry
In the AEC industry, it’s not uncommon for employees to repeat the same tasks over and over again for different clients and different projects. Because they’re on a deadline, staff may not bother investigating if there is a more efficient way to do the activity. Instead, they choose to do it manually. For example, an architect that needs to make adjustments to numerous drawings in Revit may do this manually. What they could have done instead is take the time to create macros that could be used for future assignments, saving considerable time. In many cases it can be much more efficient to learn to code or incorporate software into your workflow. It’s an investment that will pay big dividends down the road, helping your teams work smarter instead of harder.
Manual Data Collection and Report Generation
Using manual reports for field inspections is a process that’s had its day in the AEC industry. These kinds of static reports quickly become dated and they can be easily misplaced. To produce the reports, the information needs to be input manually back at the office, creating opportunity for error as well as inefficiency. When generating the reports, the information has to be exported and manually formatted. manually too—not an appealing prospect!
Conversely, firms in the AEC industry can take advantage of many forms of cloud-based software to create a central repository of asset information. Team members can use iPads and/or tablets with the necessary apps so they can collect data and perform field assessments on-site with greater efficiency and accuracy. These software tools are proficient at synthesizing text and data into polished reports. Take a look at 4tell™’s iPlan™ Assessment Solution. It can drive efficiencies for assessment services and report deliverables by up to 65%.
Creation of Manual Spec Documents
Why reinvent the wheel each time you start work on a new project? Instead, invest some time developing a library of standard designs, details and specifications to use as a starting point for each of your projects. This step will save more time on your projects, and reserve your team’s billable hours for more important tasks. Some firms such as ARCOM offer subscription-based services to help prepare specifications. Other AEC firms develop systems in-house. Either way, it’s a huge timesaver and will make producing spec documents much faster and more efficient.
It can be daunting for an established firm in the AEC industry to jump feet-first into new technologies, but with so many new opportunities to save time and money, they should not be ignored. Leveraging new software and streamlining data collection has huge benefits for both employees and clients in the AEC industry. Try them, you will see the benefits in no time.
Photos: BillionPhotos.com / Shutterstock.com, legenda / Shutterstock.com
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