It’s no secret that construction is one of the sectors most impacted by the global shortage of skilled workers. With the situation projected to worsen before it improves, plumbing and mechanical contractors seeking to do more with less understand that technology must be part of the solution. At the same time, many are challenged with how to implement it.

Advances in hardware and software open the door to future-proof projects, maximize resources and unlock new efficiencies. Here are three ways plumbing and mechanical contractors can use technology to get more done despite the industry’s shortage of skilled labor.

#1: A common data environment drives manufacturing value

Leveraging manufacturing principles has brought significant value to plumbing and mechanical contractors. Prefabricating components lowers project costs, increases productivity and improves safety. It’s common for contractors to divide a big job into 100 or 1,000 small jobs for efficient prefabrication. While the efficiencies gained bring value, most contractors hit a plateau that prevents them from realizing the full value of manufacturing because the preceding steps, estimating and procurement, are not locked in. Without estimating, procurement and fabrication aligned, contractors lose the potential to gain the efficiencies that come with operating like a manufacturer.

A common data environment (CDE) makes real-time project data accessible across an organization, allowing estimating, procurement, detailing, fabrication and field teams to work together seamlessly. Each team is set up to support the factory, and they all work in a common language toward a shared goal. The estimating and management teams plan with fabrication in mind, determining costs based on methodologies used by procurement and fabrication teams. Assembles are a common language used throughout the organization. Procurement teams source materials based on the scale provided in the estimate and have the material delivered in groups defined by the project team.

Operating like a factory and gaining the benefits of manufacturing methodologies requires access to complete and up-to-date information at the right time and in the right format across teams. In a CDE, teams work from the same data but use their own systems and tools to do their jobs. In this continuous feedback loop, an assembly means the same thing to the estimator, project manager, procurement teams and workers in the field. This connected workflow brings predictability, eliminates guesswork and creates repeatable, standardized processes throughout the project lifecycle. With most construction managers requiring mechanical and plumbing contractors to forecast the work they will perform and how it will be sequenced with other subcontractors, digital planning tools are essential — contractors who cannot deliver risk a breach of contract and the potential for future work.

#2: LiDAR-enabled devices capture site conditions

Plumbing and mechanical contractors are leaders in advancing and using laser scanning workflows to drive prefabrication. 3D laser scanners quickly and accurately collect and process as-built data to accelerate field work, increase accuracy and eliminate the need for labor-intensive measurements.

Today, LiDAR-equipped mobile devices, such as an iPhone Pro or an iPad Pro, are making the benefits of reality capture more accessible. With the ability to deliver a scan with 2mm accuracy, LiDAR-equipped devices can add a layer of intelligence to workflows. While these LiDAR scans are not suitable for fabrication, they are useful for estimating, visualization and basic quality control checks.

Using a LiDAR-equipped device, field workers can capture scan data and publish it to the cloud, where it is automatically processed and accessible to other teams across the company. LiDAR scans empower teams in the field to capture dimensional measurements and annotations that provide valuable context and help document completed work, communicate changes, visualize issues and overcome problems.

#3: Project management platforms eliminate silos and democratize data

Data visibility and control across project teams is a challenge. Teams often work in silos, communicating critical project data in a variety of ways, from phone calls and emails to PDFs. This insular way of working leads to inefficiencies and errors and hinders collaboration. For example, unstructured change management workflows often result in lost productivity and project control. A change noted in a spreadsheet and emailed in PDF form to a controller may seem like an efficient method, but in reality, data in the spreadsheet could change at any given time, rendering the PDF inaccurate. Siloed workflows introduce opportunities for confusion, misplaced documents and poor communication between project stakeholders.

When all team members and outside contractors can easily access project information from an integrated project management solution, they can easily collaborate to eliminate rework and keep projects running smoothly and within budget.

With a comprehensive project management platform that integrates with estimating, procurement and accounting solutions, data is communicated and shared in a single location and accessible across the organization. Office and field teams can find and access important project data without moving between multiple solutions or cumbersome importing and exporting workflows. When all team members and outside contractors can easily access project information from an integrated project management solution, they can easily collaborate to eliminate rework and keep projects running smoothly and within budget.

Adopting Trimble ProjectSight project management software helped mechanical contractor DILFO streamline document control and improve team collaboration. With ProjectSight as the central location for information, the office can see work that has been completed in the field.

"We capture work done on-site daily, so superintendents don’t have to go to the site to see where it is and can focus on other things in the office," said Brendan Myers, director of operations at DILFO. "The office can see what has been completed and more easily understand an issue the field has encountered. It’s peace of mind for my project managers and my foremen."

Visibility into the status of submittals and RFIs helps foremen get ahead of delays before they impact the field. A foreman can push to get an answer if it’s about to impact the project or see when something is approved and start working on it. "Foremen know whether or not a decision has been made, so things are not forgotten or don’t fall through the cracks," said Myers. "By giving that information to the field, we’re more transparent, and they can see the bigger picture."

Faced with the growing shortage of workers, contractors can leverage technology to improve site documentation, reduce site visits, automate redundant and repeatable workflows and eliminate manual data entry. From streamlining processes and accelerating reality capture to connecting data from the office to the field, innovative solutions and ways of working are opening the door to more efficient workflows, better collaboration and a more profitable future.