The construction industry has been hit hard by COVID-19 - and will likely never be the same. We brought together two industry experts, Mark Robertson of DPR Construction and Jon Berkoe of MWH Constructors, to share how their projects have been affected by the worldwide pandemic.
Many sites face two options: shut down, or continue working under social distancing guidelines and other enhanced safety measures. Both scenarios present their own unique workflow adaptations, but they all had the same theme: accelerated adoption of reality capture and site digitization technology.
Health, Safety, and Reality Capture
Mark Robertson describes a DPR site with 800-1000 workers a day reduced to a rotating roster of 50. Each place on the roster is accounted for based on the needs of the project. Workers line up in the morning, where temperatures are taken and everyone is checked for proper PPE.
As DPR shifted on-site jobs to working from home, those workers adapted by increasing their use of digital tools, and for some, learning new ones. The teams were able to be more productive by relying on the data that UAVs and other reality capture methods provided. An added benefit to using UAVs is the pilot can adhere to social distancing and still collect the data.
“We’re really having to rely on information from remote… The good thing about 360 photos, and UAV data, there's little to no contact with the tech running the equipment to get that information to the project team or to the client. There’s little risk, and a lot of value, and it's kind of a no-brainer.”
- Mark Robertson, Senior Field Engineer, DPR Construction
Taking Site Information Off-site
Jon Berkoe of MWH Constructors was able to share his insights on the value of utilizing drone data and combining it with 4D site models, especially during the pandemic when it is critical to minimize on-site time and resources are constrained.
Rework on job sites that are still operational become a liability, as it not only extends the schedule, but it also increases the amount of time people spend on the jobsite, which increases potential exposure to the virus and other jobsite hazards. Reality capture aided by drone data provides better planning, helping to reduce those liabilities.
“By integrating reality capture for the progress of the construction… To me that's a huge value add, both from the cost standpoint of the project, and in particular, the safety risk. Using data for better planning, increasing the agility and adjusting your plan, and bringing the actual as-built information to everyone that needs to see it in a remote environment is especially important now.”
- Jon Berkoe, Director, Virtual Design & Construction, MWH Constructors
High Resolution Job Site Visibility
Following the panel discussion with Mark and Jon was a short demo of Data Hub, the newest jobsite productivity tool from Skycatch. Traditionally, only a select few roles on construction sites have access and training to use complex legacy software tools to measure progress.
In a time when reality capture is becoming more critical in keeping a jobsite productive, Skycatch’s Data Hub uses drone data to deliver information and easy to use tools for everyone on the jobsite, from anywhere in the world.
Stay Tuned…
That’s it for our recap - want to learn more? To watch the webinar in full, fill out the form below, and stay tuned for our next topic, coming soon...
