2019 Construction Trends

TRUSTED BY INDUSTRY LEADERS
5600 Avenida Encinas Suite #140E Carlsbad, CA 92008 | help@rakenapp.com | 866-438-0646

Table of Contents Introduction
Introduction…………………………………………………….………….…1 The most valuable changes coming in 2019 for PMs,
superintendents, and foremen are those that are trying to
Who We Are…………………………………………………………….….…1 catch the rising tide of field visibility. This eBook breaks
down which new technologies, techniques, and ideas are
The More Things Change..…………………..……………….. 2-3 shaping the future of construction out where it really
happens: in the field.
2019 Construction Trends for Superintendents,
Foremen, and PMs ……………………….………………..……… 4-5
Who We Are
What’s Coming………………….…….……….……………….………… 6
Raken provides mobile-first technology to streamline field
1. Artificial Intelligence Video Analysis …………. 7 workflows for the construction industry. Raken’s digital
toolbox connects the field to the office with daily reports,
2. Wearable Technology ………….….….….……………… 8 time cards, task management, photo management, and
more. Turner, Webcor, Sundt, John W. Danforth, Broadway
3. Remote Asset Management…………..….….……… 9
Mechanical, Cupertino Electric, and thousands of the
world’s top general contracting and subcontracting firms
4. Streamlined Field Reporting …….….……………. 10
use Raken for their field reporting needs. To find out more,
visit www.rakenapp.com or call 866-438-0646.
How to Use It………………….…….……….….……………….….……11
1. Construction Business Intelligence……………12

LEARN MORE
2. Better Visualizations………….….….….….……………13
3. Intuitive Insights for Construction ….……….…14
How to Stand Out in 2019…………………….….……………..15
—1—
rakenapp.com | 866-438-0646 | © 2018 Raken, Inc. All rights reserved
The More Things Change...
As 2018 winds down and we start looking into the future, anyone who cares about their job is going to want to know what
sorts of changes are coming to their industry so they can be prepared for the new year ahead. It makes perfect sense when
you think about it: companies are getting ready to release new products while major innovators plan for the year ahead.
Meanwhile, many superintendents, PMs, and foremen are scratching their heads when they look back at 2018, struggling to
come up with a plan for how they are going to be more successful.
That is exactly the person we're writing this eBook for. The men and women in the construction field and in the office who
are hoping to get a jump on the new technologies, techniques, and ideas that are picking up steam and could help them be
better next year than they were this year.
Unfortunately, a quick search of 2019 construction industry

trends reveals essentially the same list that we saw in 2018,
with the same ideas going around and around. No matter where
you look, you'll see the same things. We'll spare you the time of
having to look for yourself and just give you the highlights.
—2—
Growth Sectors: Transportation, public safety, and conservation/development are way up in the last quarter of 2018, and
are expected to keep picking up steam in 2019 (see here for a full breakdown).
Sustainability: It's on everyone's mind, so expect more advancements in sustainable materials and techniques.
Rising Material Costs: It rose in 2017, 2018, and it's looking to do the same thing in 2019, so find ways to cut costs.
Pre-Fab/Modular/Offsite Construction: As materials get more expensive it'll be more common to assemble or even 3D
print structures in pieces offsite, which will turn the construction site into an assembly area.
Labor Shortage: There's no end in sight for this one, and by now we're all aware of it.
New Safety Tools: Apps, wearables, and more to make one of the more dangerous jobs around safer.
The problem here isn't that this information is useless: it isn't. A list of tools to make the jobsite safer or deciding to switch
your process to a more modular method in the coming year could be extremely valuable... to a GC, or an architect, or a
design-build firm. But what about the workers in the field or their counterparts in the office who are trying to figure out what
they need to not be left behind by their competitors? What are the best new technologies and techniques to make a
superintendent or project manager stand out in 2019?
The answer isn't in completely changing the construction process, or even in buying expensive new materials:
2019 trends in construction focus on increasing visibility into what's happening in the field.
—3—
2019 Construction Trends for Superintendents, Foremen, and PMs
What does it mean to increase visibility into the field? Who wants to see what, and why do they care?
The visibility we're talking about are the events that happen throughout the course of a normal day on any jobsite. Deliveries
come and go, subcontractors check in and out, different crews work on separate scopes, RFIs and change orders come in,
safety inspectors make their rounds. It's the normal operations of a jobsite.
Why should anyone care about all that? It's simply a matter of clear communication. The PMs in the office need to know
because they manage multiple sites remotely and keep it all coordinated. Owners and executives want to know the big
picture (project progress, delays etc...). More importantly, knowing this stuff can help save your business time and money by
spotting the biggest inefficiencies over time.
It's normally a superintendents job to fill out an overall daily report as well as gather dailies from their subs. However,
chasing down that paper trail is almost a full-time job in itself, let alone giving that superintendent time in the field where
they are actually the most useful. For anyone in that position hearing that the construction technology trends in 2019 are
going to be all about getting more information from the field must be headache-inducing. It's enough to make you wince just
thinking about the upcoming battles about paperwork, confusing new technologies to implement, and data collection taking
too long. Meanwhile, you could argue that all of this is taking time away from the actual work of construction.
Superintendents are needed walking the site and checking things over, not stuck in the trailer.
—4—
The good news is that the trends in the construction field have been pointing toward automation for years now- and we don't
mean an army of bricklaying robots coming to take jobs. We mean automation on how data is collected from the field and
communicated to the office, taking what could be hours of work and letting the technology put it on autopilot. Or, in the
cases where a human is actually needed to collect the data, the technology has been trending towards such a user-friendly
model that it can be done in minutes rather than hours.
We've broken down the 2019 construction technology trends in field data collection because implementing these tools will
help superintendents, foremen, and PMs stand out in the coming year. You don't need to change sectors or completely alter
the way you do business, either. Most of these can be implemented at minimal cost, scalable to any size firm, and bring real
benefits qiuckly.
—5—
WHAT'S COMING
The first construction trends that we're focusing on are tools
that make collecting data from the field as simple as possible.
—6—
Artificial Intelligence Video Analysis
Many modern construction sites have video
surveillance installed to keep an eye on things- but it
could be doing so much more. Take Indus.ai for
example. Billing themselves as the construction
industry's first artificial intelligence analytics
platform, Indus.ai is immediately impressive in what
it can do. First, Indus.ai builds off of what is likely
already installed on your construction site- video
cameras pointed at the entrances, exits, and at the
site itself. Indus.ai then analyzes these feeds in real
time, learning as it goes which vehicles are what.
Just turn the Indus.ai on to your site and you'll soon
be learning just how many times that excavator had
to go back and forth to fill up the hauling truck, or
exactly when the concrete arrived.
But the Indus.ai goes further than that- it can identify when proper PPE is being worn, when a safety violation appears, as
well as the uptime, downtime, and cycle time of equipment. And when it's all done analyzing the images it's gathering around
your site all day long it puts the data into a report with pictures you can use for your dailies or in a summary for project
stakeholders.
Benefits:
✔ Real-time site monitoring with automatic event capture on some large-scale events (safety violations and deliveries).
✔ Site events are analyzed and compiled into a report without needing any input from a superintendent.
✔ Interactive web dashboard with analytics is perfect for PMs to monitor truck arrivals and equipment usage.
—7—
Wearable Technology
With the Indus.ai working away identifying when trucks arrived and left the site, we can now go one level deeper and start
automatically tracking the people that are on site. That's where the Spot-r tracker from Triax comes in, by far the leader in
wearable tech for the construction site. Discreetly clipped to a belt the Spot-r automatically relays worker information back
to you in real-time. No more wondering when someone arrived: the Spot-r will record when the person arrived and when they
left. While they are on the site the Spot-r lets Superintendents know which floor and zone the person is currently in.
What's more impressive is that in addition to simply clocking when someone arrived on site and where they are, the Spot-r
will automatically notify supervisors in the event of a fall with the exact person, location, and distance of the fall. More
recently Spot-r has also come out with an equipment tag letting you know operational history and usage complete with
who's Spot-r was near the equipment when it was being operated, sending you notifications if that person's credentials don't
match the equipment.
Benefits:
✔ Time in, time out, and fall notifications are automatic.
✔ Equipment tag provides more detailed usage and operating details.
✔ Detailed site data is fed into time sheets and headcounts, making reporting fast and easy.
—8—
Remote Asset Management
If Indus.ai analyzes the major events and Spot-r tracks the people, the last thing you can automate in 2019 is tracking the
expensive tools that those people are using. It's one of the most common ways that construction firms lose money: workers
walk off with tools that belong to the company and they never get returned. Paper sign-in and sign-out systems are
inaccurate, complicated, time-consuming and don't come with many of the benefits of the automated construction field
data systems we've been talking about so far.
Luckily, there are new technologies which attach to tools and make keeping track of them easy. Our pick for the best of these
solutions is the DeWalt Tool Connect. Clipped onto the bottom of your tools, it comes with features that give Inventory
Managers the information they need to track equipment across job sites. With the Tool Connect Tag, you can physically see
the location of any tool you attach it to (not just DeWalt) along with other information like battery percentage, temperature,
and even have the option to shut the tool down if it leaves the site. The mobile app lets you track assets on your phone and
sends the information to the Inventory Manager so you have everything in one place.
Benefits:
✔ Track tools across job sites with the online portal
✔ Tool Connect tag can be attached to non-DeWalt products
✔ Out of Range alert notifies you when your tools leave the site
—9—
Streamlined Field Reporting
No matter how much you automate site events, man-hours, and assets there will always be a need for a Superintendent or
Foreman to make an accounting of the details of what happened on site that day, which crews were working on which
scopes, and add photos of the progress that something like Indus.ai didn't catch. Enter the daily report and time cards: two
workflows that every superintendent and foreman should be doing every day, but are notoriously inefficient in their old pen-
and-paper method. Many companies have tried a field reporting technology solution only to have their guys in the field
abandon it because it was too complicated to figure out.
Raken provides mobile-first technology to streamline field workflows for the construction industry. Raken's digital toolbox
saves superintendents time by allowing them to capture daily reports, time cards, tasks and photos directly from the field
with an easy-to-use mobile app. Users leverage Raken on a daily basis, which aggregates their data into branded reports,
real-time dashboards and data insights that improve the flow of information from the field it to the office. Additionally, daily
reports from various subcontractors are automatically compiled into a Super Daily, providing general contractors with a
single, standardized record of the day's events. Raken's field reporting helps construction companies reduce risk, manage
budgets, and improve their bottom line.
Ultimately, Raken was designed to be easy to use. DJ Mason, General

Superintendent at Tri-State Construction, says "The immediate test we
used with Raken was that we gave it to one of our technologically
challenged superintendents and within five minutes he was excited about
his day again. He felt like this was a tool that would make him look more
professional, increase his ability to communicate well, and not take as
much time for him to do that. He was rejuvenated about his day, and that
was pretty cool to see."
Benefits:
✔ Field-first design means it's easy to use with no training required-
superintendents and foreman can pick it up and start
using it right away.
✔ Add photos, notes, tasks, work logs, and more with a few simple
taps from your mobile device as you walk the site- no
more being stuck in a trailer at the end of the day.
✔ Super Daily means subcontractor reports are automatically
included in the site daily as they are completed, with
notifications automatically sent to avoid noncompliance.
✔ Seamlessly integrates with Autodesk, Procore, and cloud
storage services.
— 10 —
HOW TO USE IT
In 2019, new tools turn mountains of data into insights you can
actually use to save time and money.
— 11 —
Construction Business Intelligence
Another construction trend in 2019 that we think will have a big impact on how PMs and superintendents do their jobs is
different technologies integrating with each other. Integrations allow the best to be the best and doesn't pigeonhole
technologies into doing things that they weren't designed to do. Pretty much all of the technologies we listed above integrate
either with each other or a larger construction management system like Procore, Bluebeam, or CMiC.
But there's another integration that we think will become even more important in 2019: as field data becomes easier to
collect, there will be more of it. More data means more information to sift through looking for that nugget of knowledge that
can actually improve the business. That's where technologies like Construction BI are going to really take off in 2019:
Construction BI specializes in construction data and integrates with practically all of the larger construction management
systems available today.
Once it's synced you can use Construction BI to create a data dashboard with your projects, payments, change orders, and
budgets all in one place. You can leverage the manpower hours you are gathering in the field and create a custom report to
check those numbers against the estimates in seconds. You can use the data you are collecting from your tools to create a
usage report by project.
Benefits:
✔ Integrations with construction management platforms mean all your data is in one place and easily accessed.
✔ Creating custom reports is easy and can be used to focus on just the information that's important to you.
✔ Compare field data against estimates for more accurate bids.
— 12 —
Better Visualizations
The world's flagship data visualization technologies are finally making inroads into construction, mainly because it's
incredibly easy to use. Just connect your data source to Tableau through some simple back-end steps and you're ready with
beautiful, customized visualizations of all the data that's coming from your jobsite. It's the easiest way to get something
actually useful from an otherwise useless pile of numbers.
With Tableau and DOMO working on the data your wearables and reports are getting from the jobsite you could see just how
many accidents per site happened in a given year and how that directly relates to your ability to bring projects in on time.
You could see which sites were plagued by late deliveries, excessive overtime, or any one of a number of other insights. This
is actionable data that enables PMs in the office to shine by showing that they can use the reports they're getting. Take the
case of Clark Builders in Canada, who used Tableau to gain valuable insights into job cost and labor hours or DOMO's use
case where PMs can track bids by region or billable hours by job type.
Benefits:
✔ Easy to connect to any number of different data sources.
✔ Customizable visualizations so you only see the data you want to.
✔ Shareable reports and dashboards mean that anyone in your organization can quickly see the big picture of what's
happening across sites, then dig down for more details.
— 13 —
Intuitive Insights for Construction
Sometimes, however, a chart just doesn't cut it. A chart can't immediately tell you when the excavator needs maintenance, or
which scopes are consistently holding your projects back. That's why more and more companies are seeking out alternative
visualizations like VisualCue. VisualCue transforms a data point that Tableaux would turn into a line on a graph into an
instantly recognizable icon. Group the icons together (a data set) and you've got a dozen streams of data in one visualization
that anyone can understand.
The ease-of-use with VisualCue comes by virtue of its threshold and color system. When a data point slips below a certain
threshold the color of the icon on the dashboard is immediately changed as well, giving you a visual cue when something
needs your attention. You can then sort and filter the tiles by color, letting you cut through the noise of extraneous data in
seconds. Apply VisualCue's universally readable visualizations to the real-time data coming out of your field and you've got a
way for PMs to stand out without anyone having to do extra work in their day.
Benefits:
✔ Customizable visualizations bring the data points together to see information in context.
✔ Group, sort, and filter to instantly see just the points that need your attention.
✔ AR features allow you to actually see the data where it exists on site in real time.
— 14 —
How to Stand Out in 2019
Through the course of this eBook, we've given some suggestions for how you can best set yourself up for success in 2019
by focusing on clearly communicating everything you're doing in the field with who needs to know while simultaneously
saving time doing it.
But there are other benefits to staying ahead of technology trends. For example, as the construction labor shortage
continues and the current crop retires, qualified PMs will increasingly come from the few Universities and schools that offer
specific training in those skills, and that means a younger millennial workforce. It should come as no surprise to anyone that
millennials love technology, and if your firm can demonstrate that you are forward-thinking then you will have a much better
chance of attracting an increasingly tech-centric workforce.
Automated field data collection also protects your firm against future litigation: when all this data is fed into a daily report
and stored away for safekeeping it greatly reduces your risk of losing a lawsuit later on, which could very well save your
company millions in legal fees and reparations.
Ultimately, we picked field data collection as our 2019 construction trend because not only is it at the forefront of
construction tech but it is imminently valuable and far more likely to have a real impact on a company's bottom line than
switching to a modular construction process. Automating field data collection is relatively inexpensive and easy to do when
compared with some of the other, more "traditional" trends we listed earlier: pick one or two of the tools or techniques on this
list and see what it does for you. We've seen these tools do incredible things for forward-thinking construction firms in 2018,
and we expect more of the same in 2019.
— 15 —
5600 Avenida Encinas Suite #140E Carlsbad, CA 92008
help@rakenapp.com
866-438-0646

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TRUSTED BY INDUSTRY LEADERS

5600 Avenida Encinas Suite #140E Carlsbad, CA 92008 | help@rakenapp.com | 866-438-0646

1. Construction Business Intelligence……………12

3. Intuitive Insights for Construction ….……….…14

How to Stand Out in 2019…………………….….……………..15

Unfortunately, a quick search of 2019 construction industry

Ultimately, Raken was designed to be easy to use. DJ Mason, General

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