Procore/FMI Survey: Less-Than-Half Highly Satisfied With Preconstruction Technology

Only 38% of 979 of owners, contractors and specialty contractors said they were satisfied with their construction technology

One of the takeaways from FMI and Procore's "State of Global Preconstruction" report is that the owners surveyed say less than half of contractors have well-defined preconstruction processes. Pie chart courtesy of Procore

Procore recently partnered with consultant FMI to survey 979 construction stakeholders including owners, contractors and specialty contractors.

Participants were asked to describe the preconstruction practices in their organizations, tools and technologies, project experiences and outcomes. Only 38% were satisfied with the preconstruction technology solutions in the market considering the complexity of projects and accelerated delivery schedules. Specialty contractors were the most dissatisfied with the preconstruction solutions at their disposal with 69% of the group reporting so.

The survey revealed a large variance between adoption of several preconstruction technologies. 40% of the owners, contractors and subcontractors surveyed have adopted data centralization technologies for things such as project costs, 41% have adopted workflow automation for processes such as RFIs and drawings, 42% have adopted building information modeling (BIM) and 40% are using predictive analytics for cost modeling.

"Respondents show us that only seeing half of the industry taking advantage of some of the key benefits preconstruction technology can offer means we have a ways to go," the report said.

FMI recommended contractors, owners and specialty contractors looking to get more out of the preconstruction process do four things: Review your preconstruction process, start the preconstruction process early, invest in dedicated preconstruction resources and leverage technology to streamline the process.

The volume of data and information shared during preconstruction has grown exponentially over the last decade. Disconnected systems that require manual re-entry of data add risk of mistakes, especially between preconstruction and the course of construction, the report advises.

To read "FMI's State of Global Preconstruction" report go to Procore's website.

ENR Midwest Editor and Associate Technology Editor Jeff Yoders has been writing about design and construction innovations for 16 years. He is a two-time Jesse H. Neal award winner and multiple ASBPE winner for his tech coverage. Jeff previously launched Building Design + Construction's building information modeling blog and wrote a geographic information systems column at CE News. He also wrote about materials prices, construction procurement and estimation for MetalMiner.com. He lives in Chicago, the birthplace of the skyscraper, where the pace of innovation never leaves him without a story to chase.

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