AI-based construction technology firm Buildots has shed light on construction’s chronic productivity problems in a new report released this week.
The study sought to identify key areas of inefficiency in the global construction industry, as well as to provide objective practical insights on how to maximise efficiency and reduce costs.
The report was based on “highly accurate, real-time information” that was “previously unavailable until recently”, the company said in a press release.
Key Findings:
- On average, only 46% of areas are utilised on a project during a given week, leaving tremendous potential to increase projects’ turnaround times
- For projects that span over 1,000,000 sq ft, average area utilisation is just 10%, whereas smaller projects generally utilise 50% or more
- Nearly 11% of subcontractor visits end with work being left incomplete
- Commercial projects have 57% more subcontractor return visits than residential projects
- Subcontractor output fluctuates greatly from week to week, a significant cause of project delays
- Roughly 10% of activities at a given construction site are performed out of sequence
The research was based on anonymised data collected and analysed via the Buildots platform from 64 global construction projects undertaken between 2018 and 2022.
The projects totalled over 82 years of combined construction time and 14 million sq ft of built space – more than six times the area of the Empire State Building.
Slightly more than half were residential, while the rest were office fit-outs, hospitals, schools, and industrial projects. The average project size was 221,000 sq ft and took 16 months to complete.
Due to the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity of large-scale construction projects, the industry previously lacked access to this type of real-time data, capable of accurately quantifying inefficiencies.
Roy Danon, Buildots CEO, said: “Construction companies today lack complete visibility regarding the productivity of their projects and the effectiveness of their management methods.
“The information published in this report not only indicates the issues found across a wide-range of international construction projects, but also presents suggestions of how to address them. This holds tremendous potential to drive the industry forward into a new era of data-driven efficiency and progress.”
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