Technology in Construction
Commercial construction is a constantly evolving field, and at South Bay Construction we always look to take advantage of cutting edge technologies. In a field where communication is of the utmost importance, many of these software products help us keep our projects moving along smoothly, ensuring your builds are on budget and on-time. Let’s take a quick look at some of the tools we use.
BIM Technology
Building Information Modeling, or BIM, is a technology we use regularly. When we model in 3D, it defines the physical and functional characteristics of buildings and creates better design outcomes. In particular, we use BIM throughout the pre-construction process to help owners and design teams fine tune their system interfaces early on in the project. It also guides collaboration, communication, cost-estimation, pre-viz, and more. On 1091 Industrial, we are hosting the MEP and Fire models, coordinating building infrastructure systems to control costs, overhead air space and promote system and installation efficiency.
Raken
Raken is a jobsite management platform designed specifically for construction. In particular, it has a well organized report format with the ability for supers to log daily activities, conduct safety checks, add daily photos, and much more. This helps keep everyone on the same page and projects moving forward smoothly. It can also be used on mobile, which further increases the ease of communication and collaboration across teams.
Plangrid
Plangrid is a comprehensive field and project management tool that makes everyone’s life easier. As Monica V., Project Manager, shared with us “[it] has been the absolute best tool on our projects. Having access with an iPad in the field to all versions of the plans helps realize changes quickly (since you can toggle back and forth between sets with the click of a button) and makes it easy to review docs/ details while walking the site without running back to the trailer to review plans.” Plus, supers like it for its ease of use in the field and architects are comfortable with it as well.
Zoom
Believe it or not, Zoom has been a great tool for us. It’s made meetings a lot easier to schedule, which helps us get even more done. And it helps massively with keeping a tight team. While there’s nothing like in-person meetings, digital face-to-face communication is a close second.
Bluebeam
Bluebeam is a program that has made navigating through plans so much easier. With real-time mark up on designs, it’s made collaboration easier. Plus, its document management tools, submittal review process, and drawing management tools help to save time while keeping everyone on the same page.
Bonus Tech: Drones
It’s not software alone per se, but drones have been incredibly useful in our build process. An added benefit is that as drone technology has improved, the cost of its use has also gone down. On our 350 Trimble project in San Jose, for example, Graniterock used drones to establish a GPS topography map of the site that was then programed to the grading equipment, reducing the need for traditional staking by a surveyor. And it doesn’t hurt that we get some amazing pictures like the one below showcasing construction progress at our jobsite Ohana in Monterey.
The Tools to Get the Job Done
We want to use the best tools to get the job done safely and smoothly. If you’d like to learn more about our approach, or if you’d like to inquire about a project of your own, please contact us at (408) 379-5500.
