There is no denying that the construction industry is a substantial contributor to the Gross Domestic Product of the United States. According to Statista, the construction industry contributed around one trillion dollars to the GDP of the United States in 2022. Yahoo! Finance expects the construction industry to grow by 6.1% in 2023. This highlights the importance of construction companies taking advantage of innovative construction techniques to outperform their competitors.

This article will tackle five innovative construction techniques to help take construction companies to the next level.  

Top 5 Innovative Construction Techniques

Let’s take a closer look at the top five innovative construction techniques that construction companies can use to improve productivity and increase profits. 

Augmented Reality

Augmented reality has been making a considerable impact in the industry these past few years and is a crucial tool that industry leaders can use in various productive ways. 

Construction companies can use AR to conduct safety training for workers by simulating tools or equipment to ensure that workers have a safe learning environment. This allows workers to hone their skills without the risk of injuries. Augmented reality can simulate safety scenarios to help gauge how workers respond to construction site emergencies. 

Augmented reality can help make project planning easier. While more companies still use 2D blueprints and physical models, these are laborious and have limitations. Companies can now use 3D modeling software and Building Information Models (BIM). These two tools allow companies to create fully interactive 3D models to plan projects. With the help of AR, project managers, and building designers can conduct virtual walkthroughs allowing them to track progress.

Augmented reality can make implementing changes to construction projects easier. With the help of a VR display, a project manager can use a digital overlay of a project to spot improvement opportunities. A designer can digitally walk through a project and easily change layouts or add new structural elements. This is more challenging to do with 2D models. Changes made immediately reflect on the 3D model. These changes are visible to all stakeholders, including the construction crew and the client.  

3D Printing

3D printing is not new to the construction industry, but its importance is getting amplified with its many benefits. Construction companies often use 3D printers to print architectural models quickly and accurately.

Nowadays, companies can use 3D printers to print the concrete and plastic components of buildings. This can help save time because these components be printed off-site. 3D printing helps reduce human error, which can result in customer dissatisfaction. The accuracy of 3D printers also helps reduce waste materials, so the company saves money while helping conserve the environment.

3D printing expands the boundaries of building designers. Designers can develop shapes, angles, and designs that are otherwise too complicated to create manually. This helps provide opportunities to create new designs that can attract more business. 

Prefabricated houses

Prefabricated houses are another trend that we expect to see more of. In traditional construction projects, building components are made on-site. With prefabricated houses, the entire house is manufactured off-site and assembled upon delivery. 

Prefabrication has many benefits that construction companies cannot ignore. For one, prefabricated houses are quick to build. They have simpler designs, so they take a shorter time to complete. Prefabrication also helps avoid construction delays due to poor weather conditions. 

With a prefabricated house, all the components are made in factories and assembled on-site. 

This means that you only need excellent weather conditions while assembling the prefab modules, while with traditional buildings, great weather conditions are optimal throughout the entire construction. 

Prefabricated houses can be more profitable for companies. They are cheaper to build and come with lower labor rates. These can bring down the overall construction costs for customers, attracting more business. 

Metal buildings

While metal buildings are not new, metal buildings for residential structures are a phenomenon that’s just gaining steam. Metal residential structures, such as barndominiums and shipping container garages, are excellent alternatives for conventional houses.

For one, metal houses are cheaper to build. They have simpler designs, so you don’t have to worry about outrageous labor costs. Their simpler designs also mean that they use fewer building materials. This makes metal houses more attractive to clients who want to build houses but are worried about skyrocketing costs. 

Due to their simple designs, metal buildings are excellent DIY projects. A prospective homeowner can order a barndominium kit and complete the structure independently. Even better, kit suppliers often offer a wide range of floor plans so that homeowners won’t get stuck with just one floor plan. Check this collection of barndominium plans if you want to build a unique metal home. 

Another benefit of this construction technique is that it supports sustainable practices. For one, the original barndominiums were old unused barns converted into living spaces. Repurposing these old barns helps reduce the need for building materials, which consume resources and energy to manufacture. 

Cloud-based tools

Another innovation that’s modernizing construction management is the use of cloud-based tools. A cloud-based tool is an application or software that uses cloud-based storage to ensure that all users have access to up-to-date information. If the budget for a project is updated, the updated information is readily available to the crew on site. 

Project managers can give clients limited access to their cloud-based project management software. All the client needs to do is log in to learn more about the progress of the construction. This eliminates the need to update the client personally and can help improve customer satisfaction. Some software even has built-in communication tools, like in-app chat messaging, so clients can chat with project managers if they need to clarify something. 

Unlike physical storage devices, like hard drives, users can access cloud-based tools anywhere they are as long as they have an internet connection. This can help shorten the construction time since designers and engineers can access and edit construction plans anywhere they are, and the construction crew can see these changes immediately, unlike with physical plans, where a new plan needs to be printed and brought to the building crew. 

Cloud-based tools can also help improve security in a construction site. For one, no physical documents, like floor plans, are lying around that can get misplaced or destroyed. The construction manager can quickly access any document using a mobile device, like a laptop or tablet, instead of rummaging around for a paper copy. Documents stored in a device’s local storage can be easily replaced by getting another copy from the cloud-based storage. 

Final Word

Competitiveness is the name of the game, and the construction industry is no exemption. To stay ahead of competitors, companies need to utilize new techniques and technologies to make them stand out. New techniques, like 3D printing or AR tools, can be intimidating, but the rewards for mastering them are worth it. They come with steep learning curves, but upon mastery, using these innovative construction techniques can make a company more efficient, secure, and competitive.