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5 Construction Technology Trends

for 2024 and Beyond

Technology in construction tends to shift gradually
— and then all at once.

It’s normal for contractor firms’ general levels of technology engagement to stay steady for years at a time before new breakthroughs revolutionize the field and drive performance for companies that make the transition.

Historically, adopting new technology has been a struggle for the construction industry. Amid an exponential increase in innovations and resulting evolution, however, adaptation has never been more important. Organizations that not only take on new technology but smoothly integrate it into their workflows can gain a competitive advantage.

Achieving that level of advantage doesn’t have to involve total reinvention. Companies that incrementally add new capabilities and update their construction management workflows can build over time toward greater success. Finding suitable construction technology tools and integrating them can be a gradual process that pays out in steady performance improvements.

What Counts As Construction Technology?

The term “construction technology” encompasses nearly every advanced asset a contractor uses. This extends from software and apps to heavy-duty equipment deployed on the jobsite. Similarly, this technology extends from the most advanced, cutting-edge breakthroughs to more modest, but still useful, solutions such as office technology platforms and productivity software.

A large percentage of hype and excitement in construction — as with any industry — centers on the splashiest and highest-profile technology breakthroughs. This may mean everything from artificial intelligence (AI) to autonomous drones and advanced robotics. Still, business owners can achieve powerful gains by looking after more modest technology investments to increase their profits and productivity, plus upgrading everyday systems that will help their employees achieve immediate goals.

In 2024, some of the technology trends worth focusing on in greater detail include:

Some of the latest technology developments in construction have come in the field of AI and machine learning — staying informed on these issues can help your business keep up.

What Are the Benefits of Construction Technology?

Construction firms shouldn’t just adopt construction technology for its own sake — when your business pursues technology upgrades, you should have clear value in mind. Fortunately, updating your digital tools and equipment comes with a few distinct benefits, largely involving the speed and precision of your employees’ output.

In practice, this means making each construction worker and back-office employee faster and more effective at completing their jobs, freeing them up to put more time and effort into value-adding tasks that push a construction company forward and achieve positive outcomes on jobs.

A few of the common threads running through today’s building construction technology include:

Automation

By automating tasks that are traditionally handled manually, you can make the results more precise while also freeing up employees to get more done.

Collaboration

Giving your construction professionals the tools they need to work together more effectively and granting them access to consistent, centralized data boosts the quality of their output.

Insights

Turning data into a resource allows your whole team to complete effective, well-coordinated work on both construction jobs and back-office tasks.

Discover how technology-driven improvements to collaboration and mobility enhance overall performance.

What's the Latest in Construction Technology?

5 Systems to Watch

When you take a long view of technology in construction, you’ll quickly realize just how many roles these systems play for companies. Some of the latest developments involve cutting-edge debuts, while others are incremental improvements to tools that have already achieved widespread acceptance.

Looking at five areas from across the spectrum of available technologies, you’ll likely gain inspiration for your construction company’s next major investment, evolution or transformation.

1. Digital Collaboration Solutions

Collaboration tools designed to help construction employees work together to deliver value by streamlining communication and processes that can otherwise become sprawling or hard to manage can boost productivity exponentially. Storing single, shared copies of documents via cloud computing prevents the confusion that comes with multiple emailed versions of files or paper documents sent between offices and the jobsite.

The change in recent years — with companies that had been traditionally paper-based now using digital project management tools — accelerated rapidly during pandemic lockdowns. With COVID-19 forcing companies of all kinds to collaborate digitally thanks to remote work, contractors took the opportunity to digitize their processes, and they haven’t looked back.

By accessing collaboration software remotely on laptops or tablets, on-site crews can instantly access the latest version of documents and communicate with their colleagues back in the office. They can also share documents with subcontractors and other third parties. These benefits and more have ensured the continued place of collaboration and project management technology in construction.

Learn why digital collaboration is so popular among contractors of all sizes.

2. Building Information Modeling (BIM)

Building Information Modeling (BIM) systems are designed to give architects, engineers and construction workers a clear, digital model of the jobsite, which allows them a level of planning and coordination that would have been impossible with more traditional, paper-based plan documents.

As BIM has become more widely accepted, it’s found a place in multiple stages of planning and executing a job. The same BIM data can begin with the earliest designs for a structure, then receive updates in real-time as contractors access the data from the jobsite.

With the right execution strategy, companies can combine their BIM deployments with digital twin technology — meaning an online simulation of a real location. These systems may become even more useful in the future, as solutions like augmented reality (AR) allow construction professionals to view BIM data while they’re working in real structures.

Learn more about BIM, digital twin tech and the differences between them.

3. Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI is perhaps the most popular emerging technology right now — which can conceal the fact that “AI” actually means many things at once. Generative AI is a much-hyped class of tools that can create text- or image-based creative or other information based on prompts, while more traditional AI frameworks include machine learning (ML), a class of algorithms that self-improves based on past performance. Each relies on massive, constantly evolving data sets to be effective.

Then there are relatively older models of AI, including predictive analytics based on large data sets, which also have the potential to shake up construction. By collecting data on the jobsite, construction workers can fuel powerful algorithms that can provide useful insights.

Developments in recent years have involved a widespread increase in access to powerful algorithms and training data sets. Rapid development of new use cases based on ever-evolving AI could drive progress in the years ahead.

Learn more about how AI is making its mark in construction.

4. 3D Printing

Using additive manufacturing methods like 3D printing is a way to produce objects from raw materials. The evolution of the quality and scale possible with 3D printing has changed the way developers see the technology — while it was once limited to prototyping and the creation of small parts, it’s becoming viable as a full fabrication method.

Large-scale 3D printers could soon produce larger building materials like paving stones and wall panels, promoting sustainable building and enabling the fast construction of structures without the need to transport materials. The idea of 3D-printed structures is intriguing in situations where on-site buildings are needed fast, such as recovery after a natural disaster or building in areas suffering from severe housing shortages.

Even in a more modest-scaled office application, 3D printing can deliver immediate value, with architects and contractors creating an immediate scaled model of a construction project, directly from the 3D model BIM data.

Discover the progress of 3D printing technology.

5. Robotics

The factory manufacturing sector has made extensive use of robotics for years now, and construction can make efficiency gains by following the same lead. Rather than taking the human element out of construction, heavy machinery can automate many manual tasks, increasing the output of a crew on the jobsite.

Facing a skills gap, construction leaders need to get more productivity out of their employees. This suggests automated equipment can have a positive effect on output. In the long term, there may even be a shift in the venue where fabrication work takes place, with large sections of structures assembled in a factory and transported to the construction site.

In addition to employee productivity, robots can also contribute to safety. When some of the heavy fabrication work is handled by automated equipment, there are fewer moments when construction workers have to place themselves in harm’s way.

Delve into the latest developments in construction robotics.

Ready To Put Building Construction Technology to the Test?

Being open-minded and curious about possible next steps in the construction industry can give organizations of all sizes a leading edge. When business leaders, end users and IT professionals can see possible opportunities to increase effectiveness and output via technology, you hold the key to boosting your competitiveness.

In some cases, this applied tech-savvy approach means waiting for daring new applications to become practical, such as 3D printing of full-scale structures. Other tech projects can get underway immediately, such as increased use of collaboration software to bring teams together and coordinate everyday work.

Many of the leading construction technology areas work together synergistically. For example, data from BIM systems can be the basis of group planning via collaboration software. By making upgrades across the board, you can unlock extra value for your organization.

Bluebeam provides a single source of digital truth that can unify every team from architects’ offices to the construction site for efficiency, precision and overall productivity.