To define the extent of Superstorm Sandy's damage to residential properties, New York City and the Federal Emergency Management Administration last fall issued a request for proposals for a rapid repair program. One of the winning contractors now credits its use of a mobile construction program management app and a fleet of iPad minis for its ability to meet the city's exacting requirements.
Joe Berkowitz, project manager for Conti Construction Corp., Edison, N.J., says his crews started with conventional methods and quickly realized they were getting bogged down. "We were working seven days a week" just to collect the data, he says. "What differentiated this event from Hurricane Katrina is there wasn't as much open real estate to house victims," he adds. "You couldn't throw trailers up everywhere for displaced people."