Imagine this: You are a general contractor out on a job and you need to access your private network of subcontractors to select the ones you want to invite to bid. Thanks to SmartBidNet’s 99-cent app, which recently hit the iTunes store’s “what’s hot” list, you can use your iPhone or iPad to get the process started. The app, a mobile version of bidding site smartbidnet.com, is available to subscribers. It works with contact lists to send e-mails to the subs of your choice or to synchronize your list organized by services provided and needed. “We finally have the hardware
Retrofitting a building, especially an old building, is one way to improve energy efficiency and even attain LEED certification. But hiring professionals to research efficiency solutions can get pricey. Boston-based start-up Retroficiency Inc. has produced software that streamlines the process and—more importantly—saves money. “Our goal is not necessarily to replace the guy going out auditing,” says company founder Bennett Fisher. The goal is to “put a tool in his hands to make him 25 to 50% more efficient.” The software can be used in pre-bid evaluations. It can be deployed to predict the current energy consumption of a building, based
An infrastructure construction software vendor, who specializes in design and analysis applications, is working to have it both ways. As a privately held company, Bentley Systems Inc., Exton, Pa., is not required to file statements with securities regulators, as publicly traded companies must do. But not filing means Bentley misses the PR bang that comes when annual statements are released by its publicly traded competition. So on March 2, Bentley held its first “annual report” conference call with analysts and investors, as well as trade journalists, to proclaim successes, announce new business moves and reiterate some announcements of the preceding
For owners, the Rubik’s Cube of construction is reducing, repurposing and augmenting design and construction data into accurate and useful facilities models for operations and maintenance. Now, owners, designers, builders, facilities managers and vendors are working together on projects around the country to solve the puzzle. They say they are not only succeeding, but the payoff is significant. “It’s really catching on. Owners are starting to realize the value of it,” says Hyde Griffith, vice president for BIM services at Broaddus & Associates Inc., Austin, Texas. Broaddus is the owner’s rep and project manager for construction and data capture on
Owners’ interest in making the capture and management of asset data an integral part of design and construction services is not lost on software and services vendors. Related Links: Data for the Life Cycle Bentley Systems Inc., Exton, Pa., whose software is widely used for infrastructure design, and Autodesk Inc. are going after the life-cycle market by broadening data exchange capabilities of their software and building on design and construction products. Just as Bentley’s ProjectWise platform manages project information up to handover, Bentley’s AssetWise, introduced a year ago, is a platform for operations to generate and maintain asset-information. It leverages
You might call it BIM for the masses, or you might call it BIMSight, as its developer does, but the deal is that a 3D modeling software vendor is now distributing a powerful, free viewer that users say rivals the for-a-price alternatives. Tekla BIMsight is available as a 46.6-megabyte download from the company’s website. It will import DWG format files from Autodesk, DGN files created by software from Bentley Systems and Intergraph and the open format IFC files as well. Capabilities include combining models, running clash detection and generating markups and pdfs, all in the service of sharing models and
The Portland, Ore., Bureau of Environmental Services and Salem, Ore.-based contractor Emery & Sons Construction Inc. on a recent project needed precision to bore a new sewer line beneath two trolley tracks near an existing steam vent in downtown Portland. They turned to an up-and-coming technology: laser-guided boring. Photo Courtesy Of Emery & Sons The laser-guided boring system allows crews to precisely place materials and work in tight spaces. Using a Pella, Iowa-based Vermeer AXIS tool, the laser system provides near-exact placement of a bored tunnel and then pulls the pipe back through when complete—“a marvelous machine,” says Bill Theiss,
When construction accidents occur, responders must master anxiety, adrenalin and even panic to ensure crisis plans click into place. Image: Courtesy of Emerge Mobile Tech Image: Courtesy of Emerge Mobile Tech Flintco’s crisis-response tool gets to the heart of what can make an app powerful: It leverages knowledge. Related Links: Crisis App: Steady Guide for Jobsite Emergencies Now, there is an app for all that. Tulsa, Okla.-based Flintco Construction LLC has partnered with an iPhone app developer to create a crisis management tool based on disaster plans Flintco maintains at jobsites in 30 states. The crisis-response protocols now are stored
Researchers are developing a nano-material they hope will pinpoint exact locations of structural strain; the nanomaterial will self-diagnose dynamically and measure the strain. Image: Courtesy Nanosi Advanced Technology Inc. Top sample contains imbedded fluorescent silicon nanoparticles; the bottom sample doesn’t. The material is fluorescent silicon nanoparticles (Si-NP), and the research seeks to validate relationships between the Si-NP fluorescence peak and the macro-level state of strain. The success of the research revolves around a phenomenon known as the Stokes shift, which refers to the longer wavelength of electromagnetic energy emitted as a result of losing some absorbed energy, says Charles Marsh,
Image: Courtesy of Zachry Construction Corp. Punch list drag and drop icons for specific issues by trade. Details in spreadsheet. Related Links: Hot-Linked Sites Bring Data Home Inspectors using Zachry’s 123 Punch List field-data collection system and Bluebeam PDF Revu to collaborate have pallets of issue icons, coded for common notations, by trade, which they can drag and drop onto a PDF of the floor plan in a shared folder. Preferences are set for frequent saving and refreshing over the Internet, so each inspector’s changes show up immediately. A function at the bottom of the screen translates icons into a