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
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
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
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
Photo: Tom Sawyer iPhone with MoGo Talk XD case Photo: Courtesy of Apple Apple iPad Photo: Courtesy of Kopin Corp. Golden-I heads-up remote controller and display Photo: Luke Abaffy Motion computing F5v Related Links: Hot-Linked Sites Bring Data Home The iPhone “is almost contagious,” says Todd Sutton, project controls manager at Zachry Construction Corp. “One person gets it on the jobsite, and then everyone has them.” A new MoGo Talk XD case (top left), which comes with a built-in headset keeper, makes them even sweeter. Infectious adoption also applies to the iPad (top right), Sutton says. Employees see how much
Picture this site in San Antonio: The project manager and supervising engineers are finishing a 16-story, 285-unit Embassy Suites Hotel, and they are huddled around an assortment of Windows tablets, iPhones and iPads. They all go online and open folders on their screens linked to a cloud-based shared file. They open a plan of the hotel’s 14th floor. Each person zooms in on separate rooms and creates their own punch list. They flag issues by dragging icons—coded by issue and trade—to the plan, from pallets on screen. Sometimes they hand-write notes and attach them. At any time the users can
When companies take work to the ends of the earth, communication reliability goes out the window, especially in areas struck by wars or disasters. For professionals determined to maintain contact, whatever the conditions, satellite data terminals are the ultimate backup plan. Photo: Tom Sawyer BGAN data terminals, which support voice calls as well as data, love a good view, like the sky to the southeast of Haiti. Related Links: Hot-Linked Sites Bring Data Home On a recent reporting trip to Haiti, I packed a BGAN Explorer 500 Satellite Data Terminal from Inmarsat. It was on loan to ENR so I
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