To gain full advantage of innovations in technology, the construction industry must sometimes appropriate technology that was not developed specifically for construction. Visolu, a photo management app, is one such technology. Image courtesy of Underground Imaging Technologies Berlin-based Pixolution uses visual-image compression to find, sort and simultaneously display thousands of photos on most mobile devices (iPad, iPhone, Android). Visolu can arrange the photos in a list view, a grid view or a color view, which groups photos by visual similarity and ends up looking like a pointillist painting by Seurat. Among other applications, construction managers could employ Visolu to find,
The annual marathon in Baltimore is a tricky affair to coordinate among the city’s agencies, especially amid a full spate of construction and infrastructure projects. Conflicts between new construction and the race route are a key challenge for officials to manage. Enter Envista, a web-accessible infrastructure coordination software system that Baltimore’s chief of design and construction calls a game changer. Image: Tiop Courtesy of Envista Envista displays integrated construction scheduling data from public and private utilites, municipalities and highway agencies on an online map to prevent conflicts and synch operations. “Last year, we coordinated the Baltimore Marathon on Envista,” says
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
The Millennial generation will compose the majority of the construction workforce by 2018, according to the U.S. Census. They are entering in a torrent that can either infuse energy into firms or drown them. Each company will choose what happens by how it adapts to new styles of recruitment, management and retention. + Image Photo: Mark Johann 29-year-old mechanical engineer with Leland Saylor Associates in San Francisco says, conditions are tough for the construction industry but, “balancing the knowledge of the older generation with the tech know-how of the younger,” is the path to security. Related Links: Who Is a
A union carpenter by day, Melina Harris has spent her nights as president and champion of Sisters in the Building Trades, propelling it from a local Seattle forum to an international link for tradeswomen seeking to connect and find mentoring and support in their careers.
In the middle of a cornfield in only one afternoon, Clay Warren’s company can install streetlights that are independent of any electrical grid, leaving behind nothing but tire tracks bathed in the glow of light-emitting diode (LED) lamps. Photo Courtesy Of Interactive Energies Lighting fixtures can be installed quickly with a minimal footprint. Photo Courtesy Of Interactive Energies Without sun or wind power, each unit’s battery can hold a five-day charge. Interactive Energies is doing just that at the southwest entrance of the Castleton Square mall in Indianapolis, according to IE co-founder Warren. The Simon Property Group hired the firm,
Contractors are grading roads and clearing timber at the site of the Boy Scouts of America’s fourth high-adventure camp in Fayette County, W.Va. Construction began in October, a year after a $50-millon grant from the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation kicked off plans for the largest construction project in the history of the Boy Scouts. Since that time, more than $100 million—including $25 million from the Suzanne and Walter Scott Foundation—has been donated to the construction of the 10,600-acre reserve near Mount Hope. The reserve is called The Summit: Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve, named for its largest contributor to date.
Women have proved for years that they can fill “man-size boots” in the construction industry. But when those big boots give them blisters or heel spurs, they have had nowhere to turn. Enter Woman Up, a construction clothing and safety-gear shop in Brooklyn, N.Y., recently launched by Deidre Douglas, a craftswoman who turned a workplace problem into a business. Related Links: Woman Up: Women who wear boots not suits Joanne Foulke, vice president at Cauldwell-Wingate Co., a New York City contractor-construction management firm, knows well how men’s boots can wreck women’s feet. During a typical morning inspecting high-rise building projects,
The Oregon State Apprenticeship and Training Council awarded Jennifer Smith her journey-level card Oct. 15 for electrical line work, ending a controversial year during which Smith claims her card was unfairly withheld. Related Links: Skilled Trades Are Tough for Women to Crack Smith had said that gender discrimination and sexual harassment were behind her failure to graduate from her apprenticeship with the Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB). The apprenticeship council has cited poor monthly progress reports given by Smith’s superiors, but in dramatic testimony in a hearing before the state’s Bureau of Labor and Industries, Smith accused one of