Construction Industry Trends: 10 Ways Things Are Changing in 2021

Photo by Anamul Rezwan

Originally Posted On: https://canberradiamondblade.com.au/construction-industry-trends-10-ways-things-are-changing/

The construction sector is one of the oldest industries in the world, and it’s constantly changing.

In order to stay successful, you have to be able to adapt to these changes.

It’s important that you stay up to date on the newest industry trends coming down the pipeline.

We’ve gathered together ten of the construction industry trends we think will define 2019. Check them out.

Risings costs are nothing new, unfortunately. The cost of materials, permitting, labour, and the land itself is all going up. But with home loan rates at all time lows it will be interesting to see how the effects of the economic downturn vs the low rates will effect the construction sector.

Right now building materials themselves are one of the biggest contributing costs.

The shortage of qualified workers is another thing really driving up costs. Builders are finding it more and more difficult to properly staff their job sites. Skilled workers such as trained bricklayers, welders, and electricians are especially in demand.

It’s very clear, sustainability is in for the long term. Modern consumers want to know the provenance of the places they live, work, and shop. They need to know that building a new structure didn’t hurt the environment.

Look for materials that were sourced sustainably and fairly. Avoid anything that produces excessive pollution or waste in the building process. Where possible you should always try to use carbon neutral building materials.

Modular structures are becoming ever more popular in the building trades. They allow you to shift the construction of many portions of your job to a centralized manufacturing plant.

This allows you to get the scale benefits that mass production provides. Materials are built to tighter standards and come out more uniform. It’s possible to simply slot many items together and complete jobs more efficiently.

Because much of your structure arrives mostly completed you save time on the site as well. You don’t have to rough out the materials and fully assemble a structure. In some cases, you can simply place and secure modular rooms and buildings.

With the market in general up, it becomes more and more difficult to find good workers. Let’s face it, construction is a hard job that not everyone is suited for. Many young men and women coming up would prefer an office or shop job to that of a skilled tradesman.

As the economy continues to be on fire job sites around the country are finding it harder than ever to source staff. With a lack of workers, companies are forced to raise pay and other benefits to attract new hires.

Not only does this raise costs in general but it can lead to some companies trying to make do without a full staff.

Alongside sustainability in materials comes green building industry practices and design. Consumers are increasingly looking for structures that work more seamlessly with their environments.

Better quality insulation installed more thickly is becoming the norm. They want to know that they can spend less on heating and cooling while also saving the environment.

The use of natural lighting is huge. Placing windows at the proper angles and locations to take advantage of natural heating during the winter. You also need to make certain that there are plans in place that allow for green demolition at the buildings end of life cycle.

Internet connectivity is becoming more and more integral to everyday life. It’s estimated that there are now more than 20 million internet-connected devices in the world. Taking internet connectivity and other technological advancements into consideration is absolutely essential.

Before you ever begin building you need to have planned out the location and density of fibre optics cabling and other broadband connectivity. Buildings will last a long time. It’s important that you futureproof them as much as possible.

Information modelling is a fancy way of describing the kind of planning construction companies have been doing for decades. It combines all the parts of a project together to present you with a unified plan.

These can include things like road access and route placement as well as the permitted structures on different areas of a site. Using information modelling makes it much easier to keep track of what’s happening.

There are lots of new or emerging technologies that are beginning to have a big impact on construction. Construction project management software and drones are just two of these advances.

Project management software makes it possible to bundle together the majority of your administration and other tasks. Scheduling, job site planning, pay, and many other tasks can now be completed with nothing but a laptop.

Drone technology is still in its infancy for commercial projects but there are already lots of interesting developments. You can perform a site survey and get aerial photographs of your progress. Many companies are beginning to incorporate drone inspections into their build process as well.

Safety has always been the name of the game in construction. New IOT technologies and materials are finally being applied to construction safety equipment, making this one of the most important construction trends. If you are asking yourself what construction safety gear should you always have on site, then read more here in our blog.

Things like fitness trackers are being incorporated into heavy duty work boots. This allows you to better track the movement of workers and can keep a log of when they go out of bounds.

New clothing materials allow for better moisture wicking and warming/cooling. This allows your guys to longer, safer during hot summer days and cold winter nights. Advances in helmet safety are also coming into their own.

New material studies are allowing manufacturers to make lighter, stronger helmets.

The industry has been on a growth tear for the last few years. Like all good things, this too must come to an end. At the end of the day, the market can only support so much new housing and commercial spaces.

It’s important to start leaning your operations before the slowdown really hits. This puts you in a better position to thrive even during slow times.

It’s important to never get too comfortable. You should always look at changing construction industry trends to see how you can make yourself more competitive.

If you liked what you read here, check out Canberra Diamond Blade for more informative articles relating to construction and the building trades.