Unlike other industries that rely on technology that is constantly changing, the construction industry relies on tools and methods that remain fairly fixed. However, new ideas and products, such as stronger concrete or new aggregates for reveals, are regularly introduced into the industry. These ideas and products are typically reviewed on a company-by-company basis, and new trends start to emerge when a new trick saves time or money.

“The construction method that has become more prevalent and popular in the last year or so has been to dress buildings up,” says Mark Berardelli, president of Mokena, Illinois-based Gemini Development Group. Berardelli points to downtown, mixed-use developments and to industrial buildings, which have experienced the most aesthetic changes to their exteriors.

Currently, Gemini is redeveloping Mokena Mills, a four-story, mixed-use building in the Village of Mokena. “These smaller communities are looking for buildings that resemble city store fronts with apartments or condominiums on top,” Berardelli says. “The architectural design is one of a big building, but with the façade broken-up for more of a city look.” This architectural change is one way in which communities are trying to attract people back into downtown areas.

The shift to a more eye-pleasing style is an emerging trend with industrial buildings as well. “In the past, you could put up a building and some metal doors and call it an industrial property,” Berardelli says. “Now, communities, while understanding the need for the project in the area, want a better looking building.” This shift in expectations has caused construction companies to work closer with clients, communities and design specialists to achieve an acceptable look.

According to Berardelli, manufacturers of precast walls have increased the architectural detail of their products to keep up with the demands of contractors. As a result, precast walls can now be acquired that resemble brick or that have cornices incorporated into them.

The quality of walls has not only changed in the factory-manufactured variety, but also in walls that are created on the job site. While tilt-up panels, walls that are cast on the slab of a building and then tilted into position, have been around for years, they have recently become more popular. “Years ago, you could tell a tilt-up job from miles away,” says Rory O’Connor, COO of Kansas City, Missouri-based Walton Construction. “It just looked obvious.” However, in time, advances in materials, such as the advent of form liners and brick inserts, have increased the quality of these panels, O’Connor says.

One method used to improve the look of tilt-up panels is by using wood reveals to create designs, such as company logos or different surface patterns, in the panels. “By laying these things down in the slab, you create lines and architectural elements in the panels,” says Matt Ladd, vice president of Arco Construction in St. Louis. Arco has used this method on warehouses it has built in Lambert Point in Hazelwood, Missouri. “When [wood reveals] are used, you have designs in the surface of your walls.” Arco switched to wood from styrofoam because the wood remained in better condition during the construction process, and it increased the quality of the final product. “Now, with the tilt-up job, you can come up to it afterwards and not realize it was a tilt-up job,” O’Connor says.

Ladd also likes this tilt-up method because contractors remain in control of the quality of the panels, as opposed to panels precast in a plant. “You have the opportunity to inspect them as they are constructed at your site,” Ladd says.

Another reason tilt-up construction has become so popular is because of cost. “A lot the building cost is in the exterior walls,” O’Connor says. “Tilt-up is a much cheaper way to do an exterior wall system.”

The flexibility and control the tilt-up method provides is another plus for contractors. Precast panel delivery dates can be 3 to 4 months from the date the slab is laid. “With tilt-up, as soon as your slab is poured, you can immediately start forming and erecting your panels,” Ladd says.

Software for the Hardhat

Another change in construction methods has been the introduction of software, such as Constructware ASP and Constructware for the Subcontractor, developed by Alpharetta, Georgia-based Emerging Solutions, which is doing business as Constructware. That type of software gives owners and contractors real-time updates of a project’s status. “Having a platform for an owner to access up-to-date schedule information and costs, and track submittals is very important,” says Tom O’Brien, president of Hinsdale, Illinois-based O’Brien-Kennedy Construction, which recently completed an 18,000-square-foot building for the Child’s Voice School in Wood Dale, Illinois. “Project specific Web sites and project management over the Internet are good ways to do that.”

This new technology allows owners, contractors, architects and subcontractors to keep up with what is happening on the project, whether they are located down the street from the site or sitting in an office two states over. “We are running into owners who we exposed to the software and they really like the project management capability of it,” O’Connor says. “On subsequent projects, they insist that it be used.”

However, this type of project management is not appropriate for all construction jobs. “There is a very divergent stratification of technological capability within the construction industry,” O’Brien says. On the trade contracting side of things, small- or medium-sized trade firms may not be technologically capable of using these programs, while large subcontracting firms are more versed in technology. “In some cases, talented subcontractors also may not be set up on the Internet,” O’Brien says. To combat problems of technological division, O’Brien-Kennedy uses systems like its e-mail bid invitation, that sends out invitations electronically and by fax to subcontractors.

The size of the job also relates to the effectiveness of project management software. “Once a job gets below a certain size, it is overkill and less efficient to use,” O’Brien says. On projects such as the construction of a large hospital complex, these real time management systems make it easy for all parties involved to keep up on the status of the job. “A $5 million or $10 million job doesn’t justify its use,” Ladd says. “But for the $50 million contract, where you have 200 subcontractors, it makes more sense.”

One Job, One Contact

Another system that contractors have implemented to ease the headaches of owners is the design/build method. Owners can now sign one contract with one entity that will provide all services, including architecture and engineering services. “From an owner’s perspective, it provides single-source responsibility,” Ladd says.

Under the traditional plan and speculative method, owners hired a company to design a project and then had contractors bid on the project. “Because of the adversarial nature of that approach, there were a lot of claims from owners,” O’Connor says.

For example, owners would work with contractors, who acted as the owner’s agent on the project, but were not accountable for problems. Owners might sometimes find that their preferred design was out of their budget when contractors began to bid. Or, if owners wanted a feature added to the project, which was not on the original design, the cost was added to the total bill. “Now clients can work directly with the design/builder who can design to a cost,” Ladd says.

This method has taken off in the last 5 years, although it has been around for a while, according to O’Connor. Walton Construction is currently building Zona Rosa, a 500,000-square-foot, mixed-use project in Kansas City, Missouri, using the design/build approach. “In the private sector, we have seen a lot of clients switch to this method,” Ladd says.

Staying Current

Contractors remain up-to-date on new trends and materials in the marketplace through various outlets, such as trade publications and trade shows, but the best information comes from other sources. “We pick up a lot of information from various vendors who will talk about their ideas,” O’Connor says. “Then, we see how best to incorporate those ideas into our work.” Another source of information is architects and engineers. “They are really the first litmus test on whether a new construction approach or technology warrants consideration of being incorporated into the drawings and scope of our work,” O’Brien says. He also points to industry partners, owners and subcontractors who can teach companies a new way to save money at no cost to the quality of the finished project. “Obviously, if a new method finds its way into the trade sector because it has an impact on labor or material savings, then it is going to make sense,” O’Brien says.

However, once a new method or material is determined to be the right choice for a company, it may be difficult to disseminate the information. To address this problem, Arco has implemented a system in which the company assigns employees as experts, known as Technical Centers of Expertise (TCE), in certain areas of contracting. “They are the ones charged with staying at the forefront of new trends and technology, and keeping everyone trained in that area,” Ladd says. The company holds two training sessions a month, one lunch with a focus on the business side of the company, and one 3-hour technical training session where the TCEs deliver new information to the group. Arco also invites vendors, subcontractors and outside consultants to present at these meetings.

A Look Ahead

Predicting future trends in the construction industry is difficult, but O’Brien sees one problem already developing that could lead to complications in a few years. “Training the future work force is going to be very important,” O’Brien says. Access to and the availability of a talented, skilled and experience workforce is shrinking. O’Brien points to the increasing average age of masons, which is between 50 and 60 years old, and the decreasing amount of experience of project managers, who handle projects of $500,000 or less, which has fallen from 7 years to 4 years in the business, as indicators.

Regardless of how companies implement new methods or train employees to use new materials, there will always be a better way to do the same thing a few years later. “Construction technologies are always evolving,” O’Brien says. “Basically, it is taking the existing systems and refining them and making them better.”


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