Civil Contractors Moving Ahead in Using Technology

For the last two years, the publication Civil Quarterly has surveyed civil contractors about their technology use. That’s not a long timeline, but there are some trends to be seen.

One is that the big winner in technology type seems to be utility detection. As you might guess, things like ground-penetrating radar, pipe location, concrete scanning, and so forth are used to identify where cables, pipes, and the like are underground. They want to know before they dig. It’s a common enough need, especially in civil engineering projects.

But big winner has a much different value than if you wanted to know whether carpenters used levels. Half of respondents said that they used some version of the technology, up from 40% in 2020.

In second place was the use of drones, having gone from 51% to 46% over the 2020-2021 span. The next most popular technology was ruggedized tablets at 46%, which seems surprising low given that field conditions would play havoc with many devices and the use of computers is so widespread in different industries. Though perhaps people are substituting phones that they keep protected in their pockets. Then came machine control, using types of sensors to help heavy machine operators monitor their locations. That was at 43%, down from the 47% and 49% in 2020 and 2021.

There seems to be a gap in usage down to the next group, where usage hovers around a third. Equipment tagging, to know where expensive tools and machinery is, came in at 37%, although losing something to carelessness or theft would seem to offer a good economic reason for implementation.

Mobile mapping systems, which use sensors on a variety of mobile platforms, are used by 34% of contractors surveyed. A third used robotic total stations, which allow more efficient surveying, while laser scanning or lidar to map areas in high resolution were at 30%.

Clustered around a quarter were e-ticketing and electronic proof of delivery (26%). Rovers, or equipment that helps crews measure sites down to an inch, is a level of accuracy needed in preparing site grading, were at 24%.

Technologies fell off quickly, like RFID tagging, at 10%, which uses radio frequency ID devices to identify items or wearables, which is computer equipment that is worn on someone’s person, at 13%.

Something interesting was to see top expected benefits—increased productivity, better data gathering, improved ability to manage budgets, and improved safety—balanced against the perceived drawbacks of adopting new tech, like concern about workforce adoption, lack of skilled resources to manage, and the cost of technology.