Construction may have mastered the fundamentals of harnessing digital models and gathering data, but the true value of data lies in supporting collaboration, extracting insights and solving issues before they arise, writes Taylor Cupp of Hexagon Multivista
Having spent years in the trenches as an architect, BIM manager and innovation lead with several leading AEC organisations, I’ve learned first-hand that the construction industry’s digital transformation isn’t really about the technology we deploy. It’s about people, and how they collaborate, solve problems and extract insight from the tools and data around them.
As an industry, we’ve already mastered the fundamentals. We’ve become exceptionally good at creating building information models, capturing conditions through photos, scans and sensors, and generating terabytes of data across every project. But the real competitive advantage, and where projects are truly won or lost, comes down to three things:
1. Our ability to analyse data to predict problems before they occur
For years, construction teams have excelled at scheduling and executing against that schedule. Faster delivery has always been a core industry driver but in today’s market, early delivery is almost an expectation and a major marker of success.
Bumping into the unexpected, whether it’s how progress is truly unfolding or unforeseen quality issues, can be the most disruptive factor in hitting schedule goals. Fortunately, many of those unforeseen issues can be controlled and managed with good practice and proper applications of technology.
On a recent biopharmaceutical project, the programme lead identified risk early, during preconstruction, around tracking granular, system‑by‑system and area‑by‑area installation across their complex network of trades. They sought a solution that would give them insight at a very finite level, all within the context of their specific coding system.
They quickly found that no out‑of‑the‑box solution could handle this level of specificity. To solve for it, they adopted something customised to their needs that empowered them to track progress via BIM in a 4D status model of built versus unbuilt. They also gravitated toward reporting built versus unbuilt through trade‑by‑trade and area‑by‑area planned percent complete, as well as S‑curves that gave them near real‑time insight into what was planned against what was actually occurring.
2. Our capacity to optimise workflows in real time
VDC’s traditional role has always been to “practice before the big game.” In other words, to make sure everything fits, is buildable and aligns with design intent long before anyone steps onto the jobsite. Modern clash detection tools and cloud-based coordination platforms have accelerated this dramatically, making it far easier to catch issues early and keep teams aligned.
Where the process has historically struggled, though, is verifying that the field is actually installing work the way it was coordinated. For decades, this meant pulling tape measures for spot checks or relying on slow, manual analysis of laser scans. Even with scanners, finding issues was labour-intensive and rarely fast enough to support real-time decision-making.
Today, that bottleneck is disappearing. Field teams can now rely on computer power and automated algorithms that detect installation deviations almost immediately after work is completed. This closes the loop between coordination and execution, and it does so with confidence. The new workflow (coordinate, execute, analyse, adjust) gives superintendents and trades a continuous, high-fidelity feedback loop that wasn’t possible before.
3. Our ability to turn hindsight into foresight
Since I’ve been in the industry, “construction analytics” has mostly meant looking backward: digging into what went wrong so we could avoid repeating it. There’s value in that, and lessons learned still play a critical role in selecting partners and improving processes. But the real opportunity today lies in shifting from rear‑view analysis to forward‑looking insight.
When teams combine historical project behaviour with real-time field data and model-based context, patterns begin to emerge long before they become visible problems. Instead of reacting to delays, emerging rework or coordination conflicts, project teams can anticipate them early enough to make meaningful adjustments.
One powerful example is future clash analysis. This approach uses current installation deviations to predict where downstream systems are likely to collide later in construction. On a recent medical project, this proactive, scan-driven method allowed both the general contractor and the trades to identify and resolve issues long before systems physically collided in the field.
Analysis of the current deviations to predict where upcoming installations would conflict not only saved them time in their schedule but also in rework cost and invaluable coordination time.
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