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News for Construction

Industry news for the construction world. Sharing general content on financials, business, technology, and more from trusted sources and industry organizations.

Listen Up! Our Top 6 Construction Podcasts Picks

Construction industry influencers and contributors abound, making it challenging to hand-pick a subjective list of top podcasts. Regardless, we gave it a shot; we award two pod-thumbs up to the following podcasters.

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Are Instagram and 'Social Media Architecture' Ruining Construction Design?

ArchDaily tackled a topic that may seem odd at first, but which they make a solid case for, providing a surprising amount of evidence to deal with: architecture and construction are being driven not just by form or function but by photographability, to accommodate the culture of Instagram and Pinterest.

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Which Segment of Technology Adoption Does Your Company Belong To?

While the thought of new technology is exciting for some, it takes some time and proven results for others to get behind adopting a change in one’s workflow. This can be explained in detail in the Diffusion of Innovation...

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How to Choose a Great Cloud-Based Solution

Have you ever considered how cloud-based solutions can help you or your company be more efficient at completing your daily tasks? It is important to realize that not all cloud-based services are created equally.

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Take Control with hh2’s Unit Production Worksheet

If you work in construction, you need to record unit production and percent completes. Now, construction laborers can take complete control of their work when and where they need to—in the field.

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Better Than Most Regions — The State of Construction in North America

Investment Monitor cited new April 2022 figures from GlobalData, which indicate that the North American market is far healthier than many other regions of the world—at least in most construction sectors.

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Groundbreaker! High School Designed to Promote Careers in Construction

The Clark County School District in the Greater Las Vegas area is opening one of the first of its kind: a full-time magnet high school designed for students who are interested in going into the construction industry.

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Slate Technologies Buys Industrialized Construction AI Firm Splash

Slate Technologies, a California-based artificial intelligence (AI) software platform for the construction industry, announced last week that it is acquiring Splash Modular, a North Carolina-based software designer of industrialized construction (IC) and design for manufacturing and assembly (DFMA).

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New Residential Building Trend: Nobody Wants an Open Kitchen

According to Architect Nicholas Potts, what was old is new again. The new residential building trend is moving away from open floor plans, back to sectioned rooms.

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Five Ways to Get Employee Buy-In on New Technology

The construction industry is a notorious laggard when it comes to adopting new technologies. HCSS recommends a five-part method for achieving employee buy-in.

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Construction Drug Test Positivity at 20-Year High

In an industry with high injury and accident rates, many raise their eyebrows at new statistics that reveal the rising use of cocaine and marijuana. Moreover, drug tests uncover illicit substance abuse after work-related accidents. Opiates and oxycodone also show up in drug screenings.

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Future Infrastructure Experts Are Current Roblox Players, Industry Says

Construction in the metaverse and virtual reality excites gamers; some companies say today's VR users represent tomorrow's engineers.

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Mixing Graphene with Concrete Solves Many Problems

Concrete takes first place as the world’s most commonly used construction material. Some criticize concrete’s structural soundness. A group of civil engineers offers Graphene as a superior solution to concrete.

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Top Five Items Creating Construction Delays

Residential and commercial builders struggle with obstacles that can delay deadlines and blow budgets. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, five main problems stand in new property owners' way before builders can hand over the keys:

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War in Ukraine Will Have Effects on Global Construction Prices

A Friday newsletter from the Associated General Contractors of America claims that Russia's conflict with Ukraine will likely drive up the prices of fuel, copper, and aluminum. The war also could further impact global shipping and supply chains.

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Construction Industry Lagging behind Technologically — Digital Solutions Can Help

Despite being one of the largest sectors of the global economy, the construction industry is notoriously slow to adopt new technologies; this leads to shortfalls in productivity. According to a report by McKinsey Global Institute, "Reinventing Construction: A route to higher productivity," labor productivity across all sectors has grown by 2.8% in the last 20 years, but construction productivity has only increased by 1%.

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Cyber Criminals Targeting Construction, Energy, and Engineering

Cybercrime attacks affect more and more companies. The numbers indicate fear expressed by significant corporations. Statista forecasts a $354 billion growth in the cyber security market by 2026. Researchers conclude that the construction, energy, and engineering spaces lie in the crosshairs.

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Despite Labor Shortages, One Builder is Donating Labor to Schools

Labor shortages plague the construction industry. Even so, Hutton Construction, a Wichita-based company, stepped up to help schools facing the same staffing crisis.

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Lumber Prices Are High, But the Real Problem is Price Volatility

Lumber prices--in constant flux--rose, fell, and rose again. New analysis shows that high prices don't present the danger so much as market volatility. The cost of lumber fluctuates more than it has since overseers kept records at the end of World War II.

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Controversy Raised Over New Construction Versus Preserving Old

California lives in the middle of a housing crisis, particularly in the Bay Area. They attack the problem by refurbishing old houses, changing zoning to allow multiple-unit splits in existing homes, and upzoning to construct larger buildings with lower rents. Yet, the problem persists.

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Start-Up Turns Non-Recyclable Plastic into Building Blocks

Although many believe plastic's recyclable properties reduce pollution and alleviate the trash crisis, only 9% of the 42 million tons of plastic used in America each year recycles. Some blame a deficiency in recycling infrastructure. The truth is, recycling facilities can't reclaim most plastics—even if fabricators print that triangular symbol on the bottom.

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'Build Your Future Arizona' Bringing More Students into Construction Industry

Most American business sectors currently suffer from the labor shortage, but the construction industry's hiring dearth reaches back further than the pandemic. Builders have struggled to regain workers in every trade since the Great Recession.

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Artificial Intelligence at Work Sites is More Than Autonomous Machines

Artificial intelligence impacts peoples’ lives across all sectors; they can ask Siri or Alexa a question, use a smart thermostat, or receive recommendations from Netflix. The construction industry also benefits from AI. And AI in construction goes much further than autonomous vehicles.

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New Report Shows Construction the #1 Most Targeted Ransomware Victim

According to research from NordLocker, ransomware targets construction companies hardest out of 35 different industries. This information comes from an analysis of 1,200 global companies targeted by ransomware between 2020 and 2021.

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"Pricing Insanity" Affecting All Levels of Construction

Whether in board meetings or on job sites, construction employees at all levels express concern regarding the unprecedented hikes in building costs.

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Data-Driven Safety is “Still Emerging” in Construction Industry

A report issued by Dodge Data & Analytics and The Blue Book Network cites movement in the construction industry toward data-driven safety and digital record keeping. However, the report also uncovers holes in the adoption of this technology.

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Modular Home Construction Has Gone High Class

Most think of modular home development as high production of low-cost structures. But a report in The Real Deal cites a movement toward high-end customers in this space. Modular construction entices luxury buyers with quick turnaround times.

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Switzerland Quietly Leading the World in Sustainable Concrete

Some scientists speculate that concrete production contributes to 6% of the world’s greenhouse gasses. Switzerland intends to improve those numbers with revolutionary concrete creation techniques.

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Suicide Plagues Construction Industry

Construction workers commit suicide at three times the national average. Within the construction industry, already the most dangerous profession, more workers die from suicide than job injuries and accidents. Construction has the second-highest suicide rate of any sector in the United States.

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4 Ways Drones Help Concrete Construction

Construction companies use drones mostly to get bird’s eye views of job sites. However, concrete contractors do more with drone technology.

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New Construction is Selling for Less Than Existing Homes, But That’s Misleading

The exploding residential market continues to skyrocket, rising as quickly as manpower and material supplies can accommodate. And yet, new national data from the first quarter of 2021 shows that existing homes sell for higher prices than new construction.

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Biomimetics Draws Building Solutions from Nature

Biomimetics, an innovation inspired by nature, encourages new ways to create building materials by incorporating biological “technology” in the natural world.

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Workrise Raises Over $300 Million to Train New Construction Worker

Every construction company knows about the drastic shortage of skilled labor entering the market. Numerous polls cite this shortage as the number one or two concern among contractors, builders, and owners.

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Warren Buffet’s New Take on Modular Housing: Make it Like IKEA

Danny Forster Architecture, a New York firm, has partnered with MiTek Inc, a company owned by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, to create the Modular Activation Platform (MAP); they intend to solve some of the main problems with modular construction.

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"No Demand" — Big Cities Can't Replace Offices with Apartments

With demand for office space in many big cities—from Melbourne to New York City to London—at significant lows, some housing advocates push to turn empty office space into residential apartments.

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The Link Between Architecture and Archaeology

Architecture thrives on a combination of multiple disciplines, such as structural engineering and quantity surveying. Many architects view archeology as a discipline of emerging importance to their craft. Designers use archaeology as a vehicle for sustainability and heritage.

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Residential Construction Booms in These Ten Cities

The massive boom in residential construction remains in the news, even with a slowdown at the beginning of 2021. Most anticipate the market to stay strong throughout the remaining year.

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Robotic Construction System Combines BIM with Speed

Purdue University presented a new robot at the 2021 Technology Showcase: The State of Innovation. The new design integrates BIM (building information modeling) and construction robotics in a new way to reduce the time it takes to complete basic tasks and to make up for labor shortages.

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Modular Construction Makes Industry Safer for Workers

In recent years, the construction industry has migrated toward modular construction. COVID-19 has escalated this shift. The data indicates an increase in worker safety for companies who use this type of construction.

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Could a Reduction in Young Construction Workers Mean a Labor Shortage?

Fewer young people are entering the construction industry; this could translate into an increasing labor shortage. Compared to 2009, there were 330,000 fewer construction workers between the ages of 20-29 than in 2019.

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Urbanization and Megacities: The New Future

Futurists are making predictions about what is coming next for the world. One of the most significant speculation areas is that population growth will drive more urbanization, and cities will have to deal with more and more people.

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Should Wooden Construction Be Considered Sustainable?

The publication Arch Daily recently published an op-ed questioning the long-held belief that using wood in construction is a more sustainable, more environmentally-friendly method. Wood is a renewable resource, which other materials, like steel and concrete, are not.

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Gamers Giving Boost to Construction Technology

A team of more than 250 employees who are immersed in BIM technology are coming from gaming backgrounds.

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Artificial Intelligence Can Track Progress of Construction Projects

New artificial intelligence technologies at use in Europe can seamlessly track a project’s progress and see if it is falling behind schedule.

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New Details Emerge About Massive Rail Project Between Los Angeles and Las Vegas

A new website has launched for a new public high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, with details emerging about the line's construction, known as Brightline West.

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The Highest Paid Construction Jobs that Don't Require a Degree

Between 2020 and 2030, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that about 60 percent of new jobs in the economy will be in occupations that don’t typically require an associate’s, bachelor’s, or graduate degree.

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How the Brain Responds to Architecture

We all know that we respond emotionally to architecture. The style and quality of a building can brighten moods, put people at ease, or depress and cause anxiety. But recently research psychiatrists have been studying the effects of architecture on the mind, and the results are intriguing.

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Thermoset Technology in Architecture

What was once a material originally engineered for the construction of airplanes, thermoset technology is increasingly being contemplated in the production of not only specific building features, but the entire way buildings are designed.

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Forecast Says 2.7 Million Construction Jobs to be Automated by 2057

MEPI, an organization that focuses on infrastructure and construction in the Midwest, reports that their forecasts say that 2.7 million jobs currently done by laborers will be done by autonomous robots by the year 2057.

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Is Fungus the Future of Sustainable Building?

Has a new technology has turned the sustainable construction field on its head: fungus?

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Frank Gehry: Love Him or Hate Him

Despite being named “The Most Important Architect of Our Age,” by Vanity Fair, Frank Gehry got off to a shaky start. After deep soul searching he realized that what he liked best was art, museums, paintings, and music.

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Australian Bricklayers Clever Workflow

As reported this week by Gizmodo, a team of bricklayers in Australia invented a clever, if not entirely practical, way to build a wall. What starts as a simple game of dominos ends with an ingenious and surprising twist...

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