Computer Use in the Construction Industry :: Expository Essays Research Papers

Computer Use in the Construction Industry Technological advances are benefiting the construction business in many different ways. On-line services, estimating software, and blueprint design (CAD) are just some of the areas that have enhanced the building world. Commercial and residential contractors are suddenly seeing how computer technology can benefit their business and are now utilizing it more and more everyday. For the past thirty to forty years, construction, technologies, and practices had hardly changed. From the drawing boards to finished product, building science stayed very conventional and for the most part simple. According to Building Performance Construction Services, â€Å"Builders are adverse to change.†1 They had a system and it worked, so why change it? Statistically proven, over the past couple of years there has been a significant increase in competition and customer demand. Thus, forcing companies to use advanced building materials, techniques, and technology to keep up to date in the competitive world. Computer programs like estimating software, Computer Aided Drafting (CAD), Excel, and Access are all designed to draw, compute, and keep track of information for you. Estimating software uses pre-programmed data to come up with price figures; they are virtually error free and can be done fast, in a fraction of the time it would take to complete a task in longhand. Computer Aided Drafting, or (CAD), can draw plans that are exactly to scale and viewable in 3D from every angle imaginable. This allows new modern design techniques and style to become possible and put to use. Excel and Access create spreadsheets and compute equations to organize and categorize necessary material. Excel can perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, as well as many other functions automatically which can then be applied to a document on the computer, saving a lot of time and paperwork. It is obvious that programs like these make the managerial side of construction much faster and easier. Using advanced equipment is another way computers have revolutionized the building industry. Electronic tools are constantly improving with the use of lasers, digital equipment and battery-power. Lasers for cutting or leveling purposes enable projects to be more precise and accurate. Digital equipment can save needed data on the jobsite to a card/disk, which can then be downloaded and accessed from a computer system. Advances in battery technology can now power many tools changing the way the construction process is approached.