For builders, contractors and other professionals, the chief construction app used to be the phone’s flashlight: a handy device for inspecting cracks in a foundation. But things have come a long way. Today’s apps for construction offer powerful new means to boost productivity in the field.
In an Android environment, mobile construction professionals using rugged smartphones can tap into safety training via easy-to-use apps. They can share and mark up documents, exchange comments with other professionals, estimate material costs and even plumb a wall for verticality — all via mobile apps. In fact, the construction trades are becoming increasingly mobile savvy. One recent survey found that over a third of construction firms used more than five mobile business apps in 2014. Inspections, work orders and checklists are among the popular uses.
Here are a few of the leading apps that are changing the job site for mobile construction professionals.
Stay Organized
For those in the field juggling multiple tasks each day, the Construction Manager app delivers a suite of critical capabilities. This forms app allows users to manage, edit, save and share diverse documents including maintenance logs and daily reports, project estimates and time sheets. Managers, salespeople and on-site estimators can all benefit from this paperless efficiency enhancer.
For mobile construction professionals looking to keep current with required OSHA safety meetings, Safety Meeting App offers a streamlined solution. This tool covers 34 trade types as defined in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s required meeting laws, with more than 950 safety meeting topics. It’s a handy way to record and track OSHA-required safety meetings, accidents, incidents, near-misses and employee attendance while on the go.
Collaborate in the Field
Sometimes it can be hard for team members to collaborate while on-site. Construction app PlanGrid offers a solution, allowing contractors and architects common access to all their project plans, specs and photos. Mobile users can upload PDF drawings to plangrid.com and then sync them to devices in real time. The publisher reports that some 42,000 contractors, owners and architects are using the app to create and share markups, issues and progress reports.
Also created to help people with different responsibilities work together, Corecon’s cloud-based software suite creates a seamless mobile workspace for construction professionals, with modules that support estimating, project management, job cost control and scheduling. Users can easily share punch lists, project dynamics, administration documents and daily logs.
For those working in architecture, BIMx is an interactive 3D communication and presentation tool for architectural designs that delivers a smooth presentation even for projects with complex 3D models and extensive documentation. It allows for easy mobile sharing of plans among architects, contractors and clients with photorealistic views, simple finger controls and the ability to cut through a section of the model with a slider, giving total clarity in spatial relations for any viewer.
Access Tools on the Go
Ever forget a needed tool in the office? No worries: iHandy Carpenter probably has one. This light, attractive app includes five commonly needed professional tools:
- A plumb bob to verify the verticality of lines or walls
- A protractor for measuring angles from 0 to 180 degrees
- A surface level for ensuring that any flat surface is level
- A bubble level bar to verify whether a surface is vertical or horizontal
- A ruler marked off in both inches and centimeters that allows you to swipe left or right to measure objects longer than your phone
And if you’re ever in need of a calculator, the construction app BuildCalc, an advanced materials estimation calculator, offers a wide range of basic and advanced features for professionals who need to perform calculations and generate estimates while on the move. The app performs conversions for distance, area, volume, weight and angles, with calculations that include footings, masonry, volume/area and roofing. It includes a full manual with extensive examples and easy-to-use, spreadsheet-style forms.
Mobile apps are changing the job site for builders, contractors, architects and others. In addition to serving as a powerful communications tool, today’s rugged smartphone can operate as a mobile office for the construction professional, thanks to a growing roster of specialized apps designed to bolster productivity in this very mobile field.
