The construction sector is undergoing a dynamic digital transformation. Changes in the construction, geodetic and administrative law make it possible to keep electronic construction documentation. In order to meet the expectations, all types of digital solutions were created to be a place of contact between investors and the office.
E-construction Service
Platforms for reporting construction investments online, such as The General Office of Construction Supervision, which is used to deal with all matters related to the investment process. You can fill out ready-made forms with a request to settle construction matters. Launching e-construction is a response to the needs of applicants who impatiently waited for months for decisions. Thanks to the digital revolution, the process of obtaining a building permit has been significantly shortened.
Electronic signature for the construction industry
From the point of view of convenience of use and speed of handling the matter, the best solution is a qualified electronic signature. Architects working closely with construction engineers and investors should obtain a qualified electronic signature. It is not possible to submit a digital construction project without the signature of all members.
SwifDoo PDF – The go-to PDF app for architects and construction
If you are considering starting to digitize your construction business, you should start the process as soon as possible. To begin with, we suggest you familiarize yourself with the most popular file format that can be used for many different applications, in this case – a PDF file.
Thanks to this format, you can quickly and efficiently perform various illustrations with all types of elements, such as images, acceptance reports, text and occupational safety guidelines. Other materials include simple digital documentation of PDF reports, daily records, construction logs.
SwifDoo PDF has also implemented a convenient and clear editor, with which we can quickly modify our PDF documents. The tool easily recognizes and deals with text, images, links to pages, headers and footers. You can add pictures and annotations, and then attach them to the PDF report you create. The application can be used during the construction phase, commissioning and maintenance of the property. The current version is available in over 6 languages.
Another useful feature of the PDF editor is advanced text recognition (OCR) from scanned documents and images. The program automatically proposes to carry out this process when it recognizes the content on the screen.
It will be a long and multi-stage process in transferring everything that is currently happening in analog form to the digital world. Creating a digital environment for the company requires the zero paper philosophy, and in the construction industry it is hard to imagine a complete resignation from the paper version of documents and protocols.
In construction, we are really just starting here, but it is possible. This requires close cooperation of all areas, including internal communication, finance, HR, health and safety, logistics, customer communication, etc.
AutoCAD – a program for professional design documentation
If your company is not only a contractor, but also works at the level of designing construction and installation solutions, then AutoCAD will certainly be useful to you.
Main features and advantages of the software:
- the ability to visualize the project at every stage of design,
- quick and simple transformation of design models into construction documents, clearly and precisely illustrating the designer’s intention,
- the ability to work directly in the model, create sections and elevations that can later be incorporated into drawings,
- eliminating the need to re-enter information in the design documentation package,
- has advanced tools for sharing data in various formats,
- has many specialized “overlays” that extend its activities.
Norma – the most popular program for cost estimators
In the work of a construction company, it is often necessary to prepare an extensive, but at the same time transparent and useful cost estimate utilities. You can use any spreadsheet or even a piece of paper and a pen. However, it will be much easier to use special software that is designed for this.
The most important advantages:
- one of the most extensive cost estimating programs,
- transparent and easy to use, even for beginners in cost estimation,
- gives the possibility of cooperation with available price databases,
- saving the cost estimate in the XML standard, which is read by many applications and enables the integration of the costing process with various company management systems,
- the ability to work on several cost estimates at the same time, thanks to the mechanisms of complex cost estimates,
- allows you to register changes made to the cost estimate, which is useful for its changes or possible corrections,
- has the function “check the cost estimate”, which informs about discrepancies in the cost estimate, especially useful for supervision inspectors.
Dropbox or Google Drive – cloud storage for online data
Having documents in the cloud can make your life so much easier. You can quickly manage construction documentation, designs, sketches, photos. They can be opened and forwarded anytime and anywhere. There are many programs of this type, among them it is worth mentioning the Dropbox or Google Drive application. People using Apple devices will probably be interested in the iCloud offer. On the other hand, supporters of Microsoft software will pay attention to One Drive.
Among the advantages of an online drive, it is worth mentioning:
- extremely simple application operation, the ability to preview multimedia and manage files in the cloud,
- free disk space up and unlimited file size,
- support for fast synchronization within the LAN,
- the ability to create links to any files that are stored in the service,
- high security of stored data – the ability to set two-step login
In Closing
Digital transformation is one of the priorities of the construction industry. Many pro-social programs concerning citizens are based solely on digital technologies. Experience shows the effectiveness of the adopted solutions based on digital and new technologies.
The possibilities of these technologies are huge – faithful representation of reality and interaction with objects allows you to test all ideas and events already in the initial stages of the project, and thanks to this, investments are created faster and are safer for people and the environment.
