From drones to automation, Nevada contractors invest in tech to stay competitive

by Kaleb Roedel

If you were asked to visualize a construction worker, you would likely picture a laborer in a hardhat, tool belt and work boots, wielding a hammer. A foreman? Clipboard in one hand, rolled up blueprints in the other, pencil behind the ear.

While that visual is still seen on your typical construction site today, there is a growing amount of technology — from equipment on site to software behind the scenes — being used by construction companies to increase efficiency and productivity.

Clipboards traded in for tablets. Tape measures traded in for electronic measuring tools. Crews spending all day surveying acres of land traded in for drones doing the same in a half hour.

“I think the common perception is that construction is just people with hammers and tool belts,” said Todd Miknus, IT manager at Clark/Sullivan Construction, a general contractor based in Sparks. “And they’re not thinking about all this tech behind the scenes and even on site.”

INVESTING IN TECHNOLOGY

Clark/Sullivan, for example, invested about $35,000 in a robotic total station, which Miknus said the company used to lay the foundation and “build out of the ground” the new Procter Hug High School, scheduled to open in the fall of 2022 in North Reno.

Read the entire article in the NNBW: https://www.nnbw.com/news/from-drones-to-automation-nevada-contractors-invest-in-tech-to-stay-competitive/