colorado construction companies embracing technology, says report

A majority of Colorado construction companies say they are planning to implement more technological changes in their businesses in 2020, although they expect to spend less than 5 percent of their projected revenues on those changes.

In a construction outlook survey just published by the Washington-based Associated General Contractors, construction companies in the Centennial State said they were most likely to increase their use of file-sharing sites and voice-over Internet protocol.

The companies also indicated that they are most interested in using such services as project management software, estimating software, and scheduling software.

But those same companies also said that a further use of technology would not come without challenges, noting the work associated with implementing a new service and training staff to use it.

The same survey showed that contractors doing work in education, retail, and public building projects expressed the most confidence that their project load would increase next year, while companies specializing in power, office, and manufacturing projects expected the least growth.

A large 88 percent of the respondents said they’ve been having a hard time filling positions, a number higher than the 83 percent of companies nationally saying they’ve been challenged by “filling some or all positions.”

An equally large 81 percent of respondents nationally said they were worried about worker quality, with 45 percent indicating that they did not think the challenges of finding qualified workers will improve in 2020.

Noted the AGC in a press release: 75 percent of the firms surveyed expect to hire more workers in 2020. “However, just over half of the firms (52 percent) report their expansion plans will only increase the size of their firm by 10 percent or less.”

The AGC additionally noted that ongoing labor shortages are having an impact on “construction costs and project schedules,” with 42 percent of the responding companies reporting that ongoing staffing challenges have added to the cost of completing projects.

By Garry Boulard

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