A Brave New World: Who Will Survive and Who Will Thrive When Technology Reshapes the A/E/C Industry?

Barry B. LePatner, Esq.LePatner & Associates LLP

• Reducing Unwarranted Cost Overruns

• Increasing Labor Productivity

• Increasing Profitability While Reducing

Risk

By 2025Advanced Technologies Will Spur Advances Leading to:

Why Must the Design and Construction World Adopt New Technologies?• 25 to 50% waste in coordinating labor on a project.

• Interoperability inefficiency costs owners between $15.6 and $36 billion per year.

• Rework by contractors, is estimated to add 2-20% of expenses to a contractor‘s bottom line.

• An estimated $4 billion to $12 billion per year is spent to resolve disputes and claims.

1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 201255

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

100

105

Productivity in manufacturing has nearly doubled, whereas in construction it has remained flat.Overview of productivity improvement over time

Productivity (value added per worker), real, $ 2005

1.7x

$ thousand per worker

Source: Expert interviews; HIS Global Insight (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, United States); Input-Output Database

Construction

Non-Construction

The Root of the Problem:

Incomplete and Uncoordinated

Design Documents

Labor-cost savings from adoption of advanced industrial robots (%, 2025)

40

30

20

10

0

Sout

h Ko

rea

Cana

da

Taiw

an

Ger

man

y

Chin

a2

Glo

bal t

otal

Pola

nd

Switz

erla

nd

Italy

Swed

en

Spai

n

Indi

a

Braz

il

Japa

n

Uni

ted

Stat

es

Uni

ted

King

dom

Aust

ralia

Czec

h Re

publ

ic

Thai

land

Fran

ce

Belg

ium

Russ

ia

Net

herla

nds

Aust

ria

Mex

ico

Indo

nesi

a

33

25 2422 22 21 21

2018 18 16

1413

9 9 9 8 8 8 7 7 7 63

0 0

Average global labor-cost savings ~ 16%

SOURCE: The Boston Consulting Group

Greater Use of Prefabrication, Preassembly and Off-Site Fabrication

1,000,000+

3D Printing

The Internet of Things

Big Data Drives Wise Construction

Disruptive Technologies