Technology Archives

Technology has become a huge part of the construction industry. This trend ranges from simple things like the use of email to make project communication easier to the introduction of more advanced technologies like Building Information Modeling, or BIM. While these developments have had a predominately positive impact on the industry in terms of quality and efficiency, technology has also resulted in increased obligations in the legal process. Construction businesses should understand a few of the basic ways technology has impacted the legal process, because a failure to do so could prove costly if litigation ever ensues.

As-built drawings, or renderings of the building as constructed, are common in the industry. Many contracts require that the contractor or subcontractor providing the labor and materials to construct the project provide them as part of the close out documents. This is because there is often variation between the design, specifications, and final constructed product. Sometimes this change is known; while on other occasions it can be an unknown fact until it is measured.

Certain locales, including Philadelphia and parts of New Jersey, are using a new technology created by a Madison, Wisconsin company to measure travel times on roads. The technology picks up blue tooth signals from cell phones to measure the travel time between defined points on highways.

Engineering News Review recently published an interesting article in its technology section on the management of electronic documents. The report noted a movement of general contractors that the companies themselves have labeled “All PDFs Created Equal”.

As a construction lawyer, I am involved in two of the biggest paper generating professions the world has known. When done correctly, construction projects result in paper being used by the ream. From notices to bid, to plans and specifications, to change orders and applications for payment: everything is documented. Then lawyers fighting over construction project issues create even more legal documents for filing in the court system using copies of the same project documents. It is not any wonder that construction firms and their lawyers’ offices are bursting at the seams a good deal of the time. Enter Electronic Data Management, or EDM.