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A white paper produced by an augmented reality firm claims that up to 30% of construction work in the UK is rework.
XYZ Reality, which has created an augmented reality tool to aid construction workers, released the report which claims rework is the industry’s “most expensive problem”.
The report stated: “The annual spend due to error is estimated to be around seven times the total annual profit of the UK construction industry”.
CEO and founder of XYZ David Mitchell said: “Rework is a very real issue for the construction industry.
“Our recent poll revealed that 70% of construction stakeholders reported being either ‘concerned’ or ‘very concerned’ about project delays and costs linked to rework.
“There must be a consolidated push to implement preventative measures if we are to boost low-profit margins hampered by costly errors”.
The human error element makes up roughly 21% of average project costs, according to the paper.
In response to the figures, XYZ has admitted there is problem with collecting data on the issue but states this is an industry wide problem related to recording process.
It also blames a lack of proper training and “pride in the work” for the issue of rework.
XYZ believes that the construction sector needs to make better use of technology in order to drive down the level of rework.
Cundall associate director John McLoughlin supports this view and is already using XYZ's Atom solution to deliver on the reduction. Atom is used to project holographic representations of building designs with 5mm accuracy for construction workers onsite to “ensure installation is always carried out within tolerance". McLoughlin said: “It brings the model on to the site and ensures work is carried out correctly, first time, every time."
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When I worked on site in the 1980s and 1990s, the workers had a saying that ‘there was never enough money to do it right in the first place but there was always enough money to put it right afterwards.’ It seems that despite adoption of NEC and quality management systems perhaps things haven’t changed that much!
The cost of corrective action far exceeds the cost of getting it right first time. The application of the principles behind BIM for the whole lifecycle, engaging the design and construction teams, the client, and future maintainers can prevent early errors and reduce long term costs. The major barrier has always been collaboration, and a common data environment could be instrumental in sharing information and reducing errors.
https://www.ice.org.uk/engineering-resources/briefing-sheets/bim-mandate-and-bim-in-legislation-there-is-a-bim-mandate-how-does-it-work/
http://www.tuckwood.co.uk/blog/bim-who-pays-let-s-build-it-into-the-initial-project-common-date-environment.htm
http://www.tuckwood.co.uk/bim.htm