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In Pickens Technical College’s Construction and Development pathway, students can select a program that fits with what they want to do in the booming construction industry we have in the Denver Metro area. If you’re participating in the Construction Technology program, you’re working your way toward earning your Construction Technology Certificate and eventually your Advanced Methods Certificate. With these credentials, you’ll be well on your way to starting a lucrative and rewarding career in construction, which, as an industry, is constantly working to make itself more efficient and less wasteful.

You probably have already learned that in the construction business, many decisions are based on guessing and estimating. This guess-and-check method can and has been refined in many cases to allow construction workers and managers to make more accurate estimates. But what if there were innovations already in use and on the way that could make those estimates more like raw, irrefutable data?

Surveying Gone Digital

A large drain on construction resources and subsequently a large driver of construction costs is surveyors miscalculating a site for construction or excavation. When crews find more dirt in an area than they thought was there, they have to cope with the discrepancy as best they can, leading to budget overruns, and wasted time and materials.

But new technologies are entering the construction industry, making surveying and other crucial tasks more efficient and less wasteful.

Two examples of this new wave in construction are drones and robotic total stations. Construction managers say that drones have changed the game recently because instead of relying on rough or outdated information on the layout of construction sites and the ground beneath it, they can get updated, detailed information using an unmanned eye in the sky. Before, calculated management decisions were made based on rough surveys after this outdated information was plugged into a computer.

A Robotic Total Station, which is becoming more common on construction sites in the United States, is simply a Total Station that can be operated remotely. With this technology, construction crews only need one Total Station operator who can perform many more calculations and inspections in less time.

Drones Making an Impact

Drones are in wide use for many purposes, mostly security monitoring, search and rescue operations, building inspection, insurance inspections, and agricultural surveying. Their use in the construction industry is still relatively new. But construction crews are recognizing their power. Before drones, it could take several workers several days to properly survey a pile of crushed rock on a job site. Now, a drone can do the same job in about 15 minutes.

The Wave of the Future

With the rise of new technology in the construction industry, especially drones, you’ll be expected to operate these new bells and whistles at some point when you graduate from Pickens. You’re already being immersed in new technologies potentially disrupting the industry, so you’ll be prepared for the next wave of innovation in construction.