Construction Robotics
Juliette Cilia
“New York will be a great place, if they ever finish it.”
O. Henry, 1872
$1.3 tn
2018 value of US construction Industry
Commerce Department
68%
World population expected to live in cities by 2050
UN DESA Data
Demand for efficient construction is ongoing & growing
$12.7 tn
Expected global value of construction Industry by 2022
Reuters
But Construction productivity, has
not only struggled to keep up…
It’s plunged in half since the 1960s.
Labor Driven Industry
with a Growing Labor
Shortage
The productivity crisis is due to many factors at play
Fragmented
landscape & distributed project ownership
Risk averse workforce (hesitant to adopt new tech/approaches)
Workers left during the recession, never to return
600,000
workers left in the recession
GlobeSt.com
286,000
vacant jobs today
Bureau of Labor Statistics, April 2019
“We feel the shortage when our subcontractors tell us that they can’t get something done on time. We know that’s just because they can’t get the guys for the job.”
-Construction Manager
And now the labor shortage is driving up the cost of doing business
5.86%
2018 Cost Increase According to the Turner Price Index
VCs are investing in Construction Tech at large
Yet little money is going into tackling the labor shortage head on
Software to Optimize Current Processes
Design Tools
Document Management
Collaboration Tools
HR & Finance Applications
Equipment & Talent Marketplaces
$3.1 Billion
VC Investment in Construction Tech 2018
300%
YOY growth
TechCrunch Data
3D Printing
Pre -Fab
Modular & Pre- Fab Construction
I set out to explore the robotics that could potentially solve for the labor shortage…
Modular & Pre- Fab Construction
Software to Optimize Current Processes
Autonomous On-Site Construction Equipment
Can robotics do for construction what they did for manufacturing?
Starting with the tech
Today’s robotics companies take on the form of a subcontractor
Excavation
Foundation
Bricklaying
Framing
DryWall/
Plaster
Facade
Painting
Roofing
Cleaning
They adopt existing technology to automate
a construction-specific task
Group 1:
Autonomous software applied to traditional machinery
Group 2:
Manufacturing robotics applied to construction tasks
Most companies are currently in a pilot program,
1.5 - 2 years from a commercial ready product
Pilot w. Extra Engineering Oversight
Completed
Pilot
Commercially Ready Product
With so many tasks that we could possibly automate,
we need to look to the customer for direction
The Customer: Large returns will come from selling to larger projects
Early Adopters
Late Adopters
Large Developers /Construction Companies Managing Budget $20 million plus
Multi-Family/Office Developers Managing Budget $5-$20 million
The Construction Manager
Curious. Risk Averse. Cost Conscious.
Unlike manufacturing in which there is a single owner who is incentivized to operate as efficiently as possible and invest in large CAPEX projects that pay off over time,
construction managers are motivated to turn around a single project as cost-effectively as possible while delivering to the architect’s specifications.
Furthermore, they only get a handful of projects a year, therefore they have a low willingness to experiment.
They would be open to new tech, if it was proven to reduce their costs.
The question becomes which vertical costs the most?
And if automated, where could the most value be captured?
Interviews with
Construction
Managers
& Superintendents
Interviews with Members of Construction Admin Program
Costs are heavily held up in a few core verticals, and then distributed widely across smaller tasks
Smaller tasks (cost wise) are being automated today
“Dry-Wall could be cool, but I still would just rather get the guys to do it.
That doesn’t cost that much to me.”
Construction Executive
We need to look at who is automating the tasks that cost the most
While the experimentation has begun, we have yet to see robots conquer these tasks at the scale needed for a large construction site
Cast in Place Concrete:
Steel
FACADE:
STRUCTURE:
MECHANICAL & PLUMBING
MIT robotically printed large foam structures for bigger concrete casting projects - still not at large development scale.
MX3D in Amsterdam made the first 3D printed steel bridge. Unclear if 3D printing is the future of large scale ‘autonomous steel.’
Investment direction: hold off for larger returns
While there is a major labor shortage threatening the construction industry- contractors & developers remain cost aware and risk averse. They are willing to adopt technology only when major cost savings are to be gained.
My conclusion for today is to hold off on further investment in this space until we see projects who are aiming to to tackle the following verticals at scale:
Keep a Lookout For:
Cast-in-Place Concrete
Steel Structure Installation
Curtain Wall Installation
Thank you!
Juliette Cilia
JCilia20@gsb.columbia.edu