In many areas, construction is being deemed an essential service amid ongoing shelter-in-place restrictions. While there are obvious aspects of building that do require an in-person presence on a job site, it may surprise you that there are many jobs in construction that might be done remotely.

But unlike many sectors where working remotely has been embraced for years, construction has always been an in-person gig. That’s changing. 

“Even prior to the current pandemic,” says Jeevan Kalanithi, CEO of OpenSpace and an industry expert, whom I reached out to for insights, “we were beginning to see wider adoption of digital tools on jobsites, including those that enable remote work, like photo documentation. It’s likely that the situation we’re in now will lead to an acceleration in the adoption of these types of technologies, but this is the direction that the industry was heading in regardless.”

With the pandemic forcing companies to adopt an arsenal of remote work technologies, it makes sense that the construction industry, too, is looking for ways to keep as few people on site as possible. As Kalanithi points out, there had already been a major technological shift underway in the industry as big data, AI, and automation, along with automation-adjacent technologies like drones, saw broad adoption. 

In the short term, we probably won’t be sending teleoperated robots to the job site while human workers stay home and control them from their couch, at least not anytime soon, but there are tools to help some workers stay at home. 

Keep reading on ZDNet.com

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