Applying RFID to Residential Building Construction

  • Managing, tracking and maintaining equipment
  • Checking the inventory of building supplies and tools
  • Tracking on-site personnel and authorizing on-site visitors
  • Tracking and managing personnel time and schedules
  • Securing and protecting job sites

GAO RFID’s experience in customizing the capabilities of RFID can be applied help to systematize on-site productivity to ensure the efficient operation of equipment, tools and personnel and increase safety and security to prevent costly losses and unforeseen expenses.

Exploring RFID in the Residential Building Construction Industry

The availability and working conditions of equipment, supplies and tools as well as visibility of personnel and visitors on site are critical for efficient production and security during each stage of the building process. The experience that we have from deploying RFID systems in other industries can be applied to the Residential Building Construction industry to help ensure the accessibility and visibility of various assets and personnel for optimum efficiency and cost management on job sites.

Equipment Management

Forklifts, excavators and loaders and various other vital equipment on residential construction sites, all need to be present and in working order to ensure optimum efficiency of the building process. Expensive, heavy-duty equipment such as: backhoes, bulldozers and graders should be protected at all times to prevent property loss or damage which could lead to costly, time consuming halts in production and replacement expenses; work stoppage also leads to delayed processing of building permits and building codes. Using the fundamentals of RFID’s tracking technology can be developed to help eliminate the guesswork out of equipment management and creates accurate data of equipment utilization and the precise location of equipment on site. By installing specialized RFID Tags onto each equipment, the system may be able to monitor each equipment’s maintenance records, usage history, and real-time location. This not only reduces damage and theft but ensures projects are completed in a timely manner avoiding contractor penalties.

Applying Asset Management

Building supplies, tools and products on residential construction sites should be easily accessible to operate in a timely manner. The whereabouts of inventory at the end of shifts/work day is also important as burglary of tools and equipment makes up 5-20 per cent of the cost for building a residential unit as property taken is rarely recovered. For example, appliance deliveries on-site before they are ready to be installed in the building, results a perfect opportunity for theft to occur. With the knowledge that we have gained from RFID, we can apply our experience to help contractors and managers to monitor the usage of supplies and products frequently. From drills, saws, masonry, copper pipe to small equipment, the system tags and process the precise location of materials. Using the Smallest Specialized RFID Tags, you can track and monitor the current status and location of all inventories. Inventory counts can be completed easily with Handheld RFID Readers that do not require line of sight and can count multiple items at the same time—this means the long process of tallying inventory becomes quick, automated, and 100% accurate. By tracking inventory levels efficiently, this ensures that all job sites are equipped with the necessary resources and all are in working order.

Applying People Tracking

Construction project management which includes overseeing personnel tasks and hours is critical for cost efficiency of Residential Building Construction sites; labor costs on sites comprise approximately 40 percent of the overall project costs. We have developed a solution to track people using RFID in various environments. This same system can be explored and applied  to enable contractors and managers to calculate productivity in correlation to actual hours of personnel labor; tracking personnel to locate their exact positions as well as tasks assigned on site, makes it easy to predict and assess cost and hours of labor. Compliance, time per task and performance measurement data can be used to determine milestones and activity lists as well as structuring scheduling methods. This is accomplished by simply providing every personnel with RFID Badges that have each individual’s unique information recorded. As they work throughout the day so we have developed the RFID Readers that monitor and record movement and provide the data in easy-to-read reports at the end of the day. Most importantly, with its real-time locating ability, the ability to track people reduces accidents and helps to quickly respond to emergencies.

Applying Access Control

Securing access to construction site perimeters is vital to eradicating the risks of unauthorized visitors entering the site. Site access control also decreases discrepancies in payroll as labor is documented. We are experts in access control and from this experience we have created RFID allows only personnel with the correct credentials such as: architects, engineers, inspectors etc. to access the site or specific areas of the site, in turn greatly reducing the chances of burglary and vandalism. The system is also ideal for estimating the ideal number of workers for each phase and task of the construction process; this not only optimizes operations but also keeps budgets on track.

Integrating with your Existing Management Software

Our RFID system can be deployed as a standalone solution or can be integrated with other software solutions, according to each customer’s needs. At the core of our solution is GAO RFID’s AUTO-ID Engine which incorporates middleware and essential RFID functions that perform RFID data collection and information processing. Our AUTO-ID Engine seamlessly integrates with a wide variety of construction management systems so that you can access the data it collects directly via the system or systems you currently have in place. Our team comprises of seasoned professionals that can combine our RFID experience with your industry experience and provide a customized solution that will smoothly integrate the appropriate GAO RFID Solution with your IT architecture. The result is an RFID solution that is seamlessly unified with your construction management system. We can work with you to integrate the RFID tracking data collected from our custom solution with today’s leading information management systems in your industry.  Contact us for more information on how our System can be configured for your Residential Building Construction needs.