How ENM Integrates Technology Into Construction

This week, we sat down with ENM co-founder Daniel Greenhalgh, to discuss the different ways that ENM is utilizing innovative technology to increase efficiency and quality in its construction process.

Well, just in my own career, I’ve seen a real change in perception from project managers and tradespeople in their willingness to use tech tools in the construction process. I’ve worked with some old school guys who wouldn’t use anything other than a pencil and paper because that’s what always worked for them. There are a lot less Luddites in construction nowadays and I like to think at ENM Construction, we’re fairly far ahead of the curve in putting new technology to use. We’re using a software called Bluebeam which has revolutionized our ability to visualize and communicate the details of the project to both our architects and our tradespeople.

For instance, let’s say we have two columns in a parkade. I don’t know how far apart they are from the drawing. I can’t use a ruler, it’s just not exact enough. In the past I’d have to call the architect, he’d plot it out on his Autocad, it would take some time, maybe even a day or two, and I’d get the answer that it’s 15 feet apart. Now in Bluebeam, I can scale off of the drawing digitally. I can get that answer in seconds. It gives me a lot more self-sufficiency. And my architect bills me for less time.
 

We also use a program called SiteWorks. With this, I can walk around the site with an iPad, and when I see an issue, I can click on the picture, input a note, and make it trade specific. I can share this list with the individual tradespeople. This allows me to walk through a unit, find six deficiencies, and note that two of them are plumber related. I can then share that info so much more efficiently. To be honest, there are still a lot of developers, maybe even most of them, that still use pencil and paper. Our willingness to embrace the natural evolution of technology is giving us a big advantage in the market.

It does, in the sense that all of our manuals are digital, they’re all on our cloud drive and everyone on site has access to that. Any questions or issues that arise, the answer is much more easily accessible, and we can do things with a lot more consistency and confidence. We’re getting answers to things before they are’re problems.

It definitely helps with that. There’s a frustration in waiting hours or days for an answer to a problem that arises. Now that process is far more immediate, the communication is instant, so the workflow is smoother and the tradespeople are happier. And for project managers, it’s just cool. We can walk through a site, I’ll say you do that side, I’ll do this side, we get to the end, we compare our lists and we can instantly share them. It makes us more efficient managers.
 

In the end, any new technology is a tool to leverage productivity, to enhance our ability to do our job effectively. And we’re always open to trying new things, to exploring new tools to make us better as a business.