Many of our readers who used to be in the field can remember being on projects working with other trades and the extraordinary coordination it takes to organize projects to run well. Some may have even been around before the invention of BIM, email, the Internet, cells phones and even the fax machine. The changes from that time to now are nothing less than mind boggling. Oddly, it seems the faster information travels, the slower production gets.
Water cooler chats with the young can bring out chuckles when older workers recount the days of fascination watching a fax come through. It was only a few decades ago a technical consultant told me he had to mail documents. The information highway is lighting fast but has it been a blessing or a curse to construction? While the time it takes to transfer information has increased dramatically, the time it takes to frame a wall, hang board and tape the joints has changed very little. It might be fair to say production has actually gone in the opposite direction. Most young college graduates enter our industry in an overwhelmed state and slight disbelief. Everything is faster to them—it always has been. They live to process data faster, so why not the guys on the construction site? I believe there are some cultural differences that could be driving the issue.