IoT in construction: Use cases, benefits and challenges
The use of IoT in the construction industry aims to improve safety, efficiency and decision-making. However, construction companies should carefully manage deployments.
To understand the benefits and challenges of using IoT in construction, consider the environmental sensors designed to monitor temperature and humidity. These sensors, which can be installed at job sites in a compact puck form, aim to improve worker safety by detecting conditions that might lead to heat exhaustion and other weather-related health issues. They also identify situations that could lead to equipment malfunction.
But the small, portable sensors also have a knack for disappearing when attached to a stud or a pillar. Tim Gaylord, corporate director of innovation at DPR Construction, based in Redwood City, Calif., said construction workers might seal off environmental pucks in walls as construction progresses.
"If it's not part of their scope, and they don't realize what it's for, and they need to close that wall up; it's getting closed up," he said. "It happens all the time."
IoT, however, has found a home in the construction industry in applications ranging from worker safety to asset management -- despite the rigors of an active job site.
The technology gives builders more visibility over job sites and a mechanism for tracking the machinery and vehicles of the trade. The data collected through IoT sensors, once analyzed, offers insights that can improve efficiency and scheduling, as well as enable preventive maintenance.
Such benefits are driving demand among construction companies. Grand View Research pegged the global market for IoT in construction at $11.46 billion in 2023 and forecast a 16.2% annual growth rate through 2030. That's a significant investment from an industry that has not traditionally been an early adopter of technology.
IoT adopters, however, face the aforementioned job site issues and must also learn to manage large-scale deployments effectively.
Types of IoT in the construction industry
The construction industry uses several categories of IoT technology, such as the following:
Wearable technology. Health monitors such as wrist bands and armbands keep track of body temperature, heart rate, hydration and other factors.
Environmental sensors. Devices installed at job sites monitor temperature, humidity and particulate matter.
Material monitors. Sensors embedded in concrete or other materials can keep tabs on curing and identify structures that need repair.
Asset trackers. Equipment outfitted with GPS and sensor devices helps organizations keep tabs on the location of construction tools and machinery.
Fleet management technology. IoT devices can track construction vehicles, monitor fuel consumption and support predictive maintenance.
Site monitoring systems. Cameras and drones are used for site surveillance and progress tracking.
What are the leading use cases for IoT in the construction industry?
There are four major use cases of IoT in construction.
Environmental monitoring
Gaylord called environmental sensing a "no-brainer" IoT use case. His team tests emerging technologies and identifies those with the potential for scaling at the builder. This use case has proven out, he noted, adding that it's recommended for deployment at job sites.
Environmental sensors, which monitor temperature, humidity and dust, help keep workers safe and protect machinery from weather extremes and airborne particles that can lead to equipment failure.
Worker health and safety
Worker health and safety is also among the top use cases for IoT in construction, according to industry executives.
"Site safety is probably our biggest driver right now," said Dimitris Bountolos, chief information and innovation officer at Ferrovial, an infrastructure management and construction company based in Spain.
Ferrovial has developed pedestrian detection systems that use 3D vision and machine learning (ML) to identify people in real time. Bountolos said the application has proven a game-changer for preventing collisions between heavy machinery and workers on construction sites.
Bountolos said the construction company also uses wearable devices to monitor worker location, fatigue levels and exposure to hazards. The wearables-based system can trigger alerts if unsafe site conditions are developing.
Gaylord said the safety use case is a major focus for his team, particularly given the heat stress in markets such as Arizona, Southern California and the Southeast. DPR is testing sensors and wearables to prevent dehydration and heat exhaustion on job sites.
"Heat-related illnesses are a major problem, not just for DPR but the industry," Gaylord said.
Operational efficiency: Asset and fleet management
IoT use cases that promote higher job site efficiency are also popular in construction. The industry is tightly linked to macroeconomic and geopolitical trends across regions, noted Ajithkumar Nandakumar, vice president, global strategic delivery initiatives for Hitachi Digital Services' IoT practice. He said engineering, procurement and construction firms use technology to help manage economic booms and downcycles.
"The top priority is on operational efficiency, and this is where technology and, in particular, IoT play a key role," Nandakumar said.
Within that broad use case, Gaylord cited tool asset management as an important IoT focus. Large sites have loads of tools, power buggies and scissor lifts that can easily go missing or become underutilized. Identifying idle rental equipment results in cost savings.
"When we first deployed [tool asset management] on one of our large mega data centers, we quickly realized that several large pieces of machinery, which were pretty costly month to month, were sitting," Gaylord said.
Unused equipment can be sent back to the supplier before the rental renewal or redeployed at the construction site.
Bountolos, meanwhile, cited fleet management as a solid use case for construction IoT. He said Ferrovial focuses on equipment performance, fuel monitoring, usage analytics and predictive maintenance to manage heavy-equipment operations. The company has also begun using ML for demand forecasting and equipment utilization patterns, he added.
Nandakumar also cited fleet monitoring as an efficiency use case, along with asset maintenance, worker safety and energy management.
Road monitoring
The road monitoring use case combines GPS, LiDAR remote sensing and AI to create infrastructure heatmaps and risk maps, which Bountolos described as "centimeter-accurate." He added that Ferrovial's system detects and issues alerts on hazards, including potholes, debris and damaged guardrails.
Benefits of using IoT technology in construction
Construction companies that invest in IoT can anticipate advantages that tend to cluster around a few areas.
Improved visibility and management
Smart badges and wearables, coupled with IoT-enabled access control, offer improved resource oversight at job sites featuring numerous trades such as carpenters, masons, electricians, drywall installers and machine operators.
The technology lets construction companies track resources once they badge in, said Ankoor Amin, innovation and sustainability leader at OES Equipment, part of the DPR family of companies. Sensors provide insight into head count for a given trade and a given location at the site, as well as whether those numbers match the construction schedule, he noted.
"That gives us a superpower these days in construction, if you can sense all of that without having to go out and send an army of supervisors to manage your trades," he said.
Data-driven decision-making
IoT captures and analyzes real-time data, providing actionable insights across the construction lifecycle, Bountolos said. This lets project managers "make much more informed decisions based on what's happening on-site, rather than relying on assumptions or delayed reports."
Reduced downtime
Real-time equipment monitoring and automation reduce manual intervention and minimize downtime, Bountolos said. In addition, predictive maintenance and resource optimization, which stem from continuous data collection and analysis from connected devices, provide project timeline and cost benefits, he added.
Improved risk mitigation
Better job site visibility, real-time data for decision-making and the ability to predict maintenance issues all contribute to managing risk and boosting safety.
"IoT performs extremely well on the safety front," Bountolos said. "Instead of reacting to incidents after they happen, we can actually prevent them."
Challenges of implementing IoT in construction
Construction firms can expect to encounter several obstacles as they deploy IoT. Here are a few potential pitfalls:
User adoption. Companies deploying IoT must show workers how it will benefit them without adding complexity. Training and change management programs can help introduce a new technology.
Harsh conditions. IoT devices must have sufficient ruggedization to function in a difficult environment. Battery life and on-site recharging options are also important issues.
Infrastructure. IoT devices require on-site connectivity, such as dependable internet access. Some IoT deployments require gateway units that collect data and transmit it for processing locally or in the cloud.
Data management and analysis. IoT devices stream massive amounts of data. Technology adopters need to consider their ability to manage and analyze data effectively to get the most out of their investment.
Data privacy. Construction companies must consider data privacy issues when sharing worker data in the cloud, for example.
Ergonomics. Technology adopters must ensure wearables are light, comfortable and don't interfere with work.
Best practices for implementing IoT in construction
Against the backdrop of expected benefits and challenges, here are a few approaches to consider when deploying IoT.
Select and pilot an appropriate IoT use case
Choosing the right use case for deployment should be based on a comprehensive business value analysis rather than its perceived "coolness," Nandakumar stated.
He also recommended a fail-fast-to-scale-faster approach as critical for the construction industry, given the rugged conditions in which workers and assets operate. That means running pilots in field conditions to select the appropriate technology and devices for the selected IoT use case, he noted.
Dedicate personnel to manage IoT sensor deployment
"The biggest fail point with these IoT sensors is the management of the system," Gaylord said. "It's like a full-time job to make sure all the sensors are active, they are in the right spot and folks aren't moving them."
The biggest fail point with these IoT sensors is the management of the system.
Tim GaylordCorporate director of innovation, DPR Construction
Wearables also require oversight, especially on large projects with 1,000 or more people.
"How do you make sure that everyone on your site has one?" Gaylord said.
Dedicate personnel to infrastructure management
Amin emphasized the importance of a construction team's commitment to maintaining the infrastructure that an IoT implementation requires. That task includes making sure networking and connectivity expand as construction progresses. Gateways must be installed on additional floors as a building rises, for example.
"Somebody better be in charge of expanding the network, making sure the infrastructure scales as we build," Amin said.
He recommended assigning a resource, or resources, to maintain infrastructure. The challenge here is that managing IoT isn't a typical job function on a construction site: "You are adding something to somebody's plate," he said.
Focus on cybersecurity
Bountolos recommended investing in a strong cybersecurity architecture from the outset to prevent breaches.
"Construction sites are already vulnerable environments -- you can't afford to add digital vulnerabilities on top of physical ones."
What is the future of IoT in the construction industry?
Industry executives see IoT evolving to incorporate AI. Nandakumar pointed to autonomous operations through cognitive computing and human-in-the-loop approaches as the way forward in the construction industry. He said the trend is already taking shape, amid the transition to Industry 5.0 and the arrival of generative AI models.
The "agentification" of processes will also rapidly proliferate into all aspects of construction, he added. AI agents will result in safer and better operations, as well as a sustainable way of working.
Amin, meanwhile, added robotics to AI and IoT in the emerging technology mix, noting that they enable each other. He noted that AI helps generate more insight from cameras and other data-capture devices, while IoT lends location and contextual awareness to robotics.
"That evolution is happening in parallel," Amin said.
John Moore is a writer for Informa TechTarget covering the CIO role, economic trends and the IT services industry.
