One thing that can be said about members of the tech community - regardless of the vertical - is that we love to get together to share notes about what we’ve learned. Last month, from October 16th to 22nd, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), the leading venture capital firm provided NY tech companies with the opportunity to do just that by coordinating NY Tech Week 2023.
The NY Tech Week planning team asked Tough Leaf to host an event centered around construction tech. Of course, we jumped at the chance and pulled together our trusted colleagues at Gryps and Constrafor to help us deliver a memorable experience for ConTech enthusiasts. Our session, NY #TechWeek ConTech: Has Construction Tech Finally Arrived?, was held at the midtown offices of Greenberg Traurig, LLP, and brought together over 100 construction professionals to network and hear what our panelists had to say about the present and future of technology in construction.
Construction Industry Challenges and How Technology Can Help
Our first panel, moderated by Jacquelyn Mascoli, a project executive at Gilbane brought together Wissam Akra, founder and CEO of Tough Leaf, Dareen Salama, Co-founder and CEO of Gryps, and Anwar Ghauche, founder of Constrafor to discuss the challenges faced by General Contractors and what construction-first startups are doing to solve them.
Their lively dialogue offered insightful perspectives on the state of technology adoption in the construction industry, current challenges faced by construction firms, and where the field needs to head next as innovation accelerates.
Construction is More Technologically Advanced Than…Farming.
Kicking off the conversation, Wissam, Dareen, and Anwar deliberated whether construction tech has genuinely “arrived” yet. All agreed that while progress is being made, the industry still lags far behind most others by measures like investment and tech integration. As Wissam put it, construction remains the “second least technologically advanced industry” today, behind farming.
However, promising signs point to winds of change starting to gather. As regulations and client demands around priorities like diversity, equity, and sustainability continue to increase, adopting new technology is becoming indispensable for construction firms hoping to remain competitive and meet these emerging imperatives. Tough Leaf, Gryps, and Constrafor represented how innovations tailored to user needs can drive necessary evolution while increasing efficiency, productivity, and capabilities across the industry.
Focus on Industry Needs: Examining the Challenges ConTech Can Solve
Each panelist highlighted the pressing problems their company aims to solve, from streamlining diverse subcontractor sourcing to centralizing fragmented data management. But they stressed that the key is designing solutions end-users will actually embrace and integrate into workflows, not just pushing new tech for its own sake. Dareen Salma, CEO of Gryps noted, that previous generations of construction tech failed by catering more to what software developers want to build versus what the industry truly needs. Making jobs easier is the key to genuine user adoption and ultimate tech success.
Looking at obstacles to tech proliferation, our panel of ConTech CEOs also discussed the internal resistance they often encounter when selling to construction firms. Hesitation commonly stems from perceived job loss and disruption rather than an aversion to technology itself. Demonstrating how new systems can positively augment human capabilities, rather than replace them, is essential for driving change management and user buy-in. Additionally, major events like staff turnover or new leadership can prompt openness to adopt innovations.
The Tech-Driven Future: Navigating Labor Shortages and Innovating Construction Practices
Gazing into the future, digitization and remote work options will only expand further, especially as younger, more tech-fluent generations continue entering the workforce. On the troubling side, worsening labor shortages loom large. This intensifying issue makes achieving more efficiency and productivity through technology adoption a necessity, not a luxury.
While promising construction tech firms have made great strides recently, the panelists agreed massive opportunities remain to leverage emerging technologies like AI, machine learning, geospatial data, IoT sensors, and more to truly transform how the built environment is designed, constructed, and operated.
But the overarching mood is optimistic. The field is attracting serious entrepreneurial and investor attention compared to just several years ago. New funding and ideas are flowing in, while a collaborative mentality across forward-looking construction firms is providing tailwinds for rapid change. The solutions spotlighted by our panelists prove that today’s construction technology, when thoughtfully developed, can provide real solutions to pressing industry pain points, ushering in an exciting, tech-enabled future for the sector.