When you hear the term “turnkey,” words that come to mind may include “simple,” “easy,” “all-in-one.” All of these terms are accurate.
In construction, turnkey can refer to a design and build process, in which the burden of completion — and the legal responsibility for the design and construction — falls on the construction firm.
But another use of the word turnkey is appearing on the jobsite — and it refers to technology used in construction. On today’s increasingly technology-enabled construction site, turnkey solutions are helping firms deploy and use game-changing technologies while reducing costs and risks of deployment and management. As the term “turnkey” implies, the customer simply has to “turn a key” — press the power button, select an option, or plug in — and the technology is ready to use.
This is a far cry from the old days of manual field data collection and project management processes that required laborious and time-consuming data entry. Project managers no longer have to walk the jobsite with cameras and clipboards to document project status, then email stakeholders to update them on progress.
Today, construction firms have access to handheld communications and tracking devices that are integrated with project management software. Field workers can enter data directly to a mobile device, and that data is automatically uploaded and logged — no re-entry required. More and more, that software is cloud-based and delivered as a service, and includes browser-based interfaces to enable remote and geographically dispersed teams to log in and get up to date information from anywhere, any time they like.
Key Advantages of Turnkey Tech
The expectation today is that all technology be turnkey. Here are some key advantages of implementing turnkey solutions:
- As the cost of construction rises, project timelines are getting shorter and shorter. Construction firms need complete solutions that are ready to go. Turnkey solutions help cut costs and eliminate delays in taking advantage of the technology immediately, which means faster time-to-value.
- Turnkey solutions tend to be off-the-shelf, preconfigured and ready for use with minimal, if any, customization. Not only does this save on costs and enable easy deployment, the solution has been tested and proven to work effectively.
- Many turnkey technology solutions come pre-configured with integrations to critical project management software such as Precore or Autodesk, so the two systems can interact seamlessly, out of the gate.
- Another key advantage of turnkey technologies is ease of management and maintenance. Cloud-based solutions may offer automatic software upgrades, should they become available. These upgrades are pushed to the device over the cloud, requiring no human intervention.
Although these advantages are convincing in and of themselves, there’s another reason construction firms should implement turnkey solutions – to gain a competitive edge.
Turning Up the Heat on the Competition
Competition is fierce in construction. Firms must cut costs and be as efficient as possible to be able to submit viable project bids that meet clients’ budgetary restrictions and compressed timelines. Spending time installing, configuring and managing technology on the jobsite will eat into profits, and could delay progress toward project completion.
In fact Global construction costs are expected to rise 4.3% on average in 2019, and 90% of U.S. general contractors reported that they are concerned over the labor shortage. With costs rising and available labor becoming more scarce, efficiency is more important than ever. Turnkey solutions can help firms improve efficiency, by eliminating the time and resources spent setting up and customizing solutions. They also help firms realize value from technology solutions faster.
For example, TrueLook offers turnkey construction cameras that are easy to install, preconfigured and ready to use right out of the box. Jobsite managers can simply mount and plug in the camera and turn it on. It connects with TrueLook’s cloud-based services immediately, so it can automatically transmit images and video footage to the mobile app or integrated project management software. This way, firms not only gain competitive advantage from the advanced capabilities of the product, but all from their ability to take advantage of those capabilities right away.
If you’re investing in state-of-the-art construction cameras to reduce risk and theft on the jobsite, streamline documentation and improve your marketing efforts, don’t let your competitors get ahead of you. Learn more about TrueLook’s turnkey solutions here.
