

A list of 1 way to get rich in the construction industry - swombat
http://www.woobius.com/scribbles/posts/0005-snagging-smart-phones.html

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gibsonf1
This is a nice idea, and would be useful to those in this particular niche
(such as myself), but it is a small market if you just look at the architects.
Also, it is more complicated a task now as most of the industry that is
forward thinking (and thus potential customers) are using BIM (building
information modeling), primarily Autodesk's Revit.

So to make it a vastly bigger market, to include all the construction
participants including architects, engineers, contractors, subcontractors, you
would need to make the app access the BIM model and be able to attach data to
it. Revit has an SDK, so with a great deal of difficult work, an app could be
made. Of course, a launch date around 2010 may be the best plan given the
largest reduction in Construction that I've ever seen recently.

Update: I just realized that there is a growing movement in the construction
industry called Integrated Project Delivery which is basically lean management
applied to construction and involves the intense collaboration of all parties
in construction. To that end, there are now a growing number of online BIM
integrators where different participants can share in real-time their
different BIM applications. So the iPhone app may be much easier than I
thought if you can access into the online BIM data, say, with a REST api.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_Project_Delivery>

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stcredzero
The availability of inexpensive hardware and AJAX is a powerful enabler once
again, combined with high speed mobile networking. Publish all of these
applications you propose as web applications, with a "tablet" mode -- actually
several "tablet" modes each tailored to different screen form factors.

The economics of the US construction industry as a whole involve freaking huge
numbers! Very low-cost applications (don't forget corporate licensing) that
become a "must have" can make someone a billionaire.

(And yes, there are industries where certain mobile apps have become "must
haves." ePocrates was one such app in the old Palm days. Don't know if it's
still that way, though.)

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jjs
Another way: own your own heavy equipment, and charge an hourly rental fee.

~~~
mixmax
I live on a yacht, and when I need to get it on land I rent a crane (with
operator) for the job. Price: $1000 an hour.

I'm seriously considering buying a big crane and renting it out....

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mattmaroon
Why did you change the title of the article to something entirely different,
unrelated, and nonsensical? I wish there were a special type of flag for when
people do that.

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swombat
Actually, the suggestion came from _authentic_ on the IRC channel:

[15:09] < authentic> for HN i would recommend a title of "A List of 1 Way to
Get Rich in the Construction Industry (iPhone)"

I thought it was a brilliant title for submitting it to HN, and even
considered changing the title of it to this article altogether, on the blog
itself. However, I decided to keep the original title on the blog and use this
title for submitting to HN. As one of the authors of the post, I feel I can
allow myself the artistic freedom to pick a suitable title for submitting the
article to HN. In practice, it seems the title definitely did what it was
supposed to do, so I consider it a good move.

Oh, and it is related. I certainly feel that building out the tool mentioned
in the article could provide a profitable business to someone. At the moment,
we're busy with another part of the construction pie, but if no one else does
it within a couple of years, we'll probably have a look at it ourselves. Hence
the "way to get rich" part of things. The "List of 1 way" part if obviously
poking some fun...

~~~
mattmaroon
It just feels like the title is misleading for the purpose of getting clicks.

~~~
petercooper
That's why I didn't vote. I felt like the candidates were just campaigning and
running commercials to win votes.

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HeyLaughingBoy
I'm a bit disappointed in you guys. Not one person has read the article and
thought of another industry that these ideas could be applied to?

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ph0rque
hmmm... what about taking the Android Maps app
([http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2008/10/google-on-
android-m...](http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2008/10/google-on-android-
maps.html)) and enhancing it to create a 3D model of a particular building?

~~~
stcredzero
Ready access to information should be a huge boon to people on the ground. I
remember a friend of mine who did HVAC work on large scale projects once told
me about mistakes in plans where electrical conduit and ducts would intersect.
Sometimes the electricians would get there first, so the people doing the
ducts would put a little detour around the conduit!

    
    
        ____  ____
        ___ \/ ___
           \__/
    

This could really screw with the airflow to rooms fed by that particular duct.
(I'm sure we've all been in office buildings with little climate control
"quirks" like that.) Better communications might prevent mistakes like this
from becoming physical reality. (Of course, more competent use of CAD software
would prevent mistakes like this in the first place.)

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Chocobean
my electrician friend tells me that electricians, HVAC, plumbing and other
dudes sometimes get the same set of drawings, so each of them think in their
heads "okay I'm gonna put my stuff here" and conflict happens. this
essentially happens because the general contractor or a sub contractor hires
everyone in parallel to each other, and while the same drawing is sent to
each, none of them talk to each other to "plan" the actual deployment. This
will likely change when more and more people jump on the BIM wagon, and move
the conflict stage to 3D model space rather than on the site.

~~~
gibsonf1
This whole problem is being solved with BIM and Integrated Project Delivery
where all the systems are modeled in 3d well in advance of construction thus
resolving all the 3d conflicts ahead of time.

~~~
stcredzero
Communication between groups could also be used to resolve such conflicts in
real-time. Even with BIM and Integrated Project Delivery, there will always be
errors in plans for large projects. The ability to clarify these as soon as
possible (ideally before any mistakes have become physical reality) will save
people money.

