Technology Puts Muscle into Saving Time and Money on Construction

Ben Bruns of the Weitz Co. says that in some ways the construction industry was more efficient before World War II. Erecting buildings just didn’t take so long. At a recent student housing conference, the company’s national development director pointed to the Empire State Building as an example. Built in 1931, the wondrous tower stretched high above New York City and went up in 13 months, at a cost of $41 million (about $550 million today). When the last brick was set, the 1,250-foot-tall, 120-story art deco masterpiece was declared the tallest structure in the world. It remains a construction marvel, ranking in 2017 as the fifth-tallest completed skyscraper in the U.S. A backstory to its glory is that, despite 15 revisions from the original design as a 50-story building, only 36 pages of drawings were needed to guide workers. The original plans took two weeks to assemble, a far cry from the months of paperwork and planning that go into commercial buildings nowadays. In comparison, Bruns says, a paltry $55 million project today (that’s $3.5 million in 1931 money) requires a 100-page contract, most of which is devoted to payroll. Permitting and final paperwork typically take longer than the time required to construct the Empire State. Conditions were different long ago, but the one constant is that skilled labor comes at a premium. Construction is very labor intensive — and dangerous. (More than 3,500 workers were needed to build the Empire State Building, and 42 reportedly died in the process.) Nearly 90 years later, commercial and residential construction is plagued by excessive underwriting, labor shortages and pricy materials. Projects are more difficult to build just because of intricate designs that require a greater level of workmanship, lumber and steel so buildings stand out from the crowd. Land in urban areas is sparse and costly. Developers are often left making the best of an imperfect lot, which requires extra time to surv...