29 Prospect St., Ridgefield CT 203.438.2626 www.ridgefieldsupply.com • Mon-Fri. 7-5 Sat. 8-4 Closed Sundays worryproof. timeproof. When you’re building a new home, time-tested Andersen® 400 Series windows and patio doors deliver the worry-free performance you want. With their durability, weathertight fit and overall quality craftsmanship, it’s easy to see why builders use Andersen windows and patio doors more than any other product on the market. Why choose anything else? “ENERGY STAR” is a registered trademark of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Andersen” and all other marks where denoted are trademarks of Andersen Corporation. ©2014 Andersen Corporation. All rights reserved. 6 Home-Building Technologies of the Future By Drew Vass Residential construction isn’t always quick to adopt new technologies. That said, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone these days— executive to laborer—who isn’t using a smartphone to augment some aspect of their job. Meanwhile, more than 20% of builders say they’re experimenting with drones, while others report they’re using 3D printers. And even those technologies seem minuscule when compared with robots that can lay 1,000 bricks per hour or install steel studs, sheetrock, or tile. Technology is taking over the home building industry at a rate that would seem preposterous to someone 20 years ago. According to author and construction lawyer Barry LePatner, builders better get used to it if they’re going to meet the demand September 2016 | HBRA of Fairfield County | 21 for 100 billion additional square feet of living space by 2030. Second to drones, 3D laser scanners were the most widely used emerging technology among builders in 2015; they can capture details of a structure down to 2 millimeters worth of accuracy. Commercial contractors already use drone-mounted scanners to measure stock piles, and experts say those uses will multiply as the technology becomes more affordable. Collected data, along with CAD files, will become the basis from which a host of technologies function autonomously. Once paired with drones and autonomous vehicles, future jobsites could be “self-driving” and manned not by skilled laborers, but by IT professionals. Read More
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