Haskell's Shanbari Calls for Contractors to Rethink Processes With 'Paperless Builders'

"Paperless Builders" was published in September by Manuscripts. Written by Haskell Director of Innovation Hamzah Shanbari, it's a call to action to everyone in the AECO supply chain to change processes for better project outcomes. Cover photo courtesy of Manuscripts

Hamzah Shanbari has been working to make construction a more innovative and efficient industry for more than eight years as Haskell's director of innovation and even longer as a virtual construction specialist there and a principal of Haskell's venture capital arm Dysruptek.

His book "Paperless Builders: The Why, What and How of Construction Technology," released in September, offers a roadmap for contractors of all sizes trying to break away from inefficient, legacy workflows that are rife with unnecessary threats to safety, communication, progress tracking, and even the concept of risk management, itself. Shanbari argues that technologies such as digital documentation, design visualization, reality capture, the internet of things, robotics, and artificial intelligence can make any jobsite better. Using Haskell's proprietary BUILDER(S) framework, Shanbari takes readers through the steps needed to evaluate, implement, and thrive in today's contech-heavy environment.

While Shanbari certainly isn't the first, and won't be the last, to assert that architecture, engineering, construction and even operations can be made better by embracing digital workflows, his day-to-day experience with how jobsites actually work comes through in the text. In defining the "what" of construction he writes, "remember, scanned documents, static PDFs and local spreadsheets are not digitizing processes. They are paper-like processes as they function in the same, exact way as paper. They merely disguise themselves in a digital format."

He says true digitization of processes depends on connecting all stakeholders of a project or organization and enabling true collaboration and transparency.

By defining how contractors, architects, engineers and even owners can change their processes to work in a truly collaborative manner, Shanbari gives an effective roadmap that shows how Haskell has become a thriving design-build and EPC contractor for projects that are so complicated that they require such collaboration. 

Shanbari is the first to admit that this transformative work is difficult for construction technologists and both c-suite executives at large contractors and family owners of small firms looking to grow. In a chapter on benchmarking he writes, "in this exercise you should pick out one process—and one process only—and map it out to understand every step, noting who, what, when and how each step informs that specific step's why."

He also says leaders should use these opportunities to mark down metrics to determine the overall cost of completing the process cange in question.

While many of these lessons are not particularly new they do inform with examples from a major EPC and design-builder like Haskell. There's also a focus on metrics that speaks to Shanbari's experience. Implementation plans for a technology pilot are stressed just as much as mapping new processes and identifying an opportunity where construction technology can help. If contractors are just automating requests for information and change orders, is there really anything gained for them there? Or the designers involved in what was once a paper-based process? 

While the focus on eliminating paper, such as the large stack of drawings with 50 pages per discipline, in most construction trailers across the nation, may seem very narrow, Shanbari effectively expands it to a way of thinking that many in construction don't even recognize as being ingrained in their processes. Making process derive from deliverables such as 3D models and AI iterations is a better starting point, in many cases, than 2D sheets of paper. 

Shanbari argues that this is where the true transformation of construction comes from, what Steve Jobs once called thinking differently. 

Hamzah Shanbari leads innovation efforts within Haskell, a design-build firm based in Jacksonville, Fla. He focuses on exploring and implementing new technologies and methods for the AEC industry. Paperless Builders is available on Amazon.com and wherever books are sold.

ENR Associate Technology, Equipment and Products Editor Jeff Yoders has been writing about design and construction innovations for 20 years. He is a five-time Jesse H. Neal award winner and multiple ASBPE winner for his tech coverage. Jeff previously wrote about construction technology for Structural Engineer, CE News and Building Design + Construction. He also wrote about materials prices, construction procurement and estimation for MetalMiner.com. He lives in Chicago, the birthplace of the skyscraper, where the pace of innovation never leaves him without a story to chase.