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NETWORK IN OCTOBER, AUTODESK RELEASED ITS BUILDINGCONNECTED PLATFORM IN AUSTRALIA. ALREADY USED BY MORE THAN ONE MILLION CONSTRUCTION PROFESSIONALS IN NORTH AMERICA, THE PLATFORM IS EXPECTING TO BRING A NEW LEVEL OF CONNECTIVITY TO AUSTRALIAN CONSTRUCTION.
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uildingConnected is a tender management solution, acquired by Autodesk in 2019, for preconstruction teams to manage the tender process. Created like a social networking platform for contractors, BuildingConnected features a crowd-sourced directory of builders, with up-to-date contact information that includes work history and qualifications. Asset owners and contractors alike can access the network to discover trade partners, identify the right subcontractor for the job and solicit and compare tenders, within one centralised solution. BuildingConnected’s popularity in North America, with over 2,000 general contractors and owners actively bidding out projects – totalling $56 billion USD ($79 billion AUD) in project values each month, is a sign of what can be enabled in the Australian construction network. Roads & Infrastructure sits down with Zac Hays, director of product, preconstruction at Autodesk Construction Solutions to find out what BuildingConnected’s capabilities will mean for Australian contractors. CONNECTING CONSTRUCTION “The mission for BuildingConnected was to build the best network for businesses and professionals in the construction market,” Hays explains. As construction jobs increase in size and continue to develop, project teams grow and major projects can require hundreds of specialised subcontractors and suppliers. “Construction companies are constantly forming cross-company teams. For example, 34
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one of the projects in America that used BuildingConnected was for the construction of a new NBA basketball stadium and there were more than 1,000 companies involved with building that infrastructure,” Hays says. “One of the core things with this network approach is that it saves time in finding contractors and sending tenders out, but the head contractor will also get more bids back because the network has accurate contact information,” Hays explains. “It can be really difficult to coordinate and collaborate or even to connect with this many companies to source all of the qualified tenders for some projects.” When getting started with BuildingConnected, Autodesk will load all of a company’s existing list of tender invitations onto the network. During this process the software-as-a-service will detect duplications or contact information that needs to be updated.
“As you invite more people to tender, the system will update and if one of the contacts has a profile on the platform, it will update their contact details when they change roles or occupations,” Hays explains. From there, the platform allows users to track and follow-up with subcontractors while storing all of the project information. “We really pride ourselves on the accuracy of the network, which eliminates the process of finding the right contractors to ensure you have invited as many options as possible to tender. If your contact at your favourite sub-contractor isn’t there, the platform will make suggestions for who to contact instead.”
BuildingConnected is now available in Australia. To learn more visit BuildingConnected.com.au
