The numbers are downright depressing

McKinsey says that while sectors such as manufacturing, retail, and agriculture in the United States have increased productivity 1,500% since 1945, construction is still where it was 80 years ago. The trend led the global consulting firm to conclude that construction has an “intractable productivity problem” while identifying the sector as the second-least digitized industry in the United States.

There’s no getting around it. The financial risks of doing work in the built environment are significant for everyone involved. Capital projects budgets are big, so the stakes are too. If you’re an owner, you’re often worried about expensive change orders and padded GMP budgets. If you’re a construction firm, you’ve almost definitely endured the burden of late payments by owners (while still having to pay your crew on time) and maybe even uninsured losses due to an owner’s overly narrow policy.

If you work for a large company, chances are it has multiple construction and infrastructure projects in play throughout the year. It has, in other words, a capital projects portfolio—a collection of resource-intensive activities that it’s doing or considering doing.