How Tablet Computers Changed the Construction Industry

Leena Rao

Robert Kipp&rsquo;s must-have tool when he steps onto a construction site isn&rsquo;t a walkie-talkie or a hard hat, though you&rsquo;ll never spot him without them. It&rsquo;s an eight-inch Apple iPad Mini on which he stores blueprints, field documentation, and other relevant information.
&ldquo;Carrying blueprints under your arm while climbing up a ladder at a dangerous, high-story construction site just wasn&rsquo;t practical,&rdquo; says Kipp, 36, a supervisor and project manager for construction giant <a href="https://fortune.com/company/tutor-perini/" target="_blank">Tutor Perini</a>.
At a site like the -17-million-square-foot Hudson Yards project in Manhattan&mdash;Kipp&rsquo;s latest assignment and the largest private real estate development in the history of the U.S.&mdash;paper is quickly disappearing. The former U.S. Army captain is just fine with that. &ldquo;It minimizes errors in construction because you can see the documents clearly,&rdquo; he says.
For more on the construction industry, watch this video: <div class="vodvideocontainer" style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="//fortune.com/videos/embed/6467e64a-a497-491a-81b4-7a73af56e4a9" style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; overflow: hidden;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
On his silver tablet computer Kipp has installed Plangrid, software that helps architects and construction managers collaborate on different versions of the same document in the cloud. Kipp and his team also use the software to keep on hand the 300 permits needed for the job, not to mention the 13,780 sheets of blueprints. Another piece of software, the Autodesk-made modeling app Revit, allows Kipp to visualize in three dimensions the buildings he&rsquo;s constructing.
Not all of Kipp&rsquo;s colleagues have been quick to welcome iPads to the work site. One foreman Kipp worked with called tablets &ldquo;bullshit&rdquo; and requested paper versions of blueprints instead. But he soon relented, and today the foreman swears by an iPad Pro.
The construction industry has not been at the forefront of technology adoption, Kipp says. No longer. &ldquo;Construction is filled with inefficiencies,&rdquo; Kipp says. &ldquo;Technology can change that.&rdquo;
This article is part of the Future of Work article from Fortune&#8217;s July 1, 2016 issue. <a href="https://fortune.com/future-work-jobs-industries/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Click here</a> to see the entire package.

In conversation with Robert Kipp, superintendent at Tutor Perini.

legacy

Future of Work

Tech

How Tablet Computers Changed the Construction Industry | Fortune

Alexandra Sternlicht

Nvidia&rsquo;s&nbsp;chips are among the world&rsquo;s hottest commodities.&nbsp;So why is the company likely trashing $4.5 billion worth of them?&nbsp;

/2025/06/03/nvidia-chips-h20-writedown-4-5-billion-china/

Matt O'Brien

The Associated Press

Mark Zuckerberg&rsquo;s Meta just inked a 20-year deal with a nuclear power giant to fuel his AI ambitions

/2025/06/03/meta-zuckerberg-ai-nuclear-power-constellation-energy-deal/

Emma Burleigh

Axon Enterprises CEO and founder Rick Smith

The maker of Taser is the highest paid CEO, taking home $165 million&mdash;his new pay package and soaring stock made him a billionaire last year

/2025/06/03/taser-axon-ceo-rick-smith-165-million-stock-billionaire-awards-tragic-backstory/

Jeremy Kahn

OpenAI Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon speaking on stage at the Fortune ASEAN-GCC Economic Forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

OpenAI says it wants to support sovereign AI. But it&rsquo;s not doing so out of the kindness of its heart

/2025/06/03/openai-sovereign-ai-data-center-cost/

Ray Dalio

Ray Dalio on AI: &lsquo;The days of people making decisions in their own heads are ending&rsquo;

/2025/06/03/ray-dalio-ai-technology-future/

Beatrice Nolan

Yoshua Bengio sitting on a chair on stage at Time's Summit.

AI godfather Yoshua Bengio says current AI models are showing dangerous behaviors like deception, cheating, and lying

/2025/06/03/yoshua-bengio-ai-models-dangerous-behaviors-deception-cheating-lying/

Orianna Rosa Royle

As boomers are forced to &lsquo;unretire&rsquo; because they've not saved enough, 6-year-olds in Germany could soon have retirement accounts

https://fortune.com/2025/06/02/boomers-forced-to-work-unretire-affordability-not-gen-alpha-6-year-olds-germany-retirement-accounts/?itm_source=parsely-api

Rachel Reiff Ellis

It's not 8 glasses a day anymore. Here's how much water you should drink each day

https://fortune.com/well/article/how-much-water-should-you-drink-a-day/?itm_source=parsely-api

Ryan Hogg

Bank CEO running 4-day workweek says cutting working hours isn&rsquo;t &lsquo;progressive&rsquo;, and AI will make it &lsquo;bloody logical&rsquo;

https://fortune.com/europe/article/bank-ceo-4-day-workweek-working-hours-remote-ai/?itm_source=parsely-api

Danny Bakst

Current price of gold as of June 2, 2025

https://fortune.com/article/current-price-of-gold-06-2-2025/?itm_source=parsely-api

Christiaan Hetzner

The most EV-friendly country in the world is still loyal to Tesla, as Model Y sales surge in May

https://fortune.com/2025/06/02/tesla-sales-norway-europe-model-y-registrations-elon-musk-byd/?itm_source=parsely-api

Paolo Confino

Arnold Schwarzenegger tells climate activists to 'stop whining' because they don't have any support from the White House. 'Sometimes problems need to be solved by the people'

https://fortune.com/2025/06/03/arnold-schwarzenegger-climate-activists-stop-whining/?itm_source=parsely-api