News & Events Innovation & Workforce Development: Member Spotlight | How Visual Tracking Is Changing Project Coordination

CLR’s Innovation & Workforce Development initiatives highlight practical solutions, emerging trends, apprenticeship success stories, and member-driven approaches shaping BC’s unionized construction industry.

Written by: CLR

Multiple trades, tight timelines, and evolving scopes mean that even well-run projects can struggle to keep everyone aligned on what is happening and what comes next. Progress is documented but not always seen.

That gap is where visual progress tracking is starting to take hold.

Using fixed-position cameras and time-lapse technology, project teams can now access a continuous, time-stamped record of site activity. It is a simple idea, but one that changes how information moves across a project. Instead of relying on periodic updates or site visits, teams can see progress as it unfolds.

At Davidson Bros Mechanical, visual tracking is being integrated into active projects alongside a broader shift toward digital tools. Maddie Davidson, Service Manager, points to the move away from paper-based systems toward real-time data collection as a turning point. Information that once took time to gather and organize is now available as the work happens.

That shift does not stand alone. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is extending the same logic into design and planning. With the ability to scan existing structures and develop accurate 3D models, teams can prefabricate components off-site and install them with greater precision. The result is not just efficiency, but fewer coordination gaps between trades.

As these tools become more common, they are also shaping how the workforce operates. Tradespeople and project teams are increasingly working with digital systems alongside traditional methods, requiring new skills in data interpretation, coordination, and technology use.

For project teams, the impact is practical. Sequencing becomes easier to track. Coordination improves. Decisions are made with a clearer understanding of what is happening on site, not just what is reported.

Brad Dumont, Director of Project Services at CIMS, emphasizes the importance of centralized data in this process. When project teams and clients are working from the same information, there is less room for misalignment and fewer surprises as work progresses.

What is notable about these tools is not their complexity, but their effect. They do not add another layer of process. They reduce the reliance on interpretation.

In an industry where timing and coordination drive outcomes, that shift matters.

Visual progress tracking will not replace the experience of skilled trades or the judgment of project teams. But it is changing how projects are understood in real time.

And in construction, seeing the full picture has always been half the battle.