AR Construction to Solve Labor Shortages: Boosting On-site Efficiency through Labor Savings

Table of Contents

• Challenges of labor shortages surrounding the construction industry

• Benefits of introducing AR technology to construction sites

• AR use cases: labor savings and efficiency on construction sites

• Key points for AR introduction and future outlook

• Simple surveying with LRTK

• FAQ

Challenges of labor shortages surrounding the construction industry

In recent years, the construction industry has been facing a serious labor shortage. This is due to a decline in young new entrants and an aging workforce. In fact, the number of people working in this industry has dropped significantly from its peak, and is currently down to about 70% of what it once was. Looking at the age composition of workers on construction sites, veterans aged 55 and over make up more than 30% of the workforce, while young workers aged 30 and under account for only about 10%. The double punch of aging and lack of young workers is making the future workforce on sites an increasingly real concern.

Behind this is the image of construction work as “tough, dangerous, and without breaks,” as well as factors such as heavy physical labor and long working hours, which deter younger generations. Furthermore, the long-standing issue of transferring skills and know-how remains significant. Traditionally on sites, young workers learn by closely observing veterans, which has been the culture for passing down techniques. However, with the inevitable mass retirement of veteran generations, this skill transfer is becoming difficult.

These problems of labor shortage and skill transfer lead to decreased productivity on site and increased risks in quality and safety. Maintaining the same construction volume and quality with limited personnel is not easy, and delays, increased mistakes, and uneven labor burdens are concerns. Also, as each worker’s burden increases due to labor shortages, health damage from long working hours and safety risks may rise. Therefore, improving on-site productivity has become an urgent issue for the entire industry. One of the technologies expected to be the key is AR (augmented reality).

Benefits of introducing AR technology to construction sites

Introducing AR (augmented reality) technology to construction sites offers various benefits. AR, which can overlay digital information onto real-world scenes, can greatly change how site conditions are understood and how work is carried out, leading to labor savings and efficiency gains. Here are the main benefits of AR utilization.

• Improved work efficiency and labor savings: AR makes on-site information visible, reducing work effort. For example, overlaying drawings or 3D models on live site footage allows immediate recognition of deviations or missing elements at construction sites. Problems can be discovered in advance, reducing rework and shortening schedules. As a result, limited personnel can handle more work, maintaining or improving productivity even amid labor shortages. Shorter schedules due to efficiency gains enable the same staff to handle more projects and contribute to business growth.

• Support for skill transfer: AR can serve as a tool to share veterans’ tacit knowledge on-site. Skilled techniques and know-how can be digitized into videos and AR manuals, which newcomers can view on-site to learn. If a system is set up for remote experts to give real-time advice via AR, less experienced workers can proceed with tasks more confidently. This leaves skills in a visible form after veterans retire and helps train and develop younger workers.

• Smoother communication: AR enables team members in different locations to share the same viewpoint of the site. It is easy to annotate or add comments to the live on-site footage and share them in real time with headquarters supervisors or design staff. This reduces misunderstandings and communication errors and smooths coordination between the site and the office and among workers. When all staff correctly understand the situation, a sense of unity forms and smooth collaboration becomes possible. Even when design changes occur, sharing the latest information via AR enables rapid communication and response.

• Improved safety: AR contributes to on-site safety management. Combined with sensors and image analysis, AR can visualize and warn about hazardous areas that are not normally visible. For example, displaying buried objects or danger zones on drawings via AR to alert workers can prevent excavation accidents. Additionally, confirming safety procedures on AR or virtually simulating hazardous tasks for training can reduce accident risks on actual sites. There are also attempts to display safety information continuously in workers’ field of view via AR-capable protective gear (such as helmet-mounted displays), making AR a tool to elevate on-site safety culture.

AR use cases: labor savings and efficiency on construction sites

Below are concrete use cases showing how AR technology supports work on construction sites.

• AR display of design drawings and models: An example where drawings or BIM models created during the design phase are displayed with AR on site. Viewing the real scene through dedicated AR glasses or a tablet overlays 3D building models or construction drawings. This makes it intuitively possible to confirm the completed image on site, which is hard to grasp from paper drawings alone, and helps prevent construction errors and discrepancies with the design in advance. Multiple people viewing the same AR footage simultaneously for discussions also helps eliminate recognition differences.

• Remote support for work through remote assistance: A case where on-site footage viewed by workers is shared online and remote experts provide instructions or advice via AR. Workers stream site footage with a smartphone or wearable camera, and supporters can mark up the footage or give voice instructions. This allows appropriate support without experts traveling to the site, enabling one expert to support multiple sites. It reduces travel time and allows less experienced workers to work with confidence, raising overall work efficiency. Such AR remote assistance proved powerful even under recent travel restrictions for infectious disease control.

• Use in new employee education and training: AR technology is effective for training new staff. For example, AR simulations of heavy equipment operation or construction procedures allow practical training in a safe environment. AR teaching materials can be displayed in real time using actual equipment and locations on site, guiding newcomers’ field of view with cues like “the next bolt to tighten is here.” This is easier to understand than text or verbal explanations alone and reduces the burden on trainers.

• AR-guided work procedures: For complex assembly tasks or equipment installations, AR becomes a real-time navigator. The worker’s view through a device displays the position of the next component to be installed or the bolt-tightening sequence, so following the instructions allows accurate work. This eliminates time spent deciphering manuals, enabling inexperienced staff to perform high-quality work, thereby improving productivity while compensating for labor shortages.

• Efficiency in surveying and inspection: AR is also active in various measurements and inspections on construction sites. Positioning (identifying stake positions) and dimension measurements that traditionally relied on specialists like surveyors can now be performed easily by anyone with AR-compatible surveying tools. (In recent years, smartphone-based RTK surveying systems have emerged, and LRTK described later is a good example.) Also, overlaying design data on completed structures using AR allows immediate detection of position or dimensional deviations, making inspections more efficient. These capabilities can greatly reduce the manpower and time required for surveying and inspection.

Key points for AR introduction and future outlook

When introducing AR technology on sites, there are several points to keep in mind. First, a deployment plan that emphasizes usability is important. Many modern AR devices and apps are increasingly intuitive, ranging from easy-to-use smartphone and tablet solutions to dedicated smart glasses. To ensure on-site workers do not struggle, adequate operational training and demonstrations before introduction are essential to make them want to “try it.” Also, maximizing AR use requires digitizing drawing data and improving network environments. With Wi‑Fi or 5G, large AR data can be smoothly shared between the site and the office.

Regarding introduction costs, increasingly affordable devices now enable high-performance AR. You can start AR using smartphones common on sites without special equipment. A phased approach—trialing on small projects and measuring effects before full-scale deployment—is recommended. Sites that have introduced AR report outcomes such as reduced working time and fewer mistakes, so sufficient return on investment can be expected.

Looking ahead, AR use in the construction industry is expected to expand further. The government is promoting site digitalization (so-called “construction DX” and “i-Construction”), and subsidies and support for introducing advanced technologies such as AR and VR are being put in place. Resistance to digital tools is diminishing among younger workers on the site, and voices wanting to actively use them are rising. With lighter, higher-performance devices and progress in app development, more site-fit AR solutions will appear. The era of supplementing labor shortages with technology is just around the corner, and AR should be one of the trump cards.

Simple surveying with LRTK

Finally, we introduce LRTK, a cutting-edge surveying solution that uses AR technology. LRTK is a system that makes the satellite positioning technique called RTK (Real-Time Kinematic) easily usable on smartphones, enabling high-precision surveying by anyone. By attaching a dedicated device to a smartphone and using it with a monopod (pole), map coordinates can be obtained on site instantly. Conventional GPS positioning can have errors on the order of several meters (several ft), but LRTK achieves errors of several centimeters (several in), a dramatically higher level of accuracy and allows stakeout with almost professional surveying equipment-level precision.

A major advantage of LRTK is that surveying work can be completed by one person. It requires almost no difficult operations or specialist knowledge; users simply follow instructions on a dedicated app to record survey points and receive position guidance. For example, if you input the coordinates of stake positions from drawings into the app, it will guide the user to those points on site using AR. Height corrections are handled automatically, so there is no need to measure and calculate the pole length. In practice, some municipalities used this LRTK system to quickly survey damage sites during disaster recovery, speeding up restoration work and reducing costs. LRTK enables tasks that previously required specialist surveyors to be handled efficiently in-house and can become a trump card for labor savings amid severe labor shortages.

FAQ

Q. What equipment is needed to introduce AR in the construction industry? A. Basically, you can start with AR-capable devices such as smartphones or tablets. Dedicated AR glasses (smart glasses) free both hands during work, but it’s recommended to begin with familiar mobile devices. Depending on the use case, AR apps or software compatible with the devices and an internet connection for remote support may also be necessary.

Q. What are the costs and cost-effectiveness of introducing AR? A. Introduction costs vary depending on the equipment and system chosen. High-performance AR glasses can cost several hundred thousand yen, but solutions that leverage existing smartphones and tablets can keep additional investment low. Software ranges from in-house development to cloud services, so costs are case-by-case. However, if AR achieves reduced work time and fewer mistakes, the cost reductions from labor and shorter schedules can justify the investment. In some cases, preventing just one construction mistake or rework can recoup AR introduction costs. Starting small to test and then expanding in stages makes it easier to measure ROI.

Q. Can veteran or older workers handle AR technology? A. Yes, they can likely handle it well. Recent AR apps are designed to be intuitive and easy to use, and many older workers who are accustomed to smartphones and tablets can use AR without resistance. In practice, many people around their 60s use smartphones daily and can quickly adapt to AR operations. Providing thorough demos and training at introduction so they can feel “it’s not difficult” and “it’s useful” helps gain acceptance among veteran workers. Moreover, if AR reduces physical burdens and eases tasks, veterans may actively use it.

Q. How do AR and VR differ, and which is more suitable for construction sites? A. AR (augmented reality) overlays digital information onto the real world, while VR (virtual reality) immerses users in a completely virtual space using goggle-type devices. For on-site operations in construction, AR is often more suitable, as it can add information to the real work environment—useful for checking dimensions or installation positions and guiding work procedures. VR, on the other hand, is suited for safety training simulations and virtual inspections during the design phase, and is used for off-site training and review tasks.

Q. What is LRTK? A. LRTK is an AR technology–based system that enables centimeter-level accuracy (half-inch accuracy) surveying using a smartphone. It leverages the high-precision positioning technology known as RTK and allows stakeout and other positioning tasks to be handled easily by one person with a dedicated device and a smartphone app. Tasks like stake placement and as-built measurements that used to be left to professional surveyors can be handled quickly by site personnel using LRTK, greatly reducing the labor and cost involved amid labor shortages.

Q. What challenges or precautions exist when introducing AR? A. Several challenges and precautions should be considered. First, initial investment is required for devices and software, but starting small and verifying effects before scaling up can reduce waste. Some site staff may resist new technology, so it’s important to hold sufficient briefings and hands-on demos beforehand so they can realize the benefits. Technical issues such as screen visibility under strong outdoor sunlight or devices running out of battery during long use can occur. These can be addressed operationally by using shaded areas, carrying spare batteries, and using waterproof/dustproof cases. Overall, with proper planning and support systems, the challenges of AR introduction can be overcome.

Q. Are there benefits to introducing AR for small sites or small and medium-sized enterprises? A. Yes, there are ample benefits. In fact, small sites with limited personnel may see the greatest efficiency gains from AR. For example, even on sites with only a few workers, using AR smartphone apps to check construction locations or dimensions can avoid calling in specialists and save costs. Using remote-support AR allows small companies to easily receive advice from external experts, boosting technical capability. Actively adopting the latest technology can also improve company image and help recruit younger talent. Regardless of scale, adopting AR within the scope that fits site needs will yield labor-saving and efficiency benefits. Additionally, cloud-based AR services are increasingly available, making introduction and operation easier even without dedicated IT staff. These tailwinds make AR introduction a realistic option for small sites as well.