What are the benefits of using RTK at construction sites? Six labor-saving effects

At construction sites, addressing labor shortages, standardizing operations, meeting shorter construction schedules, and improving record accuracy are increasingly required simultaneously.

Position checks, measurements, as-built verification, and progress tracking that were traditionally performed by multiple people are increasingly required to be handled by a limited number of personnel. In this context, RTK is attracting attention. RTK is a technology that uses high-precision positioning information to make it easier to quickly grasp on-site "where it is," "how much has been completed," and "how large the difference from the plan is."

However, RTK is not simply a positioning method with high accuracy. What is truly important on construction sites is how using RTK changes the workflow, who can independently carry out which tasks and to what extent, and how much rechecking and re-recording is reduced. In other words, when considering the effects of implementation, you need to look not only at the performance of "being able to measure with high accuracy" but also from the perspective of "how it can change on-site staffing and task sequencing."

This article explains the benefits of using RTK on construction sites, organized into six effects from the perspective of labor-saving. It also introduces common pitfalls that are easy to overlook during implementation and practical approaches to using RTK to achieve results in actual work. If you know the term RTK but still don’t have a concrete sense of how it can lead to on-site improvements, please use this to grasp the overall picture.

Table of Contents

• Why RTK Is Gaining Attention on Construction Sites

• Effect 1: Makes it easier for a single person to carry out positioning and on-site verification

• Effect 2 Can reduce wasted movement and waiting time

• Effect 3: Reduce rework from layout marking and as-built verification

• Effect 4: Makes it easier to complete on-site decisions immediately

• Effect 5: Standardizing records reduces dependence on individuals

• Effect 6 Multiple processes can be linked to make overall optimization easier

• Precautions When Introducing Labor-Saving Measures

• Summary

Why RTK Is Gaining Attention at Construction Sites

The reason RTK is attracting attention on construction sites is that the reality cannot be explained away as merely streamlining simple surveying tasks. In the past, on-site positioning and checks could be handled by several people dividing roles around an experienced person. However, today it is necessary to run sites with fewer people while maintaining the same quality, and the disparity in workload between staff has grown large. The tasks site personnel are responsible for—schedule management, safety management, photo management, as-built verification, coordination with partner companies—are only increasing.

In such situations, the biggest losses come not from the measuring work itself but from "people gathering to measure," "waiting for confirmation," and "information being dispersed, causing decisions to be delayed." For example, if more than one person is required just to check a position, or a decision can't be made until measurement results are taken back to the office, small time losses accumulate daily. Over the course of the entire project, those losses cannot be ignored.

The strength of RTK lies in its ability to reduce such procedural waste. When high-precision positional information can be handled on-site immediately, the flow from verification, decision-making, recording, to sharing can be shortened. In other words, the value of RTK is not “it’s convenient because it’s highly accurate,” but “it’s convenient because it shortens on-site workflows and reduces personnel movement, waiting, and rechecks.”

Also, RTK is characterized by being easy to extend not only to the pre-construction preparation stage but also to various on-site situations such as progress checks during construction, verification of as-built conditions, management of temporary structures and material locations, and daily monitoring of current site conditions. The wide scope of applications means it can lead not to a one-off labor saving but to a reduction in workforce across the entire site. Rather than speeding up only a single process, if verification tasks can be eased across multiple processes, the site can ultimately be operated more smoothly with fewer people.

Furthermore, because RTK can treat data as coordinates, it has the advantage of making on-site information that tends to rely on intuition or verbal transmission easier to preserve in a form that is easy to compare. This is meaningful in enabling work to proceed with consistent accuracy even when a skilled worker is not always present. Reducing personnel is not simply about cutting the number of people, but about changing the system so operations can be handled by fewer people. RTK is expected to serve as a means to support the creation of such systems.

Effect 1 Easier to carry out positioning and on-site checks alone

One of the major advantages of using RTK on construction sites is that it expands the range of tasks that can be carried out by a single person. Traditionally, position setting and on-site checks often required multiple people—an equipment operator, someone to verify the target position, someone to give signals from a distance, and so on. Of course, depending on site conditions, multiple people are still necessary in some cases, but by utilizing RTK the "parts that can be checked by one person" increase.

For example, when you want to check the construction location, grasp the positional relationship between the current ground and temporary structures, or see deviations from the design coordinates, the first requirement is to determine with high accuracy where the target is. If RTK can be used, it becomes easier to perform that check on site in a nearly singlehanded manner. This reduces the number of times you need to call other personnel and shortens the waiting time for backup.

The significance of this effect is not just a reduction in headcount, but a change in how personnel allocate their time. If a verification task that previously required two people can be completed by one, the other person can move on to a different process. As a result, the overall ability to work in parallel across the site increases. In workplaces facing labor shortages, this makes a very large difference.

The fact that work can be carried out by a single person also makes it easier to perform checks frequently. Even in situations that in the past would have been deferred with the attitude “it’s not worth gathering people, so we’ll check everything later,” RTK allows you to verify things at the moment they become a concern. Frequent checks lead to early detection of mistakes and minimize their impact on downstream processes. Reducing manpower and ensuring quality may seem to be in conflict, but with the use of RTK they can more easily be achieved together.

Furthermore, ideal staffing cannot always be achieved on site. Sudden absences or overlaps with other tasks can mean experienced personnel are not always present. In such situations, sites where many tasks can be carried out by a single person are stronger. RTK can make parts of the work closer to a self-contained, single-person workflow, so the process is less likely to be constrained by personnel availability.

Of course, not all tasks can be fully performed solo. In places where safety checks are required or for work that needs coordination with the surroundings, collaboration among multiple people is indispensable. However, even just reducing the number of situations where two people were needed solely for confirmation produces a clear labor-saving effect. RTK should be considered not as a tool to forcibly change on-site staffing, but as a tool that makes it easier to carry out work with limited personnel; thinking of it this way makes the rationale for its adoption easier to see.

Effect 2: Reduce wasted movement and waiting

The causes of reduced productivity at construction sites are not limited to the time spent on the tasks themselves. Significant losses also come from personnel having to move back and forth across the site repeatedly, waiting on site to carry out checks, and waiting for other personnel to arrive. RTK is effective in reducing these wasted movements and waiting.

On-site, it is common to go to the location once for measurements or checks, notice missing information, return to the office, and then go back to the site again. Alternatively, even if the measurements themselves are complete, the person who can make decisions based on those results may be elsewhere, so contacting them or reconfirming can take time. Although each of these small round trips may be short, they become a significant burden over days or weeks.

By leveraging RTK, you can obtain location information on the spot and more easily use it as a basis for decision-making on-site. Because necessary checks can be completed in the field, unnecessary round trips are reduced. For example, if you can handle on-site tasks such as confirming construction locations, checking for post-construction deviations, and identifying temporary storage locations, the need to "travel later to verify" decreases. This directly leads to labor savings, because at sites with staffing shortages, the time spent traveling directly causes delays in other tasks.

The reduction in waiting time should not be overlooked. With conventional methods, work sometimes cannot begin until several people are present to carry out checks. Even if one person is ready, they may be unable to start until another person arrives. By expanding the range that can be checked by an individual or a small team, RTK reduces this waiting. Because waiting time produces nothing, the reduction directly translates into improved productivity.

Also, when travel and waiting are reduced, the fatigue of field staff is also reduced. When people talk about labor reduction, attention tends to focus on headcount, but in reality it is also important how much you can reduce the burden per person. Sites with frequent movement and long waiting times tend to disrupt workers' mental state and work rhythm. When RTK shortens the verification flow, it becomes easier to concentrate on tasks and to maintain the quality of decision-making.

To enhance this effect, it is important not only to use RTK as a standalone positioning device but also to integrate it into daily on-site operations. For example, by standardizing morning checks, pre-construction position confirmations, and post-work verifications, reductions in movement and waiting time become more consistently realized. Rather than viewing RTK as a tool to speed up a single measurement, it is more effective when regarded as a foundation for reducing unnecessary movements on site.

Effect 3: Reduce rework in layout marking and as-built verification

One thing that cannot be overlooked when considering labor reduction is the reduction of rework. On construction sites, even if you reduce the number of people performing the work, if rework increases you will ultimately still need manpower. To operate a site with a small crew, it is important to improve the accuracy of initial checks and create conditions that make later corrections unlikely. RTK makes a major contribution to reducing such rework.

The benefits are particularly visible in tasks involving positioning. Layout marking, confirming installation positions, and post-construction as-built verification—all of these can be greatly affected by whether the relationship between coordinates and on-site locations is correctly understood. Even small discrepancies can impact subsequent work stages and may require additional manpower and time for correction. If RTK can improve the accuracy of on-site position verification, such discrepancies can be detected at an earlier stage.

What’s important here is that RTK is not a technology that eliminates mistakes, but a technology that makes it easier to stop mistakes before they grow large. For example, if you notice something off about a position during construction and can check it on the spot, the correction will be minor. However, without a way to verify, the problem may be discovered after work has progressed, increasing the scope of rework. RTK supports labor savings by minimizing such backtracking.

It is also important to speed up as-built verification. On sites where verification is delayed, defects are discovered late. If discovery is delayed, related processes will already have moved forward, increasing the adjustments required for correction. This is not just a problem for the construction crew; it becomes a burden that pulls in managers and subcontractors as well. If verification can be brought forward with RTK, it becomes easier to reduce the costs of involving the entire site.

Furthermore, reducing rework also lessens the training burden. On small crews, less experienced staff may take on part of the work. In such cases, whether an environment exists that makes verification easy affects how mistakes occur. With RTK, it becomes easier to verify positions using location data rather than relying solely on intuition and experience, making it easier to lower the frequency of retraining and rework. In the long run, this also has a positive impact on on-site workforce development.

Rework increases not only the directly visible working time but also peripheral tasks such as reporting, consultations, rescheduling, and rechecking. Therefore, reducing rework through RTK has effects beyond superficial time savings. If you are serious about reducing manpower, you need to create a flow of "decide it right the first time," "notice early," and "make small corrections," and RTK is a powerful means to achieve that.

Effect 4: On-site decision-making becomes easier to complete on the spot

In efforts to reduce manpower at construction sites, not only the number of workers but also the time involved in decision-making is important. On site, work can be halted because the person who takes measurements is different from the person who makes decisions. If the workflow continues—for example, taking measurement results back for confirmation, sharing them with another person in charge and waiting for instructions, or reconfirming them in a meeting before proceeding—the site becomes difficult to operate with a small crew.

The advantage of RTK is that it makes it easier to translate positioning results into on-site decisions. You can confirm position and height on site, making it easier to decide on necessary corrections or next steps right there. For example, decisions such as whether the construction location has deviated from the plan, whether the placement of temporary facilities is causing an obstruction, or whether it’s safe to proceed to the next process can be made more quickly the sooner positional information is obtained.

This characteristic of being easy to complete on-site reduces the amount of information that needs to be communicated in the field. It cuts down on the effort of repeatedly explaining inspection results verbally or aligning understandings by comparing drawings with the actual site. Of course, final approvals and record organization are still necessary, but at the very least, faster initial judgments can shorten the time the site is halted.

Furthermore, speeding up on-site decision-making is also effective for responding to changes in weather and surrounding conditions. On construction sites there are always elements that do not go as planned, such as weather conditions, delivery status, the operating status of heavy equipment, and coordination with other work sections. Therefore, to run a site with a small crew, it is important to be able to make immediate decisions in response to unexpected situations. Rapid position verification with RTK makes it easier to accommodate plan changes and changes to work arrangements.

If on-site decision-making is slow, those in charge tend to staff with extra personnel just in case. This is to avoid work coming to a halt while waiting for decisions. However, that hinders progress toward labor reduction. By introducing RTK and making it easier to obtain on-site the information that underlies decisions, you can avoid keeping excessive standby personnel. This has a much greater effect than simply shortening task times.

Furthermore, faster decision-making also contributes to psychological reassurance on site. On small crews, a single hesitation can cause the entire workflow to stall. By keeping the ability to confirm positions with high precision at any time, personnel will not leave doubts unaddressed; they can verify on the spot and proceed. As a result, the overall tempo of the site becomes easier to maintain. RTK is effective not only for measuring but also as a decision-making foundation to keep the site moving.

Effect 5: Standardizing Records Can Reduce Reliance on Individuals

At worksites where reducing manpower is difficult, a common issue is that tasks depend on specific individuals. If only a particular person knows the positions, only that person can interpret the current conditions, or decisions can only be made by asking that person, the worksite is likely to come to a halt when staff are short. RTK is also effective as a way to reduce this reliance on individuals.

The reason is that location information is easier to record in the common language of coordinates. Because information can be left in a form that anyone can easily compare, it reduces the reliance on verbal explanations and personal impressions. Of course many on-site judgments require experience, but even so, if the basic location information is organized, handovers and sharing become significantly easier.

For example, if you record temporary structure locations, pre- and post-construction conditions, the survey points checked, and locations where problems occurred on a coordinate basis, it becomes easier to track site conditions even when the person in charge changes. This also helps with handovers after holidays, coordination among multiple crews, and aligning understanding with subcontractors. By standardizing records, you can reduce situations where nothing can be decided unless experienced personnel are on site.

Standardizing recordkeeping also helps prevent omissions during inspections. When the granularity of checks differs between people, one person may look very closely while another may skip necessary checks. By using RTK to standardize what is checked and how records are kept, it becomes easier to reduce variability in work quality. To promote labor-saving measures, it is essential to have a reproducible way of working that can be carried out by a small number of people.

Furthermore, when records are standardized, later verification becomes easier. Being able to trace why a decision was made and at what time and location a position was checked allows for faster responses when problems arise. This is also important to prevent repeating the same mistakes. In workplaces where knowledge is tied to individuals, the causes of problems remain only in personal memories, making it difficult to implement improvements. RTK-based records are valuable in that they provide material for improvement.

Standardizing recordkeeping may seem unremarkable, but it is actually the foundation for reducing labor. On sites with sufficient staff, verbal confirmations and accompaniment by experienced personnel can sometimes suffice. However, to operate reliably with a small team, you need a system that allows anyone to carry out tasks to a consistent standard. RTK serves as the recordkeeping foundation that supports that system.

Effect 6: Connecting multiple processes makes overall optimization easier

The labor-saving effects of RTK are not limited to the efficiency of a single task. Rather, the real benefit is that it makes it easier to connect multiple processes. On construction sites, preparation, setting out, construction, verification, recording, and correction form a continuous flow. Even if one process alone becomes faster, overall efficiency will not improve if coordination with other processes is poor. RTK reduces breaks in information between processes and makes it easier to pursue overall optimization.

For example, if the location information confirmed before construction can be used continuously for checks during construction and for as-built verification after construction, the need to re-measure the same information repeatedly is reduced. Even if personnel change, using coordinates as a reference makes it easier to link work, thereby minimizing differences in understanding between each process. This makes it easier to reduce the need for additional staff for verification and the effort required for re-explanation.

Also, when information is connected across processes, the way work is scheduled changes. Even in situations where, traditionally, the next process could not move forward until the previous one was completely finished, if the necessary checks can be done earlier with RTK, it becomes easier to bring forward preparations for the next process. This is extremely important for small crews, because when each person fulfills multiple roles, the ability to properly coordinate overlapping processes has a major impact on productivity.

Furthermore, as overall optimization progresses, the on-site management burden is reduced. Progress checks, corrective actions, and preparation of discussion materials become more complicated the more fragmented the processes are. When position information can be handled consistently by RTK, it becomes easier for managers to grasp the situation, and the need to visit the site repeatedly for confirmations is reduced. This leads to reduced workload not only for on-site personnel but also for managers.

The important point here is not to confine RTK to a "positioning tool." The value at a construction site lies less in the act of measuring itself and more in how the measured results are used across the entire process. Rather than using it only for setting out positions, linking it to tasks such as on-site checks during construction, daily records, comparisons of as-built conditions, and organizing handover documentation produces greater labor-saving effects.

Running a site with a small team cannot rely solely on the efforts of individual personnel—there are limits to what they can achieve. What’s needed is a flow in which the entire process is connected and unnecessary checks and duplicated work are unlikely to occur. RTK is a technology that makes it easier to shape that flow. If introduced not as a local efficiency improvement but as a means to raise the overall work density of the site, you are more likely to realize greater effects.

Key Considerations When Introducing Labor-Saving Measures

So far we have looked at the benefits of RTK, but simply implementing it does not automatically reduce manpower. To achieve results, you need to design how it will be used to suit the site. In particular, be careful not to let installing equipment become an end in itself. What the site needs is not the possession of a high-precision positioning environment, but a reduction in workload and faster verification. Therefore, when introducing it, it is important to first clarify "which tasks you want to make easier for one person to handle" and "which waiting times you want to reduce."

Also, because RTK is affected by the surrounding environment, it cannot be used in the same way at every site. You need to understand the conditions under which it can be used reliably, taking into account sky visibility, the communications environment, surrounding obstructions, and operational rules. If you introduce it based only on expectations, it may not work as well in actual field conditions as you anticipated, and could instead increase the amount of verification required. To reduce staffing, it is important to identify in advance the situations where it can be used and those where it is difficult to use.

Moreover, it is essential to make operations manageable for the staff in charge. If the operation is too difficult or the recording method too complicated, ultimately only a handful of specialists will be able to handle it. That will not eliminate dependence on specific individuals. If you are aiming for a small-team operation, it is important to streamline procedures so that anyone can follow a consistent flow for verification.

Additionally, you must decide how to record and retain the information obtained by RTK. If you stop at merely measuring, it will not lead to improvements at the site. By clearly specifying at what points you will check what, how you will share it, and what decisions it will inform, the labor-saving benefits will finally take hold. If the handling of the data is ambiguous, the high-precision information will remain on individuals’ devices and will not be utilized across the entire site.

And balancing this with safety is also important. Making single-person operations easier is a major advantage, but that does not mean such work should be carried out alone even in hazardous areas. The approach should be to increase the tasks that can be performed solo only after ensuring safety. Streamlining personnel is not about reducing headcount, but about being able to place the right people where they are needed. RTK should be introduced as a tool to increase the available options for that purpose.

Summary

The benefits of using RTK on construction sites are not simply that it provides high-precision position information. The real value lies in increasing the number of tasks that can be handled by a single person, reducing wasted movement and waiting, minimizing rework, speeding up on-site decision-making, standardizing record-keeping, and making it easier to connect multiple processes. As these effects accumulate, it becomes easier to run a site with fewer people, laying a practical foundation for labor-saving.

Addressing labor shortages cannot be sustained by simply compressing tasks. Only when work is easy to check, easy to share, easy to hand over, and involves little rework will small-team operations become stable. RTK is a powerful means of creating those conditions. If you are looking to improve productivity at construction sites going forward, it is important to view RTK not merely as a positioning technology but as a system for reexamining site workflows.

If you want to make RTK more practical on site, portability, ease of handling, and how easily it can be integrated into daily work are also important decision criteria. From that perspective, iPhone-mounted high-precision GNSS positioning devices such as LRTK are also a strong option. Because they make it easier to fold on-site position checks, recording, and sharing into everyday operations, those aiming to use RTK to reduce manpower at construction sites should consider implementation methods in detail, including how the devices can be reused in actual work.