How ADCO is constructing new ways of working in an age-old industry

“My IT skills are less than satisfactory,” says foreman Don Geale, with a grin. “I’m old school and I still do a lot of it the old-school way.”

While daring designs like rooftop infinity pools tend to get a lot of press (despite some logistical challenges), ADCO’s hospitals, schools, and commercial facilities are foundational for communities across Australia. With the company’s tally over 3,500 projects valued at ten billion US dollars, ADCO’s footprint is deep and broad. Even still, they see room for progress in the way they work.

“In the past, there was a strong sense of construction being allergic to technology,” Doug Zuzic, Chief Information Officer of ADCO, says. “But times are changing.”

ADCO has completely rebuilt the way designers and engineers interact with site managers, using Dropbox to share and communicate around assets like contracts, blueprints, and reference photos. What once took up forty file servers now lives in the cloud.

“When I first used Dropbox, it was easy. It was just easy,” Geale says.

There’s plenty at stake for ADCO. “When all the costs are on the builder, missing a couple documents is the difference between a profitable project and one that’s not so good,” says Glen Blamey, Senior Design Manager. “If a drawing or document is on Dropbox, we know it’s accurate.”

For more detail on ADCO’s journey with Dropbox, read our case study here.