In one of 2015's hottest construction industry trends, drones, wearable devices and augmented reality are making contractors' lives easier when out on a job.

With drones, contractors are able to record on-site progress faster than ever by sticking a camera on a drone to easily (and cheaply) capture aerial images. Drones are also the perfect tool to inspect dangerous and hard-to-reach areas, such as checking concrete dams for cracks.

Augmented reality is no longer reserved for gaming, either, as contractors use building information modeling (BIM) to easily conceptualize 3D reality. It's been a decade-old practice to take drawings and spreadsheets and translate them into 3D, drawing on human interpretation to get the real-life execution right. With BIM, this is no longer necessary.

And those wearing smart watches or glasses can stream and receive information instantly. With smart glasses—which include a video camera—a worker on-site can broadcast the task back to the office, opening up new forms of collaboration. [TRD]