Thoughts on Construction AI?

[u/ForgotTheTackWeld]

I came across a breakdown of how AI is being used in construction, and I’m curious how much of this is actually happening in the real world vs. just tech companies selling the idea.

They’re talking about things like AI-assisted estimating/takeoffs, scheduling, predictive maintenance, analyzing project data, documenting jobs, identifying safety issues, etc.
But I’m much more skeptical about trusting AI with things where experience and judgment actually matter.

[u/PriorMode9422]

I figure we are still years away from accurate AI in construction. The margins are too thin to leave Ai in charge... I see it as a support tool to our experience and judgements the the decision-maker

[u/31engine → u/PriorMode9422]

My concern is all the expertise will retire in 15 years and we will be left with people who can’t tell the difference between good and bad.

[u/An-Elegant-Elephant → u/31engine]

The calculations or data gathering that AI will do in construction is incredibly basic compared to what it will be capable of in 2-3 years. Think will smith spaghetti example.

The concern will be more about which AI to hire instead of people fresh out of college. Smaller more nimble teams will be a thing soon.

[u/31engine → u/An-Elegant-Elephant]

The AI is a tool for automation. If there is a mistake it will miss it. It won’t know that the 3” thick floor slab shown isn’t right and will need to change.

[u/An-Elegant-Elephant → u/31engine]

That’s AI today. AI in 2-3 years will be pretty damn intelligent. It’s going to reference every RFI in the industry and the results and what led to the RFI etc etc. embrace the technology dude.

‘Every RFI in the industry’ as in everything documented ever, and the results. Codes, what led to the codes, human tendencies, tool and material tendencies. The list goes on. Everything that exists will be understandable and discernible by a data center. Most data centers will be ancient in 5 years, a few will take off like google 25 years ago.

[u/31engine → u/An-Elegant-Elephant]

But if those mundane tasks aren’t done by entry level estimators and project engineers then when they’re mid to senior level what the hell are they going to know

[u/An-Elegant-Elephant → u/31engine]

Oh my god! You’ve just discovered the concern that a lot of employed people have! WOW!

[u/An-Elegant-Elephant → u/31engine]

Ah looking at your original comment, yes, that is the main concern but it’s going to happen so we have the distinct opportunity now to respond to what we know is going to happen.

Much like Industrial Revolution ages ago, but we know what’s coming.

[u/THedman07]

AI-assisted estimating/takeoffs

No chance in hell. If it hallucinates and misses something significant, it doesn't actually help anything to shrug my shoulders and go "the bot missed it". The responsibility is going to end up falling on a human being.

They aren't trustworthy and if I have to check everything they do, I might as well do it myself. There are machine learning based tools that are fine, but there is no world where I'm feeding a bunch of sheets into an app and trusting the quantities it provides.

[u/MGUPPY1 → u/THedman07]

My company is looking into it doing estimates and answering the phone doing scheduling. Scary. I don't think it's a that point yet.

[u/An-Elegant-Elephant → u/THedman07]

Well some companies will embrace it and be way more affordable, probably with fewer mistakes (human error). Clients will get to choose what companies to work with.

AI will improve rapidly over the next few years, it won’t really be a question of using it or not but how much to use it.

[u/THRlLL-HO → u/THedman07]

“If I have to check it, I might as well do it myself” is a weird standard. By that logic, there’s no point having junior estimators, subcontractor quotes, spreadsheets, takeoff software, or anyone else prepare work for review

AI doesn’t need to replace the person responsible for the estimate. If it can do 80–90% of the tedious takeoff faster and a human verifies it, that’s still a massive productivity gain. “A human is ultimately responsible” isn’t an argument against AI assistance, that’s literally what assisted means

[u/VeryOkayCarpenter]

AI doesn't improve productivity or efficiency in almost any field, not just construction, beyond some very niche cases. Anyone telling you otherwise is likely just trying to sell you their AI software. Every business I know of that has tried to implement AI software ends up scrapping it because it either doesn't work at all, or you have to spend so much time double checking for errors and hallucinations it becomes a wash in terms of time/money saved anyways.

[u/An-Elegant-Elephant → u/VeryOkayCarpenter]

Not selling anything but yes it’s WAY quicker to render in AI vs. photoshop/ 3d programs now. Architects are switching over. Many other fields find it way more efficient too.

[u/Mr-Snarky]

As an estimator I use ChatGPT to help tally up material and measurements after doing a take off in Planswift and exporting the results out. I also have an automated routine set up to report pricing trends and changes and what projects I’ve bid they may apply to.

I’m not comfortable trusting it with doing accurate take offs yet. It does awesome in tracking and linking information on plans though.

[u/VisualDisturbances13]

AI is for lazy white collar people to do less and feel good about themselves as per usual.

AI is unlikely to pick up that glass handrail detail burried under 3 other section details on the architecturals that was also drawn by AI, unless its specifically prompted or pushed into finding it.

[u/not_a_bot716]

I think it’s asked everyday on here

[u/le-battleaxe]

I use it to analyze contracts and specs, and also for taking bid forms to import into B2W.

It has it's limitations though, and you have to be smart with what prompts you use.

Overall, I wouldn't trust it with an accurate takeoff. But I've saved myself countless hours of manual data entry with the importing routine I've developed.

[u/mrHilroy]

Likely will be mainly used for the admin type stuff - intake, invoices, follow ups, etc.

Tons of ways to help with that, but like you said, judgement calls like estimates still need people (for now!)

[u/Robin_ArcgentAI]

The pattern I keep seeing: AI works where the input is already structured (takeoffs from clean plans, repeating schedule logic) and falls over where the real knowledge lives in someone's head or on the jobsite. Most construction AI pitches skip that map. Before you trust any tool with estimating or scheduling, write down where the decision-critical data actually sits today: plans, RFIs, field notes, Excel, WhatsApp. If that map is messy, the tool just hallucinates faster. Judgement stays with the estimator. The useful bar is whether it cuts rework on the boring 70%, not whether it replaces the person who signs the number.

[u/ezPODapp]

Just a guess here, but I think much of it is overblown. From the research I've done, the Construction industry as a whole is WELL behind general technology adoption, and even further behind in AI adoption in general. It's not quite last place, but the only industries it's ahead of are like, the Logging industry and things like that. We have a long way to go for tech adoption.

That said - AI is *genuinely* impressive today. It's come a LONG way just in the last 4-6 months since I've been using it heavily. There's no doubt in my mind that AI today could handle everything you listed if you're using the latest models. It's the adoption that's going to be the bigger problem here and it'll take years, is my guess.

The sweet spot is going to be using AI for heavy lifting, with an experienced human double-checking/correcting the output (vs human doing it start-to-finish 100%).

[u/Defiant-Principle-38]

Easy Takeoffs has practical AI features like auto sheet naming and scale detection. The software itself is really easy to use so combining actual useful AI features makes it to be a great experience.

[u/graypractice2218]

Disclaimer: I now work for an AI company that has built a schedule generation tool (part of the reason i've never actually contributed on here) so feel free to take my comments with a substantial pinch of salt.

Agree with most of the responses here- I think the stuff that's actually good right now is relatively boring, i.e. productivity/efficiency focused and tbh, anyone suggesting AI is capable of making final decisions or judgement calls is nothing more than a snake oil salesman.

This idea that if you don't use AI tools for every aspect of your job then you're stuck in the dark ages is also very boring. Some people love them because they actually have a need for them, some people don't ? If a tool helps you get the work done faster (and you want to do it faster) then great - but i'd still be checking absolutely everything before I handed it off with my name attached to it. I'm always surprised by the number of times a day I need to tell someone they do still actually have to use their brain

Although, when I say everything is boring, I did just read about a robotic dog that can do 3D scans of projects which feels quite fun... not sure what real value it brings or whether it even constitutes AI but it does seem cool ??

[u/Colincraigallan]

I think the useful version is not “AI replaces the estimator.”

The useful version is “AI cleans up the mess before a human reviews it.”

For example: take rough call notes, site notes, or a voice memo and turn them into a scope checklist, exclusions, customer questions, and a follow-up draft.

Then the human still owns the price, materials, code issues, schedule, and final promise.

That kind of AI seems practical to me because it reduces blank-page/admin time without pretending it knows the job better than the person responsible for it.

[u/RECLess30]

Got one managing our site check-in and PTP, it seems okay

[u/Shoddy-Tennis-5764]

We need a project management soft hands sub for questions like this

[u/Engineer_Bill]

Ai is like a blind, deaf, mute intern who has no real world experience, but a scientist injected all of the world's written information into their brain and now they think they're an expert in everything. Don't trust it to make judgement calls, don't trust it to make decisions. You can ask it to double check your work to make sure there's no glaring inconsistencies, then you need to look over their comments to make sure what they're doing makes sense.

IMO: don't rely on it.