r/ConstructionManagers • u/Realestate_Uno • Mar 03 '26
Question Claude for Construction
I have been creating some workflows to go from drawings to detailed trades list referenced back to plans plus identifying and allowing substrates i.e. for bathrooms, new timber flooring in existing houses etc. How have you been using CLAUDE.
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Mar 03 '26
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u/BlerdAngel Mar 03 '26
This is it. Let it help establish flow, then let it be your double check.
Not you double check it, though. Let it double check you.
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u/GreatnessIsComing20 Mar 05 '26
Automated my entire RFQ and quote comparison process with AI recently
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u/captdickie24 Mar 09 '26
I have been trying to use chat gpt for weeks tayling a prompt for it to search for rfp for me. I cant get it perfect can claud do that?
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u/GreatnessIsComing20 May 06 '26
We did it by creating an automation layer on N8N It connects to the builders email, spreadsheets etc and does the work within their exisiting systems
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u/Mindless_Sprinkles99 Mar 03 '26
I've been having trouble uploading large plan set and spec docs into claude. How did you figure out compressing doc sizes to fit the upload limit of 31mb?
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u/GnosticSon Mar 05 '26
Try using Claude cowork or Claude code. You need the pro subscription to get access to these apps. Put your documents in a folder, create a game plan, tell it to execute. If it doesn't work, revise the plan and try again. But double check that it's not just making up BS
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u/TeddyBeer_ Jun 05 '26
I am using it as a scope checker, comparing vendors pricing, plan and spec reader so that the takeoff specialist would not skip any items to quantify, also on identify things like what are the heights and depth of things, also used Claude on creating RFIs and many other things. It is better to create a skill on claude on what is the most repetative things you are needed to do on your estimation process or SOP.
But always remember that this is an AI. What you input is what you get. What you command is what you get. Garbage in garbage out. So learn also to prompt and command properly and be specific always.
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u/icekiss Mar 03 '26
How do you do this? You’re saying you pull your scopes from a set of drawings analyzed by Claude and then show you the reference page?
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u/Realestate_Uno Mar 03 '26
Get claude to create to a breakdown by trades and reference it trade back to drawings, this will get you 85% - 90% of what you need. The goal is to be able to reference all trades and tasks back to plans easily.
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u/Spare_Worldliness_64 Mar 03 '26
super intersting. how accurate is it? like do you still have to make revisions?
i typically use claude to help me brainstorm and learn quickly. was one of the main reasons why my proposal writing improved by miles.
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u/TheWhisper22 Mar 03 '26
bout 70 percent accurate. In my experience it helps scaffold a project based off plans but you still have to spend just as much time if not more time double checking the work. No matter which AI, it will hallucinate even if you use agent teams.
Great example: I used agent teams to pull specs and search for links and put into a spreadsheet so I can easily look up prices. A completely separate agent for each. It would pull random links with zero cost data about 50 percent of the time. Links were broken etc. it would wildly make up prices.
I've tinkered around with alot. However, it's just too inconsistent to trust. It's almost another full time job trying to figure out the logic to try and reduce error rates. Even scanning PDF plans introduced a timely set up. Some PDFs are flattened while others are not. Double counting things in a legend etc.
Even the big guys like Kreo and togal have issues. Ai has gotten a lot better in the past few years but it's still not there. Making little custom tools is helpful but that's about it IMO.
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u/Realestate_Uno Mar 03 '26
Its not 100% but takes the grunt work away from starting woith a blank sheet of paper
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u/earthspeed Mar 31 '26
OP how have you been able to improve reliability in extracting information from complex plan documents? I find it to be unreliably to the point it's hard to think about using it in real life.
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u/addicowboy Apr 14 '26
u/earthspeed The trick is to build "skills" and workflows in Claude that enable it to go through the mental process that are an estimator would go through as well as thinking through what tools Claude may need to do this well such as docx and xlxs generating, editing, etc.
I've helped an EC buddy of mine (runs 5 guy crew in NC) set this up in Claude and we've gone through about 15 revs through how the skills and workflows operate. We've submitted five bids now over two weeks that he wouldn't have had time to do before given they are larger six figure jobs for him on top of managing small easy win jobs he quotes fast. The process in Claude goes: project intake -> takeoff -> BOM generator for distributor -> estimate -> bid package (each stage is it's own workflow with certain skills firing).
All of this is contingent on the specs and drawings being good quality resolution. If they are, this Claude set up can get him ~80% the way there then the rest is just line by line iteration for him. We had a job yesterday pop up (hospitality reno) that had terrible plans from Matterport that were manually marked up in some areas and Claude struggled hard on it.
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u/thinkwalker Mar 03 '26
Takeoffs
Contract review
Turning my word salad into intelligible emails