We have all heard about AI in construction, especially in the last 7 years. The term has been used as a favorite “disruptor” in the Contech space for nearly a decade, but with little to no practical adoption. But times are changing.
Artificial intelligence isn’t just for content creation or image manipulation; is a powerful asset that should be part of any team’s daily work toolkit. Innovative preconstruction teams are already reaping the practical benefits of AI on projects every day.
Flintco, one of North America’s leading contractors, is a leader in the technology and innovation sector. Their goal is to make projects safer and more efficient, with high-quality results for owners.
In a recent case study, Flintco discussed their use of AI and what led to implementing the technology in their preconstruction teams. They identified the process of moving from preconstruction to field operations as an area that could benefit from a process upgrade. Flintco looked at RFIs, construction capability reviews and how information applied during pre-construction could help operations teams provide more schedule and budget certainty for owners.
Flintco applies constructability reviews to its projects based on risk, complexity and size. These reviews are typically done at the DD and CD stages in conjunction with the preparation of estimates for your pre-construction teams. Flintco applies subject matter experts in areas such as building service systems, building enclosures and structural systems to review drawings alongside the pre-construction team. Therefore, if elements of the project require quality checks, they can consider costs around those of their first estimates.
This is where Flintco sees the most value and achieves at least 3 key benefits:
1. Efficiency
Manually reviewing a set of plans can take up to three weeks, depending on their size. Firmus AI can complete a full analysis in as little as 48 hours.
Michael Thole, Director of Corporate Quality
“Firmus AI meticulously completes the most repetitive ‘mundane’ tasks required during a review with great efficiency and accuracy,” said Michael Thole, director of corporate quality at Flintco. “Using Firmus allows our pre-construction teams to focus on the technical aspects of the design while providing reliable and thorough plan verification of the drawing set.”
2. Mitigation of risks
Contractors often work on initial work packages and procurements when the design is not fully completed, which poses an obvious challenge to operations.
Flintco used Firmus AI before putting a large glass and curtain wall package on the street. The glass schedule displayed various curtain wall glass systems, display cases and glass panes by color code to help identify placement.
Firmus AI flagged multiple inconsistencies in the set of drawings where curtain wall systems were incorrectly labeled as cased glass. Flintco’s pre-construction team was able to quickly review the design documents and verify the unique quantities needed before purchase. The result improves “first time quality” in the field.
Flintco also uses Firmus AI to review and confirm civil and mechanical scope, such as checking that the pipe entering a building and the pipe inside are the same diameter, for example. Addressing these types of details during pre-construction, before operations are mobilized on-site, helps project teams provide more schedule certainty for owners and potentially eliminate costly work.
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