Contractors using AI programs to speed up construction
TAMPA, Fla. - Construction sites are all over the Bay Area, and now, artificial intelligence is helping the builders.
AI isn't doing the actual construction, but it is changing the way contractors execute an architect's plans.
Jake Kobuta of Reynolds Paint Group has seen his job remade by artificial intelligence. To paint buildings up and down and inside and out, it used to take actual tools and hard time.
"(It used to take) ten minutes just to do one corridor and one bedroom," said Kobuta. "And this building probably has eight corridors and 360 bedrooms."
But today, the same plans go into a program called Togal AI. Artificial intelligence can scope out exactly how much paint will be needed.
Reynolds Painting Group has done the bulk of the buildings on Water St. using AI. They can give quotes in hours or days, as compared to weeks or months.
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"Reducing the time in your ability to get more stuff done more efficiently and more accurately means everything," said Callahan Reynolds of Reynolds Painting Group.
AI technology in construction can be used for much more than paint. It can help contractors working on big projects, like the Ritz-Carlton residences on Bayshore, measure all of their materials, know how much to order, and even, how many people to hire.
"It starts with planning. A lot of our material takes a long time to get," said Phillip Duame of Coastal Construction. "We have to have accurate measurements in order to (get) that up front."
Anthony Fox of Tampa-based STL Services uses it to take measurements by interweaving 120 pictures of every inch of a construction site, so managers know everything is in place before they pour concrete.
"This saves countless hours and it saves countless dollars because every deck that you use a tape measure on, there's bound to be mistakes."
Coastal Construction says their AI program has saved them 10,000 hours of work and more than $1 million in just a year.
The only thing AI can't do is stop RPG's paint from getting dirty, which is a product feature they're glad hasn't been invented yet.
"Well, then it's (an) opportunity to get it repainted," said Kobuta.
The "Associated General Contractors of America" awarded Miami-based Coastal Construction an innovator's award for designing the Togal AI program.
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