AI and automation for engineering and construction
AI for engineering and construction, where the paperwork is the project
RFIs, drawings, variations, site records and handover documentation — the administration that surrounds building things, and where automation and AI can carry a real share of it.
The situation
The build is on site. The project runs on documents.
Delay and dispute in construction rarely come from the physical work. They come from information — the wrong revision, the RFI nobody answered, the variation nobody recorded.
- Work done to a superseded drawing revision
- RFIs tracked in a spreadsheet and chased by email
- Site records captured on paper and typed up days later
- Variations agreed verbally and argued about at final account
- Handover documentation assembled in a panic at the end
- Programme, cost and site reality kept in three separate places
What it covers
Where automation and AI fit
Document control and site capture first. Both are unglamorous and both are where the disputes originate.
Document and revision control
One current revision, visible to everyone, with superseded versions retained but unmistakable.
RFI and submittal workflow
Raised, routed, escalated on age and answered against a record, rather than chased through inboxes.
Site capture
Progress, snags, photographs and sign-offs recorded where the work happens, working offline and syncing later.
Document interrogation
Asking questions of specifications, contracts and drawings and getting an answer with the source cited. A genuine AI use, with the source always shown.
Variations and cost
Change captured when it is agreed rather than reconstructed at final account.
Handover and O&M
Assembled as the job proceeds instead of compiled at the end from whatever can be found.
How we work
How an engagement runs
Site-first. A system that is slower than the paper it replaces will be quietly abandoned, whatever the reporting benefits.
Follow one package
Trace a single work package from drawing to handover and find where information is lost or duplicated.
Fix document control
Revision discipline before anything clever. Most of the expensive problems trace back to it.
Capture at the point of work
Get site data recorded once, offline-capable, by the people doing the work.
Add retrieval and drafting
Once the documents are controlled and searchable, AI retrieval over them becomes genuinely useful.
Outcomes
What it can be worth
- One current revision, so work to a superseded drawing stops happening
- RFI ageing visible, so escalation happens before it becomes delay
- Site records captured once, at the point of work
- Variations evidenced when agreed rather than argued later
- Answers found in the specification in minutes, with the clause cited
- Handover documentation that assembles itself as the job runs
Platforms and tooling
What we work with
Common environments
- Autodesk Construction Cloud
- Procore
- Viewpoint
- SharePoint
- Bespoke
Site and mobile
- React Native
- Offline-first sync
- Photo and signature capture
Build
- .NET
- Node.js
- Python
- React
- Azure
- AWS
- Document AI
Named as platforms we work with, not as formal partnerships.
Common questions
Questions we are usually asked
It can retrieve and summarise from them, and cite where an answer came from, which is genuinely useful on a large specification. We would not have it interpret a technical requirement unsupervised — the engineer decides, the tool finds the clause faster.
Possibly not. If the CDE is being used properly and revision control is holding, the gap is usually between it and the site — data captured on paper that never reaches it. That is an integration and mobile problem rather than another platform.
Correct, and they are right. That is why site capture is designed around the actual conditions — one hand, gloves, poor light, no signal — rather than adapted from a desktop screen. A system that is slower than the paper it replaces gets abandoned, and should.
Indirectly, and substantially. Most disputes turn on what was instructed, when, and by whom. Capturing that as it happens produces contemporaneous evidence, which is worth considerably more than a reconstruction.
Capture, sign-off and retention can all be systematised, which makes evidencing far easier. We do not advise on your regulatory obligations — that judgement stays with your CDM adviser and principal designer.
It has to, and that is usually the hardest part — not technically, but because adoption depends on people who do not work for you. Scope it around what they will realistically use.
Talk to someone who has built this
Not a salesperson working from a form. Tell us what the problem looks like and someone who has delivered this kind of work will come back to you, usually within one working day.
Book a free consultationRelated
Where this usually connects
- Bespoke business applicationsSoftware shaped around how you work, when nothing off the shelf fits.
- Mobile app developmentiOS and Android apps connected to the systems behind them.
- Operational systemsThe systems that run the day-to-day work of the business.
- Systems integrationMaking the systems you already own talk to each other.
- Engineering software developmentTechnical and engineering software built to specification.
- Customer and member portalsSelf-service for the things people currently email or phone about.