If there’s a single industry where the rate of implementation of technological innovation has historically been glacial, it’s the building and construction industry. With a collective sum of $10 trillion at stake, the major players in this industry are known for foregoing risks and sticking to doing what works.

But many thought leaders, including analysts at the prominent consulting firm, McKinsey, have identified multiple ways that smart startups could implement artificial intelligence (AI) technology to get an edge over their more traditionalist competitors. Let’s discuss 4 of the most important ways building and construction startups could implement, and profit from, AI technology.

1. Use AI to Manage Construction Projects More Efficiently

When you’re putting together your project estimates, AI could potentially use historical data to help your team predict the likelihood of completing a building project on time. You would input the known factors like starting and ending dates, holidays, events that could cause delays, typical wait times for permit approvals and estimates of usual completion times for various tasks. Using AI can save time in project management and can also identify instances where your team is unlikely to deliver a completed project within the estimated time frame.

2. Avoid Mistakes in Hiring Employees

In academia, artificial intelligence is helping admissions counselors and university administrators make better informed decisions. Predictive modeling can give staff helpful insights about who to admit to their degree programs and how to identify students who are at risk of dropping out.

For example, researchers using machine learning and predictive modeling discovered that high achievement in mathematics courses correlated with academic success in architecture programs. Their intention was to help overcrowded architecture departments determine the best-qualified candidates to admit to their degree programs.

Building and construction firms could use similar predictive techniques when making hiring decisions. When interviewing graduates who’ve earned a certificate IV in building and construction, hiring managers can check transcripts to determine candidates’ mathematics scores. In the future, construction and architecture firms can develop their own more precisely targeted predictive models to determine which candidates are likely to succeed in the jobs they’re being hired for.

3. Implement the Best Designs Given Infinite Possible Permutations

Builders often begin a project by identifying specific design goals. There are typically numerous possible ways these goals could be met. AI can help to quickly deliver a number of different iterations of the same design concepts, all of which meet the targeted design goals. Then the human designers or clients involved in the project can pick the best of the concepts generated by AI.

4. Risk Identification and Mitigation on Location at Construction Sites

Risk is an inherent part of the building and construction process. AI can help superintendents manage construction risks more effectively by prioritizing each risk, assigning a “risk score” to it and identifying where the high-priority risks exist in the firm’s current building projects.

Firms can also utilize image recognition technology to help with risk management. Machine learning algorithms could be trained to recognize unsafe building practices. Then the technology could filter project images collected by drones to identify instances where unacceptable risk levels are present in the firm’s current projects.

These are 4 of the most obvious and immediately actionable uses for AI in the building and construction industry. There are numerous other implementations that could also be developed.

McKinsey consultants have clearly implied their conviction that startup founders who are proactive about beating their competition to implement his technology will be able to profit handsomely from it. So if construction is your industry, you’ll definitely want to consider these ideas for how AI could add to your firm’s long-term profitability.

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