alwaysAI Smart Construction Is the Tech Construction Companies Need

The sun was hot. The sand was dry. A little boy sat near the water's edge scooping sand with a plastic cup, carefully filling it to the top then patting it down tightly. He tipped it over and shimmied the plastic cup up. He repeated the process again, then again. In a nearby chair, his mom lifted her camera. The boy kept working. 

He noticed a shadow overhead and looked up. A second boy stood over him holding a pail and two sturdy shovels. Together, they got to work. With the new tools, they worked quickly to create a base of several sand towers. Then, they used the plastic cups to stack additional, smaller towers on top of the bases.

The mom lifted her camera once more. The boy stopped and said, “no, wait.” He placed a seashell on top of the multi-story sand castle, put his arm around his friend, and smiled into the camera.  

No matter what you’re building – a school, hospital, or even a sand castle to be proud of – the right tools can make all the difference to your bottom line, your staff, and your reputation.

Construction in the 21st Century

The basics of construction are the same today as they were a century ago. You still need to start with a strong foundation and tools like hammers, nails, and 2x4s. On the other hand, the way we build buildings today is dramatically different from even decades ago. As tools and equipment have become more sophisticated, so has construction. 

Today, the average enterprise construction site uses an array of heavy equipment like cranes, bulldozers and dump trucks, as well as large and expensive materials in all shapes and sizes. Large enterprise construction jobs require hundreds of contractors, subcontractors and other staff on-site on a regular basis.

With each new innovation – whether it be equipment, materials, or technology, contractors have gotten better at their jobs – decreasing production times, cutting costs and increasing revenue. We’re on the cusp of another revolution in construction – the adoption of computer vision. 

Unlike other technologies, computer vision is an all-encompassing solution that can solve several pain points, improve operations, and significantly boost ROI. 

For this article, we interviewed Dave Hudson, a Project Manager with DPR Construction, and Jay Snyder, President and Principal at Big Blue Innovations, a company focused on the intersection of construction and technology, to get a better understanding of how computer vision could enhance job site activity.

What is Computer Vision in Construction?

Computer vision interprets the physical world through leveraging your existing cameras alongside edge devices or the cloud allowing you to detect beyond what your hired staff can monitor. With computer vision, your cameras can detect objects, people, and events in real-time to capture more accurate data to target inefficiencies and better address productivity issues.

Computer vision is like having extra sets of eyes strategically positioned around your construction site. While construction sites have had camera systems for years, those cameras are often only used retrospectively–after an incident occurs, when management wants to see footage of the event. With computer vision, smart algorithms watch the cameras in real-time, and use machine learning to interpret what they are “seeing.”

Computer vision is poised to be an industry disrupter.

What Are Some Applications for Computer Vision in Construction?

Because of the size of construction sites, the inherent danger involved in building, and the number of individuals required to be on site, construction sites are uniquely poised to leverage the power of automated vision. 

Having spent his career in the engineering and construction industries, Snyder has participated in M&A of tech companies, assisted in venture capital fundraising, advised contractors spinning out technology companies, and has been published in dozens of thought leadership articles and research papers about construction and technology.

Snyder notes, "Computer vision in construction is such a fun topic because there is not much history to it. Everyday it's being used, we're finding more use cases for it." We couldn’t agree more. Here are just a few ways construction companies are leveraging the power of computer vision in construction.

Safety Monitoring

Construction is inherently dangerous. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics cites 10% of construction workers are injured every year in the US. As a result, safety is a top priority for construction companies. 

For Dave Hudson, a Project Manager with DPR Construction, safety isn’t just a priority. “Priorities can change,” he says, “but [for DRP] safety is a value and that doesn’t change.” 

PPE compliance is one of the biggest safety concerns for construction companies. In fact, 40% of the most frequently cited safety violations in construction pertain to inadequate use of personal protective equipment. 

Managing PPE compliance is a tedious but necessary job. Many construction companies educate workers on the importance of safety but, as Hudson notes, “we’re all human. Sometimes people just forget.” Traditionally, checking for PPE is done manually which takes time and isn’t 100% accurate. Humans can’t see absolutely everything on-site at all times. 

For managers like Hudson, it’s less about the time it takes to monitor for PPE and more about the mental burden of ensuring the safety of workers on site. “I’m asking this person to do a relatively dangerous task from the comfort of my desk,” Hudson says. “I’m always thinking about their safety. It keeps me up at night.” 

With computer vision, managers can sleep a little easier. With alwaysAI Smart Construction, you can automate PPE tracking for a more comprehensive overview of your site and to better allocate staff. Get immediate alerts about missing PPE so you can address issues before they become injuries. 

Equipping your existing cameras with computer vision to detect PPE is one of the best ways to immediately increase ROI.

Confined Space Monitoring

Working in confined spaces is inevitable on construction sites. These spaces can be hazardous simply because they are difficult to move through. Managers need to be sure that every person who enters into these spaces, also comes out. 

Depending on the work that needs to be done, these spaces can be quickly and carefully monitored. However, if work in a confined area is to take place over the course of days and weeks, requiring multiple workers and multiple times throughout the day, it can be more difficult to manage entry and exit. 

Hudson says some current systems in place use technology like unique safety ID to ensure workers have been through safety training and orientation. These IDs are also used to track where people are on site. Still, he says, “the technology is only as good as the people using it.” If someone forgets to sign in or register, there would be no way to track them. 

Similarly, site surveillance cameras are sometimes used to record entry and exit points. However, they are passive. Someone has to sit and review the tape to find problems.

The only way to truly capture what’s going on on a job site in a physical sense is to walk the job. With alwaysAI, managers can spend less time looking for problems, and more time building.

Occupancy Counting

Just as monitoring confined spaces is difficult and necessary, so is tracking occupants on site. People (workers, subcontractors, delivery personnel, and other staff) move on and off construction sites daily. Most construction companies have a system for checking people in and out but these systems aren't foolproof. 

Hudson says DPR moved from paper sign-in sheets to QR codes. But again, if someone forgets to sign in, then these systems fail. Without computer vision detecting and recording every person entering and exiting the site, there’s no surefire way to count workers.  

alwaysAI Smart Construction eliminates the need for a dedicated person to walk the site looking for problems. With real-time object detection, issues are highlighted as they happen so they can be addressed immediately.

Delivery Materials Notification

Knowing exactly when materials arrive on site is critical to ensuring projects stay on time and within budget. But delivery logistics can quickly become complicated. Not all deliveries arrive on time, some contain the wrong or broken materials, and sometimes, especially in crowded, urban areas, getting materials from the truck onto the site is a challenge. 

Hudson notes that this is one area where computer vision could really be impactful. “I might have a 10-foot area outside of a skyscraper to deliver materials. I don’t have space or time for trucks to sit and unload steel unscheduled.” Knowing exactly when materials arrive (or if they don’t arrive) can help managers make smart adjustments to the schedule so disruptions or downtime are limited. 

With real-time delivery notifications from alwaysAI Smart Construction, managers can better plan and manage when and how materials move on and off-site further boosting ROI.

Progress Tracking

Progress tracking with computer vision is arguably one of the most valuable use cases for construction companies. Site productivity directly impacts bottom lines but is one of the most difficult pieces of data to quantify. Big job sites require big, heavy equipment. Knowing exactly how productive that equipment is, according to Hudson, “would be huge. I’ve got $400 million worth of contractors fighting over one or two hooks [on a tower crane]. I have a crane operator in the seat 24/7. But how many hours is it actually in use?” Knowing this information would help managers plan and budget more effectively. 

Again, while current surveillance cameras can capture a machine in use, it requires a human to go through the footage, stop, rewind, and calculate the data retrospectively. “Nobody has time to stare at video footage all day long,” Hudson says. 

The alwaysAI Advantage

Perhaps the greatest value of alwaysAI Smart Construction is the versatility our platform provides in allowing general contractors to take advantage of multiple use cases. 

The above examples are just some of the specific, targeted use cases for computer vision technology, but people like Snyder, at the forefront of the emergence of technology and construction, speak to dozens of contractors all looking for different solutions. Some want computer vision to handle more mundane tasks like tracking dumpster usage to be sure they aren’t overfilled (which can result in costly fines), watching gates for deliveries, and tracking PPE usage. 

But what Snyder sees as the biggest advantage of computer vision is “the totality of it all. To have computer vision ubiquitously blanketing the project in many different ways, pushing many different use cases, would be like having a control tower." Having access to all this information in real-time could dramatically improve how buildings are built. 

It's no secret that data is critical to any construction project. Construction companies have tools to help them manage their data and provide reporting on that data. But the majority of current BI tools are just collecting data and tabulating it into reports that can be consumed at some later date. 

But “not all data matters,” says Snyder. “The only data that matters is the data that’s telling you something. That is the whole point of computer vision.” For example, when looking at deliveries over the course of a week, 80% of those deliveries were smooth. But someone still has to comb through all the data to find the 20% of deliveries that were problematic. 

With alwaysAI Smart Construction, you set the parameters of your computer vision model so you have control over what you assess. Real-time data and alerts ensure that your staff is not wasting hours looking for problems. Instead, they remain nimble to address issues as they arise. 

The alwaysAI proprietary platform was built to remove the complexity of computer vision. Our enterprise-grade computer vision models and applications are best-in-class, scalable, and built to run on the edge or the cloud. As a truly all-in-one solution, our software seamlessly integrates into existing BI tools and leverages your existing cameras or edge devices.

Opportunity is Knocking

With increasing labor shortages and tighter budgets, construction companies can’t afford to miss the endless opportunities computer vision provides to boost ROI. 

The old way of building is no longer good enough. alwaysAI is offering better, more innovative tools to help ambitious construction organizations work smarter. Whether you build factories, schools, skyscrapers, hospitals, or dramatic sand castles, we understand that what really drives you is building communities. We can’t wait to be a part of your journey.