Buildots claims that its new Delay Forecast tool uses artificial intelligence (AI) to enable construction project managers to mitigate delays before they escalate
Buildots are the people that came up with headcams on hardhats to gather site data. The company has now built Delay Forecast into its dashboard, flagging activities that are at risk of falling behind schedule and quantifying those risks by providing projections of forecasted delays. It also recommends correction measures to mitigate and prevent delays.
When users get delay alerts, they can input new pace assumptions and see how these changes might affect the timeline, allowing them to revise strategies and determine the best path forward. The dashboard also enables project teams to track risk trends week by week, allowing them to see the impact of their decisions.
The feature was developed after research performed by Buildots found that 62% of construction site activities consistently run slower than planned, and that 25% of activities run at half their planned pace. The findings also indicated that many times – even when critical activities performed poorly week after week – these issues go unnoticed until they have already significantly impacted project timelines.
“At Buildots we believe that accurate progress data, performance indicators, and data-driven insights are critical to solving issues that plague almost all construction projects, such as delays and inefficiency,” said Aviv Leibovici, Buildots co-founder and chief product officer. “Those core beliefs inspire all that we do, from developing the Performance Driven Construction Management (PDCM) method, to designing new tools like Delay Forecast.”
The new feature has been beta-tested on a number of global construction sites and, according to Buildots, has been shown to facilitate a 50% reduction in delay times when used together with the PDCM method. One of those sites is a Danish government complex, currently being built by NCC. According to project manager Niels Frank Jensen, “Using Delay Forecast, not only can we now identify risks very early, but also inform our trades of the exact pace required to meet the schedule. Trades can adjust manpower resources accordingly by viewing quantities of work. We're finally able to back our instincts and prioritize activities based on actual performance and what's really at risk.”
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