The AI tool for architecture & construction I want, so I built it.

Over the past year my mind has been consumed by AI. Constantly distracted by a buzzing sound of the ultimate buzzword of all buzzwords. AI. I couldn’t escape it.

Look at this new AI news!

Watch my original AI content!

Buy our new amazing AI product!

AI this and AI that, and I couldn’t look away…

Cause the more I look, the more I see thru the hype. The more I’m amazed, the more I’m impressed, the more I’m intimidated, and the more I’m using it. But most importantly, the more I’m building with it.

What excites me most about AI is the ease of building with it and the limitless possibilities. The Large Language Model APIs are a groundbreaking new infrastructure just calling out to be built on top of, and ChatGPT is the ultimate coding coach.

There is this new city with all the advanced infrastructure laid but few buildings. Prime real estate undeveloped.

I became an architect because I want to build stuff. Problem is, architects do not build buildings. We draw construction documents, the contractors do the actual building of buildings.

So here I am, a decade into my architecture career, not building, instead drawing construction documents. Luckily it turns out I really enjoy drawing CDs. It’s a challenge to display complex information simply and concisely in drawings. It is a challenge I enjoy and am good at.

But I still just want to build stuff. And there is a glaring problem with CDs. So I turned to coding.

I’ve been trying to learn to code for over 7 years now, with little success. Always getting hung up on a small but insurmountable problem. Then I give up on the half finished project, and my bad case of shiny object syndrome pulls me to the next thing. Then I repeat the process.

A lovely cycle of failure. But then I used ChatGPT.

ChatGPT completely took away my coding problems. Obviously this tool is great at many things, but helping with coding is its crown jewel for me. Now with the help of AI, I can actually finish my little coding projects and they actually work!

A goal I was starting to believe impossible, now possible thanks to AI.

So here I am, with this new powerful technology at my fingertips, ready to build the project I’ve been obsessing about for the past 7 years. I don’t want to use AI to design my buildings, quickly render half baked designs, read building code, or write my emails. I want to use AI to help me read construction documents quicker.

An AI chatbot for my construction documents is what I want.

There is a glaring problem with how we read CDs. This intrinsic problem is at best frustrating and at worst embarrassing. The PDF file exaggerates this problem, but a solution to it can be built with AI, right now.

Simply, it just takes too long to find any information in CDs.

Even if I created the detail, placed it on the sheet, worked on it for hours over the span of months, I’m embarrassed when the GC asks “What sheet is this detail on?” and I can’t instantly answer correctly. A simple question, but usually a slow answer (Multiply the time by 100 if it’s a set you are not familiar with).

And the frustrating part is this is what I need to know. I’m the architect. It’s what the owner pays me to know, it’s what the GC expects me to remember, it’s what the brick mason tests me on. Look, this architect doesn’t even know what he drew, typical architect!

The truth is there is just too much information in CDs to memorize.

If you were to print the CDs for a typical new construction commercial project and lay all the sheets down side by side. They would cover a football field. And the goal of the architect is to display each specific piece of information only once in that field of paper.

Now go find the piece of paper that says what’s the lobby wall paint color?

Better yet put all those drawings into a single 300 page PDF and then open up to the brick window sill detail at the front of the building.

How long did that take you? I think it would be quicker with AI. So I built it.

I drew CDs of my house, built a website and an AI chatbot to start a research project to answer the question, “Can I read construction documents quicker with AI?” So far that answer is clearly, yes.

This AI chatbot for CDs can answer questions about the set and flip to the sheet with that information. It is not exceptional (yet) and honestly it only scratches the surface of how great this tool can be. But it works and is fast! Goal achieved.

Now it’s time to move on to the next goal of making it better.

To make it better I need feedback. Would this tool be something you’d like to use too? How much quicker are you with AI?

I built a quick game, takes less than five minutes, to test how quickly you can read CDs without and with AI. Want to take the challenge and test yourself on how quick you can read CDs?

Take the challenge at www.CDchallenge.ai and see for yourself! (You’ll do better on a computer than mobile. It is for reading construction documents after all)

To make it better I’ll also have to get over my fear of posting on social media. Share what I’m working on and start to build in public. Turn my little coding project into an applied research project. Teaching what I’ve learned, iterating and trying different strategies. This would be a personally challenging goal, but would create the best project and the best version of myself.

Stay tuned for more long articles and quick videos showing research experiments on how AI can improve how you read your construction documents.

If you made it this far, thank you. How fast can you read construction documents? Think you can read them faster with an AI assistant?

Try it out at www.CDchallenge.ai (Better experience on a computer than mobile)

Thanks for reading,

Will Cioffi