b'Hammers, Saws, DrillsAI?And weve uploaded our schedule into that. So with those two in conjunction, it can look at my schedule and say, youre supposed to hang 120,000 square feet At the University of Tennessee, Juneauof drywall a week. The last 10 weeks, you hung Construction is using AI as a powerful tool100,000 roughly every week. Thats a lot more real to spot delays before they happen. data than we typically get. And it will flag these activities and show me, hey, your drywalls, your Student housing is one of Juneau Constructioncabinets, youve got a delay there. And then I can dive Companys specialties, but the Hub Knoxville projectin deeper and ensure we hold trade partners is different. Atlanta-based Juneau is the nationsaccountable for meeting deadlines. second-largest student-housing builder, and Hub Knoxvillea three-building, 800,000-square-foot,The program doesnt simply identify problems. It also 2,000-bed off-campus housing complex adjacent toshows areas where workers are on or ahead of the University of Tennessee in Knoxvilleis theschedule. We can see what someones best week largest project in the companys 30-year history.looks like, what someones worst week looks like, Residents will enjoy nearly 23,000 square feet ofwhat someones average week looks like, says Hale. interior amenities, from a fitness center to a studyAnd we can use that to look at trends over time, lounge, and 30,000 square feet of retail space. Andrather than just say, Its been three days, you havent for students who need to relax or unwind after areally got anything done, we can say, Lets see what tough exam, a nearly 20,000-square-foot rooftopyouve done over the last two months and use that as a terrace on the 12-story, 1,750-space parking deck willprojection going forward to anticipate when we think feature a basketball court, resort-style pool, hot tub,youll finish. grills, and spots to lounge and enjoy the view. Buildots technology helps crews to read and The parking deck is the tallest structure, so you canunderstand that data onsite, which can lead to better see the mountains, the river, the stadium, says Alexdecisions. We are encouraging clients to supplement Hale, Juneaus project director for Hub Knoxvilletheir gut instinct with data, says Jessica Herrala, (construction began on January 19, 2023, and the firstBuildots regional director for North America (the building will open in June 2025). Its a goodIsraeli-based company has offices in London and hangout place.Chicago) and a University of Tennessee graduate. Gut instincts arent a bad thing, but Ive been in And yet whats most interesting about this complexconstruction a long time, and thats how so many are not the super-sized amenities, but Juneausdelays happen. The system can see delays before the embrace of a new technology. Hub Knoxville is thenaked eye can. So we spend a lot of time with the first Juneau project to incorporate Buildots, an AIproject superintendent and the senior project manager platform that uses algorithms and onsite data toand the project director to say, You dont see these provide detailed progress reports and forecasts. Thedelays today, but we can see them coming. reports can help crews to anticipate and reduce potential delays, adhere to their schedule andEMBRACING ANALYTICS improve efficiency.Accepting bad news from an AI platform can sometimes be difficult. We tend to be therapists TRUSTING YOUR GUTAND THE DATAsometimes, Herrala says. As construction people, To capture images and data, a crew member walkswere proud of what we do. So being told that the every foot of the jobsite once a week while wearing aproject isnt where you think it is, thats hard in our 360-degree camera. That information is then loadedindustry. What the data is showing is sometimes a hard into Buildots.pill to swallow. It gives an AI analysis to track whats done andFor Hale, Buildots was like any new software: It took a whats not done, says Hale. I can see an activitywhile to feel comfortable with it. After using it for a and say, Okay, last week, I hung 100,000 square feetyear, however, everyones on board, he says. Once of drywall. The week before, I hung 95,000 squareyou learn to see the data not as a criticism, but as a feet of drywall and I hung this much the week beforeway to improve things, I think people receive it a lot that. It can show me that info on any floor, anybetter. building, any timeframe, any way I want to see it. (continued on page 21) 10'