Construction Curiosities #48
Capturing the Realities of the Construction Site
Hey! Happy Saturday! Matt here.
Welcome to the Construction Curiosities newsletter. Especially to all the new beautiful faces out there!
This weekly Newsletter explores my Curiosities about the Construction Industry. It's meant to make you think, smile, and become a better, more well-informed Construction Professional.
Summary
This week we will look at:
One Resource: Reality Capture Playbook
One Tool: Disperse Lookahead
One Quote: A Minute Part of Reality
One Meme: Like the Blueprint Shows
One Resource
A while back I met Brian Vizarreta from DroneDeploy (Structionsite at the time) and started learning about what Reality Capture is. A couple of weeks ago he sent me the “Reality Capture Playbook” that they just published. I’ll be honest, I thought it was going to be a sales brochure. But was pleasantly surprised by the useful content in the playbook.
And if you know anything about me you know I hate construction tech companies that talk in complicated tech talk and not to their construction audience. They nail that here. The playbook is easy to understand and uses everyday construction terms and examples.
I recently had the chance to chat with Brian again about Reality Capture in the Construction Industry. And we made this quick 6-minute intro video in which Brian explains:
What is Reality Capture?
Reality Capture Tools
DroneDeploy's Reality Capture Playbook
Check it out!
The Reality Capture Playbook Teaser
Get DroneDeploy’s 33-page in-depth (but not overly technical) Reality Capture Playbook: HERE.
One Tool
In Construction, meaningful 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 is LESS taking pictures on your iPhone to document and MORE gathering real-time data to make smart decisions.
This is something that really clicked after I recently chatted with Will Synnott from Disperse.io. Disperse’s original product is Impulse, and it alone is pretty dang slick.
I’ll let them explain it in their own words (from their website):
Disperse employs a unique human-plus-AI hybrid approach to construction data capture and analysis, ensuring we deliver full value from the start of a project.
Our team of architects and engineers ensure that we track what matters and that you get accurate, reliable information while our AI engine enables us to deliver at scale.
We apply this hybrid approach to:
→ Configure your project to meet your needs.
→ Update your projects with your change orders, schedule updates, and more.
→ Scan your site using 360° cameras, guaranteeing you as-built records without encroaching on your human capital.
→ Ensure accuracy of our system’s insights and data.
Yes. They literally use a mix of AI and humans (architects & engineers) to review the weekly 360° photos for issues and send you a report. They will also give you a dashboard that shows you what floors and rooms work took place that week.
In this Bricks and Bytes podcast episode, Will said something I loved. He said, “Sales is Hard, Buying is Harder, but Implementation is Hardest.” So many great solutions die in the implementation phase at companies.
I’ve seen it personally and Disperse was seeing it, so they decided to go ahead and start taking the 360° photos for their customers too. They intend for there to be very minimal user input of any kind. Which leads us to….
Lookahead
This big announcement and news this week was that Disperse released their Lookahead product. There’s much more to it but think Scrum planning on AI steroids. Their hybrid team not only develops the activities but can also update your lookahead plan and status based on the 360° photos they captured in Impulse.
One thing I love with this platform is that, between the issue spotlights captured in the Impulse model & the details provided in the activity blockers of Lookahead, it makes it easy to capture, remember, and reflect on your lessons learned. How many times have you gotten to the end of the project and can’t seem to recall any lessons learned?? How can you have an intentional improvement culture like that?
In an industry so resistant to change and a world of AI tools being released every day, I think Disperse’s hybrid model is doing it the right way. You get the best of both worlds to make your team much more efficient.
If you want to learn more, reach out to Will on LinkedIn. I’m sure he’d be happy to give you the rundown.
One Quote
One Meme
This week I highlighted a couple of cool companies leading the charge in the Reality Capture realm. Before you ask, no. This is not a sponsored post. No one pays me to highlight their stuff. I write about things I find interesting.
I’ve had a number of people reach out about putting ads on here and I may do that at some point but not now. I tell myself not til we hit at least 2000 subscribers but even then I will only want ads from companies I believe in or find interesting.
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Thanks again for taking the time out of your busy life and giving my work your attention! You guys are awesome!
Til Next Time
