Should you be afraid of AI? These sheet metal workers say, "No, but tread lightly."

While some may be apprehensive about using AI tools in construction, others say technologies like ChatGPT could help everyone work smarter. Here’s how some in sheet metal are using artificial intelligence today.

By Michael McConnell

Chris Hronek, Local 18 journeyperson and technology manager at Tweet/Garot Mechanical, apologized for not getting back to Partners in Progress’s request for an interview in a timely manner. “I can be hard to get a hold of,” he says. “Maybe I should be using AI to help with my schedule.”

Hronek may get his wish. Since ChatGPT was released in November 2022, it appears to have found its way into nearly every industry—including construction. For anyone not familiar with ChatGPT, it is an AI-powered chatbot and virtual assistant developed by OpenAI that “learns” from human conversation and enables users to refine and steer a conversation towards a desired length, format, and style. It’s an example of what’s called “large language model” AI, since it was programmed with trillions of data points. That means it can answer questions on almost any subject and assist users with tasks such as drafting emails, programming software, and yes, making personal schedules.

For the construction industry, AI could be transformative, experts say. With the right data, it could one day help spot cost overruns before they happen or make workers more efficient by improving project planning and safety. According to a 2023 study by Adroit Market Research, it’s already having an impact. In 2022, the use of artificial intelligence in construction was worth $1.3 billion. By 2030, its impact is expected to reach $13.5 billion, the study says.

Hronek can see why. He’s been experimenting with ChatGPT since it was released almost two years ago. At Tweet/Garot, he leads a team whose mission is to discover technology that will help the mechanical contractor work more efficiently.

“We dabble in AI programs and figure out how to automate different processes,” he says. For example, Hronek’s team uses AI to automate responses to fabrication requests that are sent to the shop. “Now the field knows when a request is received without the shop responding,” he says, adding that it saves time.

The Wisconsin-based mechanical contractor has embraced AI, or at least its potential. Tweet/Garot has hosted several lunch meetings to introduce employees to the technology.

“We just want to explain what’s available and what you can do with it,” Hronek says. “There are always people who are going to be on the fence. But this isn’t something to be scared of. I’m definitely optimistic.”

There are always people who are going to be on the fence. But this isn’t something to be scared of. I’m definitely optimistic.

—Hronek, Local 18 journeyperson and technology manager at Tweet/Garot Mechanical

Travis Voss shares that optimism—with some reservations. Voss is SMACNA’s director of innovative technology and fabrication. He sees developments like AI having a lot of potential in the sheet metal industry—if the reality eventually matches the current hype. One thing he’s not predicting is AI taking the jobs of union sheet metal workers. Voss points out that construction software makers such as Autodesk, Trimble, and Procore Technologies have long incorporated AI into their products.

“I don’t have the whole ‘It’s going to take my job’ worry,” he says. “There’s going to be aspects of it in almost any major software platform inside of construction now.” Voss recently conducted a contractor roundtable on artificial intelligence. Many compare AI chatbots like ChatGPT to an eager intern who still needs supervision and to be told what to do. “You can use it to bounce your own ideas off of, but you still have to factcheck it,” Voss says.

He points out that AI has the potential to free up workers from routine project tasks like creating status reports. What currently can take hours could be done in minutes—although the work still has to be checked by humans. “You give it a set of project data and train it on what to look for, and you can start to get some pretty cool charts and graphs out of that,” Voss says. “Beyond that, there are some software platforms out there that are doing a pretty good job of analyzing specs and contracts and calling out language or different information that contractors need to pay attention to or at least be aware of.”

In the future, Voss says he could see AI programs providing more efficiency to routine tasks like estimation. “I think from an estimating standpoint, I would assume in the next couple years it would provide more value in doing simple things like takeoffs,” he says. “You’re still going to need that estimating knowledge. There’s a lot more that estimators do than go out and count hangers and pounds of duct.”

However, it may take a while before most contractors get comfortable with using these tools. “That makes sense because contracting is one of the riskiest businesses out there, and contractors are also very risk averse,” Voss adds. “Taking part in a project is already risky business. It makes sense that they are not going take a lot of swings on big changes because they don’t have the margins and they are trying to mitigate risk.”

”Darren Young is the construction technology director at UMC Inc., a 100-year-old mechanical contractor near Seattle also experimenting with AI. Young says UMC is being deliberate about adding artificial intelligence to its operations. It doesn’t want to buy into the hype. “We’re trying to take a little bit more of a disciplined approach to it, which is probably not common in the industry,” he says. “We don’t want to pick solutions looking for problems. We want to identify things that we’re doing where we can improve the quality of data and where we can improve our efficiency.”

Young says he’s spent the most time testing ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot, which uses technology from OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. “I probably use it almost on a daily basis,” he says, adding it saves him time. “Copilot is good for creating summaries of video meetings on Microsoft Teams and pulling out action items. You don’t necessarily have to take notes anymore. And if you missed the meeting or missed part of the meeting, you can go in and ask Microsoft Copilot. It’s probably more accurate than your average notetaker.”

Like Voss, Young said AI chatbots remind him of an intern. “Some are better than others, and you’ve got to verify the work because they don’t have all the experience,” he says. “But a lot of what they produce is good information.”

He’s used AI to help draft annual employee performance reviews. “I type what I want to say and have it rewritten into something a little bit more professional,” he says. “And then I might prompt it to tweak a particular bullet point, or I might even just tweak some of the phrasing myself because it doesn’t sound like me.”

The most bullish industry observers say artificial intelligence is about to revolutionize HVAC construction. Others, like Young and Hronek, aren’t ready to go that far, but they’re excited about what the technology could mean for the future.

“At the end of the day,” Hronek says, “we want value.▪

Michael McConnell’s experience encompasses B2B and B2C copywriting, online journalism, and newspaper reporting. He’s always interested in finding out the stories behind interesting people and projects. Contact him at mrmcconnell36@gmail.com.