38thMove · AI Workflows
Start with the work, not the tool.
Fourteen Workflows organise 80 public Cases into a practical decision view: where AI is being used, how strong the evidence behind it really is, and what still needs testing before you invest. The evidence is much better in some of them than others, and this page says which.
Of the 80 Cases, 68 sit in core built-environment work. The other 12 are benchmarks, adjacent-sector comparisons and business-support uses such as bid and training tools — useful context, but not evidence about designing, building or operating assets.
A starting point, not a recommendation
Three Workflows to look at first.
This sorts the 14 Workflows against your perspective and objective. It cannot see your data, your baseline or your people, so treat it as a way into the argument rather than an answer.
What the Workflow view reveals
The useful pattern is narrower than the hype.
The strongest evidence clusters around defined work with existing data, an observable baseline and a person who remains accountable for acceptance. These are examples, not universal productivity rates.
Progress & reality capture
2,964 hours / $342kA direct money claim, with an important boundary.
Track3D reports the labour saving on one Hensel Phelps airport project. Hensel-owned sources support repeated use, but do not independently audit the figures.
Planning & consultation
18.5 hours to 16 minutesA dramatic result on a tightly bounded task.
The gain applies to one consultation-summary task. It is not a productivity claim for the whole planning service or the statutory decision.
Design & technical reports
Capability is ahead of proofGenerating an output is not the same as accepting it.
Benchmarks and live tools are improving, while checking effort, professional acceptance, liability and realised economics remain the critical questions.
The Workflow directory
Browse the 14 Workflows.
Each card describes the work and how strong the evidence behind it currently is. The confidence readings are deliberately conservative: they reflect what the public sources actually support today, not what the technology may eventually do. Only a handful currently have enough evidence to justify writing up in depth, and Construction Progress is the first of those.
Sustainability Management
Carbon, climate, biodiversity, environmental impact and sustainability due diligence.
Confidence: low-medium for quantified productivity; medium for strategic relevance.
BIM Optimisation
Structured project data, model enrichment, content reuse and information standardisation.
Confidence: low-medium; evidence often proves readiness rather than accepted-output productivity.
Digital Twins & Simulation
Asset twins, system models, scenario testing, forecasting and earlier operational decisions.
Confidence: medium for process acceleration; lower for realised outcomes.
Asset Operation & Optimisation
Energy, water, maintenance, networks and live control systems connected to mature telemetry.
Confidence: medium-high for bounded telemetry-rich optimisation.
Asset Inspection & Defect Detection
Roads, rail, bridges, utilities and built assets: detection, review, triage and intervention.
Confidence: medium-high for bounded detection and triage with human review; weaker for decisions where mistakes could affect safety.
Site Safety & Compliance
Near-miss detection, access control, monitoring and stronger evidence for intervention.
Confidence: medium for relevance; low-medium for measurable productivity.
Construction Progress & Reality Capture
Site capture, progress tracking, BIM comparison, QA, reporting and rework visibility.
Confidence: medium; repeatable, but much of the metric trail is vendor-owned.
Schedule & Project Controls
Risk forecasting, sequencing, optioneering, delay recovery and programme trade-offs.
Confidence: medium; strategically relevant with buyer-side corroboration gaps.
Design Automation & Engineering Apps
Option generation, calculations, CAD/BIM assistance and reusable engineering tools.
Confidence: medium for capability and bounded use; low-medium for professionally accepted outputs and financial value at scale.
Planning, Permitting & Consultation
Application triage, validation, consultation analysis and officer decision support.
Confidence: medium for bounded support; lower for statutory decisions.
Technical Reports & Due Diligence
First drafts, document review, evidence extraction and expert workflow triage.
Confidence: medium for bounded work with human sign-off.
Enterprise Knowledge & Workflow Assistants
Internal search, project memory, governed assistance and reusable workflow tools.
Confidence: medium for adoption; low-medium for economic value.
CRM & Commercial Intelligence
Relationship visibility, bids, proposals, client intelligence and pipeline support.
Confidence: medium for direction; low for quantified productivity.
Robotics & Autonomous Field Execution
Autonomous layout, intelligent plant and narrow physical construction tasks.
Confidence: medium for narrow tasks; lower for broad construction economics.
A worked example
What a Workflow looks like up close.
Construction progress and reality capture has some of the clearest evidence of repeated use, so it is the first Workflow written up in full: the named firms using it, the figures they report, who published each figure, and what the evidence still cannot tell you.
It is also the clearest illustration of the honest limit that runs through all fourteen. The evidence can show you that a Workflow is being used elsewhere. It cannot tell you what it will be worth on your projects.
How to use this
Choose, baseline, test and measure.
- Choose a Workflow with material friction or value.
- Name the baseline, accepted output and accountable owner.
- Measure review effort, quality, downstream use and exceptions.
- Scale only when the evidence survives into operational or economic value.
Running that loop well is a discipline in its own right, and it is the part most organisations skip.