Former Florida Congressman Patrick E. Murphy spent much of his five years in
Congress thinking about the future of work. Because of his unique position as the youngest member of Congress at the time, it was only natural that he considered the future of his generation and the generations coming after him. He says, “From a legislative standpoint, what are the jobs of tomorrow going to be? Everything changes quickly. How do we prepare future generations for those jobs.” Being in the middle of the Digital Revolution, Murphy was already thinking about how artificial intelligence was going to impact the way we work.
After his time in office, Murphy returned to his family’s Florida-based construction company, Coastal Construction. Murphy was born into construction. Before spending time as a CPA and a politician, he worked as a day laborer, project engineer, systems super, and as an estimator.
Coastal Construction is a fourth-generation general contractor. Murphy learned estimating from his grandfather when estimators were still using rollers, scale rulers, highlighters, and performing manual takeoff.
Upon his return in 2017, Coastal had really grown becoming the largest contractor in Florida, yet none of their processes had changed. Murphy noticed that 50 to 60 percent of his preconstruction team’s time was spent doing takeoffs. With preconstruction being such a huge cost for GCs, it didn’t make much sense to Murphy that “…engineers and super talented preconstruction folks were coloring 50% of their time.”
He knew there was so much more value in preconstruction. The time it was taking to do takeoff could have been spent on scoping, bid leveling, and value engineering. “Those are the things that win you jobs,” Murphy points out.
Takeoff must be done but it’s not what wins or loses a job and Murphy was determined to find a way to make takeoff more efficient so the Coastal Construction precon team could have the time to do the high value activities that wins jobs and grow the company.
Automating takeoff was the answer.
Coastal Construction developed Togal.AI, an artificial intelligence software that speeds up takeoff. Because it was so successful internally, Coastal Construction decided they needed to try and get it out to others in the industry. 
Innovative construction takeoff software Togal.AI launched in 2021. With Togal, estimators can produce 80% faster takeoffs and save up to 90 minutes per sheet at 98% accuracy. You can also analyze any drawing, compare drawing sets, and quantify changes, and with its newest ChatGPT feature, Togal.AI lets you interact with plans like you’ve never been able to before.
One of our goals at Beck Technology is to standardize the preconstruction process. The more contractors that embrace innovation and implement revolutionary tools like Togal.AI, DESTINI Estimator, and DESTINI Bid Day, the better and safer our industry becomes. When we can build better buildings, we truly can create the future. That’s why integrating with Togal is so important to us.
When construction estimators stop spending their time cutting and pasting, clicking and dragging, and redoing work, they can focus on what really matters and that is using cost history data to predict and stop problems, suggest sustainable building materials and practices, and help improve the quality of the building.
Not only can precon be a big part of helping make the world a better place, but using the newest technology makes you more powerful and more productive. What does this translate into? Bonuses, raises, and promotions.
The Future of AI in Preconstruction—Generative Estimating
What is generative AI? Togal.AI writes, “Generative AI is a kind of machine learning that is used to create new data that is similar to the data it has learned from.” So, generative estimating means that with AI, we’ll be able to predict change orders, identify missing information in assemblies, and work more efficiently than ever.
We’re not there yet, but we are on our way.
If you are interested in exploring all the ways AI can help you become an estimating powerhouse, click the button below and request a demo of Togal.AI and DESTINI Estimator construction estimating software today.
To listen to the interview with Patrick Murphy on the Precon Geeks preconstruction podcast, click here.
