AI software startup aims to save US$100b in construction rework

This article is a part of Startup Spotlight, a series that features young, up-and-coming startups.

The Civils AI team. Photo credit: Civils AI

Stevan Lukic spent a decade delivering civil projects and noticed every one went over budget. Major firms relied on manual counting across hundreds of PDF drawings. He quit his job in 2022 to build Civils.ai to automate this work.

😟 Problem

Civil construction projects are priced manually by estimators analyzing hundreds of drawing sheets line by line. This process takes weeks of labor and frequently results in missed data.

Poor project data and miscommunication cause errors that account for 48% of global rework. Fixing these mistakes costs the construction industry an average of 12% of total project costs.

Globally, contractors spend US$100 billion a year on estimating and claims consulting to address these manual errors.

💡 Solution

Civils.ai developed AI models specifically designed to read civil construction drawings, ground reports, and specifications. The software automates material calculations and error checking.

Users simply upload their existing drawing sets to the platform. The software provides several automated capabilities to reduce estimation time, including:

• Calculating structured quantity takeoffs for materials like concrete, reinforcement, and road layers.
• Reducing manual measuring effort by 90% while maintaining 91% accuracy.
• Cross-referencing dimensions across sheets to flag discrepancies before construction begins.
• Identifying drawing details that contradict building codes or project specifications.

Image credit: Civils AI

📊 Market size

Contractors globally spend over US$100 billion annually on estimating and claims consulting.

The US market alone contains 100,000 civil contractors and consultancies. Based on an average contract value of US$20,000, this represents a US$2 billion localized market opportunity.

🤝 Team

• Stevan Lukic. Co-founder. Chartered civil engineer with a decade of project delivery experience and a former lecturer on construction technology at BCA Academy.
• Mohamad Fadil. Co-founder and CTO. Expert in building computer vision models for industrial applications.
• Mirko Vairo. Co-founder and COO. Former founder at a deep tech startup and former guest lecturer in AI.

🚀 Traction

🏆 Competition

💰 Financials

🚩 Risks