5 Top-Rated AI Construction Software
Construction managers often encounter complex resource allocation issues or unpredictable risks. To address these challenges and ensure successful project delivery, they need intelligent tools that provide real-time insights and predictive capabilities. That’s where AI-enabled construction software can help.
AI construction software uses predictive analytics, [1] machine learning (ML), [2] natural language processing (NLP), [3] and generative AI [4] models to automate project designs, forecast risks, optimize resource allocation, and predict project profitability.
This article lists five top-rated AI construction software, sorted alphabetically, based on verified user reviews and our research team’s analysis. We’ve categorized these products into two groups: stand-alone construction platforms and project management suites with construction features. Regardless of the category, all tools have the core features of construction management software: document management, scheduling, and project management.
We selected products for this article based on their average ratings between July 2022 - July 2024, which may differ from their current overall average ratings.
1. Autodesk Construction Cloud
Autodesk Construction Cloud is construction management software that uses built-in ML and AI to predict, prevent, and manage project risks. The software analyzes project requirements to generate intelligent recommendations for submittals, including mockups and blueprints. Its AI capabilities help organize project documents and identify design issues. Similarly, ML functionality helps select subcontractors. It analyzes the location, trade expertise, past performance, and current availability of potential subcontractors; provides suitable bidder recommendations; and automates invitations to those most likely to meet a project's needs.
AI-enabled construction management features:*
Risk management: Use ML and data analysis to identify high-risk factors across construction projects. This feature classifies risks by their root cause and discipline (e.g., electrical, plumbing, structural) and lets you prioritize them based on urgency.
Quantification and estimating: Analyze construction drawings and blueprints to identify standard symbols for bulbs, doors, windows, pipes, electric switches, etc, and count the number of assets/equipment. This feature automates project planning and ensures realistic project budgets.
AutoSpecs: Evaluate construction project documents, such as blueprints, samples, mockups, and detailed plans, to identify missing items or errors before construction begins.
Starting price: Available upon request from the vendor
Customer support options: Call, chat, and knowledge base
Who should consider Autodesk’s AI capabilities?
Construction estimators and project managers seeking to accelerate and enhance the accuracy of quantity takeoffs and cost estimates can consider Autodesk. Its AI-powered features, including automated symbol detection and quantification, automate the process of extracting material quantities from construction drawings, resulting in more precise estimates and lower error rates. Additionally, its AutoSpecs capability evaluates project documents to uncover missing items or errors before construction begins, reducing the risk of costly delays and ensuring comprehensive project specifications.
2. Bluebeam Revu
Bluebeam Revu is another construction software on our list. It facilitates collaboration by enabling your project team members and external stakeholders, such as clients and subcontractors, to comment, annotate, and provide feedback directly on construction documents. Its AI batch processing feature automates the application of similar changes across multiple construction documents. Additionally, its AI markup list provides an overview of all document collaboration activities, enabling your team to view historical changes. The software also uses AI to extract key information from construction drawings and transform it into structured metadata, including drawing number, title, date, and scale. This simplifies the process of locating and retrieving specific project documents.
AI-enabled construction management features:*
VisualSearch: Identify and count objects, such as lights, tables, doors, and windows, within construction drawings to determine the quantity and types of materials needed for a project and to create budget/cost estimates.
Auto align: Overlay multiple construction project drawings for comparison by auto-aligning the reference points or markers on each one. These points include the corners of specific elements or structures and where major structural elements intersect.
3D drawings: Create 3D representations of 2D drawings. This feature helps visualize projects and understand the spatial relationships (the position of one object in relation to another) between different components.
Starting price: $260 per user
Billing cycle: Annual
Customer support options: Help center
Who should consider Bluebeam Revu’s AI capabilities?
Construction managers looking to improve visual accuracy for their projects can consider Bluebeam Revu. The software’s AI-driven auto-align feature enhances the precision of comparisons by automatically overlaying multiple construction drawings and aligning their reference points. Additionally, its 3D drawing capability offers a spatial understanding of project components, helping identify potential clashes and spatial conflicts before construction begins. These AI-powered visual and alignment tools help ensure accurate project execution and foster effective stakeholder collaboration.
Pro tip
Assess your construction projects' unique challenges and requirements, including budget constraints, size, and complexity. This analysis will help you create a checklist of essential software features based on your needs. For example, if real-time project tracking is a priority, AI-enabled analytics and predictive maintenance features should be your top considerations.
3. Premier Construction Software
Premier is a project management suite with construction management capabilities. It includes predictive analytics, AI automation, and collaboration features to help create and manage construction projects. Premier leverages AI to forecast future project needs and outcomes by analyzing current and past data, including cost, timeline, budget, outcomes, and resources. This predictive analysis helps anticipate potential issues, optimize resource allocation, and improve project planning. Its AI capabilities also help evaluate projects’ finances, designs, technical specifications, safety protocols, schedules, and other risk factors to suggest optimal actions, such as adjusting resource allocation, modifying schedules, or implementing risk mitigation strategies.
AI-enabled construction management features:*
Universal search: Use NLP to locate and retrieve files and documents within your database. This feature understands search queries and returns relevant results. It can interpret complex queries, recognize synonyms, and handle variations in terminology.
Data extraction: Analyze construction documents, contracts, invoices, and receipts to extract key data, such as payment terms, itemized costs, and vendor information, and organize the data on a dashboard.
Intelligent reports: Generate construction reports with key patterns and insights from project data, such as budget performance, schedule adherence, quality control metrics, and subcontractor performance.
Starting price: $249 per user, per month
Billing cycle: Annual
Customer support options: Call, email, and knowledge base
Who should consider Premier’s AI capabilities?
Premier Construction Software is worth considering for construction managers looking to improve project planning and predictability. This software leverages AI-driven predictive analytics to deliver precise project timelines and cost forecasts. It identifies future risks and potential issues by examining historical project data, such as delays, budget overruns, and resource utilization. This proactive approach allows project managers to address issues before they escalate, resulting in more efficient project execution and improved adherence to deadlines and budgets.
4. Procore
As a construction management solution, Procore enables you to create quantity takeoffs and project estimates, optimize resource allocation, and identify and mitigate risks through AI-driven insights. The software uses AI to analyze historical and current project data, including timelines, resource allocations, budgets, total costs, and outcomes, and identify potential risks. Its AI features further collect and analyze project data, such as incident reports, performance statistics, and safety records, and compare this information against industry benchmarks and the performance of similar projects or peers. This comparative analysis provides a context-specific understanding of a project's risk levels.
AI-enabled construction management features:*
Submittal builder: Auto-generate construction project submittals, including detailed plans, blueprints, resource requirements, and product data, for approval from stakeholders, such as clients and project managers.
Root cause analysis: Identify the underlying reasons for incidents by categorizing and pinpointing key factors. For example, when analyzing injury data, the software breaks it down by equipment, location, or type of injury to identify the common causes.
Key influencers report: Uncover factors that lead to specific project outcomes. Use AI and visual insights to identify which elements drive project metrics into specific categories—late, over budget, high risk, etc.
Starting price: Available upon request from the vendor
Customer support options: Help center
Who should consider Procore’s AI capabilities?
Construction managers aiming to reduce project risks and enhance safety can consider Procore. By leveraging AI, Procore compares a project’s performance statistics and safety protocols with industry benchmarks and similar projects. This comparative analysis reveals potential vulnerabilities and helps managers prioritize risk mitigation strategies. For instance, identifying a project with higher-than-average incident rates signals a need for proactive measures to prevent accidents. Furthermore, Procore's root cause analysis capabilities enable targeted interventions, transforming incident data into actionable insights for long-term safety improvements.
Pro tip
Look for AI-enabled document management features. These features automatically categorize, tag, and retrieve project documents, reducing manual effort and the risk of errors for your project team. AI can also streamline document workflows, ensuring all stakeholders have access to the most current and relevant information and enhancing overall project coordination.
5. Quickbase
Quickbase is a project management suite with construction management capabilities. It uses AI and ML to analyze historical project data and templates and recommend the best workflows, tasks, timelines, and resource allocation strategies. It automates repetitive workflows, such as data collection and scanning, real-time performance tracking, and document management. Moreover, it offers a data analyzer that scans your database to extract actionable insights, such as identifying budget trends, detecting resource under- or overutilization, highlighting potential risk factors, and predicting future project outcomes.
AI-enabled construction management features:*
Forecasting: Use predictive analytics to evaluate past project performance metrics, budget trends, and resource utilization. This feature forecasts future construction project outcomes and identifies potential issues before they arise.
AI reports: Generate detailed construction project reports, including progress summaries, budget and expenditure analyses, resource utilization reports, and risk assessments.
Data scanner: Auto-scan and categorize project documents and data using NLP and ML. This feature extracts and organizes relevant information from unstructured sources (e.g., emails, contracts, reports) in a centralized database.
Starting price: $35 per user, per month
Billing cycle: Annual
Customer support options: Call, email, and knowledge base
Who should consider Quickbase’s AI capabilities?
Quickbase is worth considering for construction managers overwhelmed by the volume and complexity of construction project data. Its AI-driven data scanner and analyzer uses NLP and ML to scan, categorize, organize, and centralize data from unstructured sources, such as emails and contracts. This capability enhances data accessibility and reduces manual data handling. Additionally, its AI reporting feature produces insightful reports on project progress, budget, and resource utilization while identifying trends and patterns that support strategic project planning.
What are the benefits of using AI construction management tools?
Construction tools with AI capabilities solve multiple project management and scheduling purposes. Below, we discuss some common benefits based on the software features.
Benefit | Description |
|---|---|
Accurate job costing | Artificial intelligence assists in precise budgeting and cost management by analyzing historical financial data, current project parameters, and market trends. Machine learning models identify patterns and anomalies in construction project costs, providing insights for cost-saving opportunities and real-time budget adjustments to avoid cost overruns. |
Enhanced risk management | AI construction tools identify and assess potential risks by analyzing data from various sources, including sensors, site reports, and historical projects, to predict potential risks. This enables construction project managers to implement mitigation strategies effectively, minimizing downtime and enhancing overall site safety. |
Improved resource allocation | AI tools analyze project timelines, resource availability, and task dependencies to optimize labor, equipment, and material allocation. This capability ensures efficient resource utilization, reduces waste, lowers costs, and automates repetitive tasks, allowing construction teams to focus on more critical activities. |
How much does AI construction software cost?
Construction management software offering artificial intelligence capabilities can cost as low as $6 per month or up to $199+ per month, depending on various factors, such as the available AI capabilities, number of users, reporting and analysis, chatbot availability, and integrations. Most AI construction tools typically include the following pricing plans:
Free trials: Range from seven to 30 days and give users access to either all or limited AI features of the software. These no-cost trial plans are ideal for users who wish to try out a tool before purchasing it.
Free versions: Offer perpetual access to basic AI construction management features, such as project scheduling and document management. These free plans are ideal for small businesses on a budget.
Entry-level plans: Start at $6 per month and offer access to standard software features. These are suitable for businesses with basic construction management needs, such as task management, time tracking, and basic reporting.
Mid-tier plans: Range from $15 to $110 per month and offer advanced AI-enabled construction features, such as predictive analytics, automated workflows, and integration with third-party software. These are suitable for businesses that have outgrown basic construction management tools but don’t require the full range of functionality offered by enterprise-level systems.
High-end plans: Cost more than $199 per month and offer a range of advanced AI capabilities, including unlimited features from entry-level and mid-tier plans, real-time data analytics, AI-driven project insights, and advanced customization options. These plans are suitable for larger enterprises with cross-functional construction project teams.
Hidden costs associated with AI construction software
Besides the software license, additional costs may include:
Implementation and training: Initial setup and training for your team can incur additional costs. This might include hiring consultants, attending training sessions, or purchasing training materials.
Data migration: Transitioning from an existing construction tool to an AI-enabled one or exporting project data might require help from the software support team, incurring extra costs.
Support and maintenance: While some plans include basic support, enhanced support services or dedicated account management often come at an extra cost. Regular maintenance and updates might also incur additional charges.
Frequently asked questions when selecting AI construction software
Here are some common questions to ask software providers when evaluating AI construction management tools for your business:
Are the AI features limited to a specific pricing plan?
Artificial intelligence features can be a significant value addition, but if they are only available in higher-tier pricing plans, the overall affordability of the software will be impacted. Knowing this information beforehand will help you evaluate the cost-benefit ratio and ensure the selected software aligns with your financial constraints without compromising essential AI functionalities that can enhance project efficiency and outcomes.
What data sources does the software use for construction risk mitigation?
AI construction tools use various data sources to identify and mitigate risks. These sources can include historical project data and real-time environmental data. AI algorithms (ML and NLP) analyze historical project data to provide insights into past performance trends, common issues, and resolution strategies within your construction projects. Additionally, AI processes real-time environmental data, such as weather forecasts and geological conditions, to predict potential natural disruptions. By leveraging these AI capabilities, your construction managers can proactively plan and implement risk mitigation strategies, enhancing project safety and efficiency.
What level of human oversight or intervention is required?
While AI can automate routine construction tasks and data analysis, human intervention is often necessary for complex problem-solving, critical decision-making, and strategic planning. Additionally, human analysts contribute their domain knowledge and experience to refine AI algorithms, validate machine learning models, and improve the effectiveness of the construction management program. When evaluating AI construction solutions, understand the extent to which human analysts are involved in decision-making and how the AI software complements human expertise in daily operations.
Methodology
To be considered for this list, products had to:
Have at least 20 unique product reviews published on Software Advice within the past two years, with an average rating of 4.0 or higher (as of July 29, 2024).
Meet our market definition for construction management software: “Construction management and construction project management software coordinates business processes for contractors and builders. Organizations use construction management systems to enable collaborative workflow and data access, integrating multiple teams and office locations into a shared work environment. These building software solutions also provide scheduling and real time completion data, including: monitoring of product status, start and finish dates, budgets and expenditures.”
Show evidence of offering AI capabilities as demonstrated by publicly available sources, such as the vendor’s website.
*Our research team identified these features from vendor websites (as of July 29, 2024) based on their analysis of what users find valuable in or expect from AI-enabled construction software. This list is not exhaustive. For additional capabilities, refer to the vendor's website.
Research for this article was provided by Rakshat Chhokar.
For the section titled “How much does AI construction software cost?,” only products with publicly available pricing information and AI features, as of July 29, 2024, were considered for pricing calculations.
Editorial Independence: We select and rank products based on an objective methodology developed by our research team. While some vendors may pay us when they receive web traffic or leads, this has no influence on our methodology.
Definitions:
Predictive analytics uses data, statistics, algorithms, and machine learning to predict future outcomes based on historical data. Predictive analytics is defined by four factors: a focus on prediction, a quick analysis measured in hours or days, a focus on the accuracy of the predictions, and a focus on how easy the analysis is to understand. In other words, predictive analytics has to quickly and easily predict realistic future outcomes based only on past data.
Machine learning (ML) is a computer science that uses data to learn like humans. It is a category of artificial intelligence (AI). ML uses data and algorithms for different technologies, including deep learning, neural networks, and natural language processing (NLP). ML can learn patterns and make decisions without human intervention by analyzing data.
Natural language processing (NLP) is an AI technology that enables computers to understand human language. Computers do so by analyzing text and extracting meaning from it to perform tasks such as translating languages and understanding questions posed in natural language.
Generative AI refers to AI techniques that learn from artifacts or provided data to create new content similar to, but not identical to, the original. This includes generating text, images, videos, audio, structures, computer code, synthetic data, workflows, and models of physical objects.