Using AI to Predict Project Costs

Everyone is curious about the explosion of generative AI, like ChatGPT, which has enabled the general public to discover more about its potential, whether in their personal or professional lives. Pomerleau has been working on integrating AI into its business practices for several years and is unveiling one of its first applications, Amanac. The application was developed alongside Zetane, a company specializing in the development of AI applications that meet the business needs of various companies. Almanac will support Pomerleau’s estimating teams. 

How does Almanac work?  

Almanac is first and foremost a decision-making tool, which enables Pomerleau’s teams to take quick action with accurate project information. Based on historical data from past bids, Almanac can quickly provide an estimate of the price Pomerleau would submit for a project based on various parameters (type of project, size of project, expertise required, geolocation, etc.). Almanac is becoming a must-have for pre-construction managers, who are using the tool to increase their decision-making capabilities while analyzing past trends  

Why is it an essential tool in the construction industry?  

The construction industry must meet the growing need for more infrastructure in the country.  The risks associated with the construction of complex infrastructures are high, and the bidding phases require a great deal of effort from estimators to determine the correct price for a project. These demands come at a time when labour is sparse.   

Almanac makes it possible to quickly assess the price of a project with impressive accuracy.  This saves a considerable amount of time for our customers, to whom we can quickly provide the estimated price of their project, and for our estimating teams, who can concentrate on other value-added tasks.  In the end, everyone benefits: our customer, the company and our people! 

Several New Features to Come  

Almanac is currently rolling out its first module. And that's just the beginning! Eventually, the application could support the entire estimating component of the pre-construction process by:  

1. Automatically extracting the   quantities of various elements to be estimated on a project from the tender documents. 

2. Estimating the price to be bid on a project to win it, based on various parameters. This would mean that the role of the estimator at Pomerleau would focus on verifying and analyzing the data supplied by Almanac.  

The application would thus become an indispensable tool that eliminates clerical and repetitive tasks and allows our teams to focus on value-added tasks. In the future, Pomerleau's estimating teams will be able to focus on the bids they want to win, at the right price.  

Other applications of artificial intelligence will be developed soon at Pomerleau, and the use of AI will continue to be progressive, responsible and ethical. To this end, Pomerleau has adopted a strict framework to   protect data owned by customers, employees, and the company.   

Alma-what?  

Almanac is a reference to the film Back to the Future. In the saga, the Greys Sports Almanac is a newspaper that was used to predict the scores of different sports teams in upcoming matches. In its own way, the Almanac application can also predict the future and help shape it in innovative ways.