Faster, more accurate and more efficient with AI: How automated service specification analysis saves time, reduces errors and strengthens competitiveness in the construction industry

Service specifications are of crucial importance in the construction industry. They provide a detailed list of all construction services to be performed and form the basis for quotations, contract awards and the implementation of construction projects. And every building material manufacturer and construction supplier knows that the internal sales team spends a large part of its working time processing these specifications. This is because these very extensive documents are traditionally created and evaluated manually. This is not only time-consuming, but also prone to errors. What if these specifications could be processed in a fraction of the time and the error rate could be minimised?

Sounds too good to be true? But it isn’t, because while the processes used to be difficult to automate due to their complexity, rapid advances in artificial intelligence are opening up entirely new possibilities.

What is a bill of quantities?

A bill of quantities is a detailed document that lists all the construction work and material requirements for a project. These documents are extremely diverse and can contain a wide range of items and descriptions – from simple construction work such as laying pipes to complex tasks such as constructing buildings or infrastructure.

It forms the basis for the preparation of quotations and the subsequent invoicing of construction work. A bill of quantities is therefore a central element in the construction process, structuring the planning and subsequent execution phases.

Automated processing of bills of quantities: How AI technology is revolutionising creation and evaluation

As already mentioned, specifications are traditionally created and evaluated manually, because the complexity of these tender documents poses a particular challenge for automation. At least that was the case until now.

The continuous development of AI technologies now makes it possible to automatically read out service specifications in order to recognise relationships between text elements and extract this information from the context. This is done independently of the structure and format of the text, allowing information to be extracted quickly, efficiently and accurately. But it goes even further: in addition to pure text analysis, relevant items in the documents can be automatically recognised and the corresponding products from the company’s internal portfolio can be suggested. Employees in the internal sales department can then manually review the suggestions and revise them if necessary, instead of going through the text page by page and selecting the products themselves. In addition to the enormous time savings achieved by reducing manual processes, the associated error rate is also minimised. This is because the AI learns with every quote that is submitted, so that the suggestions become increasingly accurate and meaningful. This not only saves companies time, but also enables them to respond more quickly to tenders and submit their quotes on time.

Win more contracts: How AI increases the success rate in tenders

Another benefit of using artificial intelligence in service specification processing is that algorithms can also incorporate historical data and the current market situation into the quotation process. If you lose tenders from a specific postcode area with a probability of over 50%, AI can evaluate this faster and more accurately than human intuition. And it is precisely this kind of information that is important, because it separates the wheat from the chaff at a very early stage of the quotation process. Sales staff are thus able to focus on quotations that are also highly likely to be won. This accuracy increases the chances of winning projects while remaining profitable.

Intelligent text analysis: How AI penetrates the complexity of service specifications

When reading service specifications using artificial intelligence, natural language is first broken down into individual components so that the meaning of the text elements and their required position in the document can be captured. The AI then puts all the captured elements into context with each other. This allows complex contextual relationships to be captured – regardless of format, structure or wording.

Advantages of AI software for reading out service specifications

• Time savings
• By using software to automate the previously manual data entry and product assignment from service specifications, the internal sales team saves a lot of time when processing enquiries.
• Accuracy
• Using software to read and assign the relevant items from service specifications improves accuracy by minimising human error and ensuring that data is processed consistently and precisely.
• Efficiency
• The software enables more efficient use of resources, as the automated summaries and product assignments make the required information accessible more quickly. This means that more enquiries can be processed in much less time.
• Transparency
• The structured presentation of data from the service specifications enables employees to better organise their work at any time and to deal with the most important tasks first.

When is it worthwhile to use AI when processing service specifications?

• High volumes of enquiries
• If the sales department processes several hundred or even several thousand enquiries per year, automating the process is a major lever and can often streamline the enquiry process by more than half.
• Time-consuming processing
• If processing incoming enquiries is particularly time-consuming, the use of artificial intelligence can also be worthwhile for smaller volumes of enquiries.
• Capacity bottlenecks
• If the sales department or internal sales team can barely cope with the volume of incoming enquiries and/or often submits quotations late, this is also an indicator that the use of artificial intelligence should be considered.

Increased efficiency in construction: AI for more accurate and faster quotations

The introduction of AI-based processes for processing service specifications is revolutionising the construction industry. This technology not only automates time-consuming processes, but also reduces errors, increases efficiency and improves the accuracy of quotations.

By automatically reading and processing service specifications, companies save valuable time, which in turn can be invested in strategic tasks. In addition, intelligent software enables better collaboration and optimises quotation calculation, which significantly increases your competitiveness.

The core message is clear

The use of AI in bill of quantities processing is a crucial step in making companies in the construction and construction supply industry future-proof and competitive. It is time to leave tried-and-tested approaches behind and take full advantage of the benefits of digitalisation.