Priceworx Ultimate+: A world-first AI-driven material cost forecaster for construction project management.

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Priceworx Limited is an innovative, UK SME with a vision to redefine construction project management. Through an innovative drawdown system built around existing construction practices, Priceworx is helping construction companies manage projects efficiently, increasing productivity and saving waste.To date, Priceworx has developed an MVP with a work drawdown system, providing contractors with easy management of project work and costs. This MVP has been used by \>650 users, both large and small. However, further development is necessary to deliver the significant benefits Priceworx could realise.Construction is the world's largest industry (£6-trillion in 2021 \[Statista,2022\]), employing ~2.2million people in the UK \[Statista,2022\], but lagging behind in digitisation. Among the most recent added challenges, after COVID-19 material prices rose in 11/12 months in 2021 \[ConstructionNews,2022\], with contractors paying ~20% more for materials in 2022 than in 2021 \[BEIS,2022\].With no way to efficiently track/compare material prices, hundreds of UK construction businesses collapsed \[FT,2022\] (e.g. Midas went into administration in January-2022, 'leaving behind £20m worth of debt to unsecured creditors' \[InvestmentMonitor,2022\]). There is therefore a significant opportunity to both meet the immediate needs of firms facing rising material costs and improve efficiency in construction through digitisation.This 16-month project is the next step in Priceworx's journey: creating an AI-driven cost forecaster, **Priceworx** **Ultimate+**. The first-of-its-kind, **Ultimate+** will collect costing information (material and labour from project csv files) and output cost forecasts, curated for individual companies and projects. From real-time project management to engineer claim submissions, Ultimate+ will support end-to-end construction project management which aligns with construction practices.