TIL a guy at the hardware store explained how AI is fixing roof leak detection

I was grabbing shingles at ABC Supply in Denver yesterday and this older fella starts talking about how his company uses AI to scan satellite images and find weak spots on roofs before they leak. He said they caught a failing valley on a church roof that saved them like 12 grand in water damage. I always thought roof inspections were just walking the roof and poking at stuff. It hit me different cause I've been running my own crew for 8 years and never thought about using tech like that. Has anyone else come across AI tools for construction that aren't just marketing hype?

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barnes.morgan1d ago

I mean that church roof story is pretty wild, 12 grand in water damage is no joke. We had a similar situation last year with a flat roof on a commercial building, never thought to use satellite images but I can see how it'd catch stuff you'd miss just walking it. I've been messing around with one of those drone inspection services for our bigger jobs, just sends you thermal images of the whole roof and marks hot spots. It's actually useful for catching wet insulation before it rots the decking, not just hype like some of those fancy 3D modeling tools you see at trade shows.