Making AEC Better with Automation

AEC’s Current State of Evolution

Historically, the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry has been slow to embrace technological change. For example, the adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM) has taken decades and is still far from universal.

Several factors contribute to this slow adoption: intense competition and razor-thin margins leave little budget for innovation, and projects are more likely to run over budget or schedule than under. Mistakes in the design process are easy to make, hard to spot, and costly to fix — especially with manual, inefficient review processes that struggle to meet the industry’s needs for speed and accuracy.

While BIM promised to improve efficiency and reduce risk, we now know it’s not enough on its own. It does, however, provide a strong foundation for other complementary technologies.

At Speckle, we’ve been developing these complementary technologies:

• Unlocking your data from vendor-specific tools so it can be stored in neutral formats and shared anywhere.
• Enabling collaboration directly from your 3D model for more effective teamwork.
• Providing automation tools such as APIs, Webhooks, and SDKs to streamline workflows.

Still, there’s more to do — and automation is leading the way.

Automation is Driving Innovation in AEC

From our own experience in the industry, and from talking to many of you, we see a huge amount of duplicated work, tedious tasks, and rework in design and delivery. Much of our time is spent managing and correcting data to meet quality standards.

We believe automation is essential to moving construction forward.

Why We Need Automation in AEC

Automation removes repetitive, time-consuming tasks so professionals can focus on high-value work. It boosts productivity, improves user experience, and helps teams feel valued.

Key benefits include:

1. Quick Feedback — Immediate quality checks help improve outputs and keep projects consistent across teams and timelines.
2. Productivity and Efficiency — Removes blockers in coordination and delivery, improving morale and reducing delays.
3. Democratising Expertise — Captures specialist knowledge and makes it available on demand, improving decision-making and quality.
4. New Value-Adding Processes — Enables services and analyses that were previously too costly or impractical to do regularly.

💡 Did you know?
Automation can reduce compliance resource needs by 40–50% and cut assessment costs and timelines for over 60% of companies.

Where to Start Automating

• Code Compliance — BIM-based automated systems reduce review times and costs while improving quality.
• Clash Detection — Finds design conflicts early to avoid costly construction errors and improve safety.
• Design Analysis — Provides instant feedback to improve structural and aesthetic quality during the design phase.

Shortcomings of Existing Solutions

Despite progress, many tools still fall short:

• Fragmented specialist tools create data silos and high costs.
• Desktop-only software is inaccessible on the go and hard to scale.
• Manual triggers require constant user presence to run automation.
• Limited extensibility due to poor APIs and SDKs.
• Complicated Webhooks that require exposed servers and specialist knowledge.

What’s Next?

Join us at SpeckleCon, our free online AEC conference, where we’ll announce a new product designed to make automation accessible to everyone. Let’s eliminate boring, repetitive tasks and unlock productive workflows together.

Watch past sessions here: SpeckleCon Recordings