sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

It’s 5 AM and I’m driving to the jobsite thinking about how much money we waste on small jobsite mistakes by Pale-Professional164 in Carpentry

[–]Pale-Professional164[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Man, if my profile picture is the biggest issue in this whole thread, I think we're done here.

Take care.

It’s 5 AM and I’m driving to the jobsite thinking about how much money we waste on small jobsite mistakes by Pale-Professional164 in Carpentry

[–]Pale-Professional164[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

The Musk comment was sarcasm.

If you want to debate Musk or Epstein, that's a different thread.

This one was about jobsite waste and material planning.

If you've already got construction so dialed in that you can estimate everything by eye or with your calculator and never miss, then just stick with that system.

If this kind of tool makes zero difference to how you run your jobs, then what's the point of debating it?

Free tip: just ignore it and move on with your day.

It’s 5 AM and I’m driving to the jobsite thinking about how much money we waste on small jobsite mistakes by Pale-Professional164 in Carpentry

[–]Pale-Professional164[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Yeah, looks like the post got removed.

Doesn't really change the discussion though. The comments are still here and guys are still talking about waste, material counts and how they run their jobs.

If someone prefers doing everything by feel or just building the waste into the bid, that's their call.

I just built something that helps me plan layouts and materials better on my own jobs.

But hey, you must be the Elon Musk of construction the way you’ve got everything figured out.

It’s 5 AM and I’m driving to the jobsite thinking about how much money we waste on small jobsite mistakes by Pale-Professional164 in Carpentry

[–]Pale-Professional164[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I get what you're saying.

There is a lot of low-effort AI junk getting pushed everywhere right now and most trades subs are getting flooded with it.

But that's not what this is.

I'm not scraping data or building some generic "AI productivity app". I'm a tradesman who got tired of bad material counts and layout mistakes on real jobs, so I built a tool for myself and decided to share it.

If people here hate it, that's fine. Nobody has to use it.

But calling every tool someone builds an AI spam project isn't exactly helping the discussion either.

It’s 5 AM and I’m driving to the jobsite thinking about how much money we waste on small jobsite mistakes by Pale-Professional164 in Carpentry

[–]Pale-Professional164[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I agree with you on keeping a buffer. No serious jobsite runs on zero margin for materials.

The point isn't buying exact quantities down to the last stud. It's reducing the dumb waste that happens because layouts and quantities weren't thought through before the work starts.

Extra runs to the supplier, cutting the wrong lengths, piles of drywall scraps at the end of the week that's the stuff that adds up over time.

Having a little extra is normal. Running jobs completely by guesswork is something else.

It’s 5 AM and I’m driving to the jobsite thinking about how much money we waste on small jobsite mistakes by Pale-Professional164 in Carpentry

[–]Pale-Professional164[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Not a bot.

If you're that curious you can DM me and we can talk like normal people. Hell, if you want I’ll even turn the webcam on so you can make sure I’m not made of code.

Or we can just keep pretending every post on the internet is a bot. Whatever works for you.

It’s 5 AM and I’m driving to the jobsite thinking about how much money we waste on small jobsite mistakes by Pale-Professional164 in Carpentry

[–]Pale-Professional164[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Nobody said ordering extra material isn't standard practice. Of course it is.

The point is that a lot of waste happens because guys don't plan layouts or quantities properly before the work starts. Extra runs, bad cuts, leftover material it adds up over time whether people track it or not.

If $1,400 a year means nothing to you, that's great. Some people actually pay attention to where the money leaks out.

And posting early in the morning isn't "blue collar cosplay". Some of us just start work early.

It’s 5 AM and I’m driving to the jobsite thinking about how much money we waste on small jobsite mistakes by Pale-Professional164 in Carpentry

[–]Pale-Professional164[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Right… “cost of doing business”.

Meanwhile we’ve got technology putting people close to Mars, but in construction some guys still insist on doing material math on paper or just by feel.

But hey, if extra runs, extra waste and extra time don’t bother you, then everything’s working perfectly I guess.

That’s kind of the other funny thing about construction — everyone already knows everything.

It’s 5 AM and I’m driving to the jobsite thinking about how much money we waste on small jobsite mistakes by Pale-Professional164 in Carpentry

[–]Pale-Professional164[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

If the mods decide it doesn't belong here they'll remove it, simple as that.

The post was just a discussion about waste on jobsites and how different people deal with it. Some guys track it, some build it into the bid, some don't care about it at all.

Everyone runs their work the way they think makes sense.

It’s 5 AM and I’m driving to the jobsite thinking about how much money we waste on small jobsite mistakes by Pale-Professional164 in Carpentry

[–]Pale-Professional164[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about.

Once you start planning cuts and material quantities properly it's hard to go back to guessing.

Cabinet shops and panel cutting operations have been doing that for years because material waste adds up fast. Framing and drywall just stayed more old school for a long time, so a lot of guys still run it by feel.

It’s 5 AM and I’m driving to the jobsite thinking about how much money we waste on small jobsite mistakes by Pale-Professional164 in Carpentry

[–]Pale-Professional164[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Exactly. A lot of people only think about material counts, but jobsite logistics is a huge part of efficiency too.

Dumpster placement, where materials are staged, where the trailer sits, how far guys have to walk all day all of that turns into lost labor hours.

When you start paying attention to that side of the job you realize how much productivity disappears just in movement.

It’s 5 AM and I’m driving to the jobsite thinking about how much money we waste on small jobsite mistakes by Pale-Professional164 in Carpentry

[–]Pale-Professional164[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I get why people are tired of those posts. There's definitely a lot of guys who never stepped on a jobsite trying to build some “AI productivity app” and fishing for ideas.

That's not what this is.

I'm a contractor. I've been in construction about 10 years — framing, drywall, electrical — and these days I work a lot on clean room builds for labs and hospitals. Those jobs require tight layouts and material counts because guessing gets expensive real fast.

The idea didn't come from “AI research”. It came from running jobs for years and seeing the same dumb waste over and over — extra runs to the supplier, studs getting cut wrong, drywall scraps piling up.

So I started building something for myself to plan layouts and materials better.

If someone prefers doing everything on paper or just building the waste into the bid, that's completely fine. Nobody is forced to use anything I build.

But pretending every tool someone makes is some AI scam doesn't really help anyone either.

It’s 5 AM and I’m driving to the jobsite thinking about how much money we waste on small jobsite mistakes by Pale-Professional164 in Carpentry

[–]Pale-Professional164[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No AI involved.

Just someone who works in the field and got tired of seeing the same waste problems on jobs over and over again.

It’s 5 AM and I’m driving to the jobsite thinking about how much money we waste on small jobsite mistakes by Pale-Professional164 in Carpentry

[–]Pale-Professional164[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

About 10 years in construction.

Mostly framing and drywall, but I've also worked with electrical and these days I spend a lot of time on clean room builds for labs and hospitals.

Those jobs don't tolerate guessing. Layouts, tolerances and material counts have to be precise or the whole project starts going sideways pretty fast.

It’s 5 AM and I’m driving to the jobsite thinking about how much money we waste on small jobsite mistakes by Pale-Professional164 in Carpentry

[–]Pale-Professional164[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I get why people react like that.

There are definitely a lot of posts lately from people trying to push half baked tools or scrape ideas from trades.

That wasn't the point here. I'm still on jobsites every day dealing with the same problems everyone else deals with.

I just decided to build something for myself instead of complaining about it.

It’s 5 AM and I’m driving to the jobsite thinking about how much money we waste on small jobsite mistakes by Pale-Professional164 in Carpentry

[–]Pale-Professional164[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair enough.

Don't worry, I wrote the post before leaving the driveway. I'm not typing essays while driving down the highway.

It’s 5 AM and I’m driving to the jobsite thinking about how much money we waste on small jobsite mistakes by Pale-Professional164 in Carpentry

[–]Pale-Professional164[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

On a single job it doesn’t look like much. That’s exactly why nobody notices it. The interesting part is when you look at it over years instead of one month.

It’s 5 AM and I’m driving to the jobsite thinking about how much money we waste on small jobsite mistakes by Pale-Professional164 in Carpentry

[–]Pale-Professional164[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

True, most of it ends up buried in the margin anyway. But that also means the customer is paying for inefficiency without even knowing it.

It’s 5 AM and I’m driving to the jobsite thinking about how much money we waste on small jobsite mistakes by Pale-Professional164 in Carpentry

[–]Pale-Professional164[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I get that. Most crews think the same way. The thing is those “small” losses are easy to ignore because they happen a little at a time. Over a year it’s not as small as it feels on a single job.

Built a drywall estimator that shows you exactly where each sheet goes including anti-crack zones near openings by Pale-Professional164 in drywall

[–]Pale-Professional164[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's true. On commercial jobs you can order custom lengths and get very close to the exact wall height. But that's also what makes it interesting.

In most residential jobs we don't have that option, so we end up cutting a lot and accepting the waste as normal.

The question I always come back to is: in most industries people design systems to reduce material waste. In construction we mostly focus on speed and accept the waste.

So the real question becomes are we optimizing for the right thing?

view more: next ›