{"id":35610,"date":"2026-05-31T17:39:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T00:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/digital-permitting-ai-tools-top-of-mind-for-nibs-panelists\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T17:39:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T00:39:14","slug":"digital-permitting-ai-tools-top-of-mind-for-nibs-panelists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/digital-permitting-ai-tools-top-of-mind-for-nibs-panelists\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital permitting, AI tools top of mind for NIBS panelists"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech\">\n    <button class=\"text-to-speech__button button\"><br \/>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"text-to-speech__button__icon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/static\/img\/play.svg?313321260226\" alt=\"-\"><br \/>\n        Listen to the article<\/p>\n<p>            <span class=\"text-to-speech__button__audio-length\">5 min<\/span><\/p>\n<p>    <\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls\">\n        <audio controls=\"\" class=\"js-text-to-speech\" preload=\"none\"><source src=\"https:\/\/text-to-speech.divecdn.com\/newspost\/821260\/2026-05-27_14.16.59\/nibs-digital-permitting-ai-tools.wav\" type=\"audio\/mp3\"><\/source><\/audio><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls__text\">\n            This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\">feedback<\/a>.\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>McLEAN, Va. \u2014 Digital tools are making more of an impact for construction officials, particularly on permitting systems and inspections, speakers said during the 2026 Building Innovation conference, an annual construction industry gathering, held May 19-20.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Discussions during the event, hosted by the National Institute of Building Sciences, centered around data and connected systems, along with their rising importance. One of the clearest examples came from Washington, D.C.\u2019s Department of Buildings, where officials described several recent efforts to shorten permitting timelines and reduce review bottlenecks.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>For example, the department has consolidated portions of its building permit and certificate-of-occupancy process into a single workflow, said Nicole Rogers, chief building official for D.C.\u2019s DOB.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cThis streamlined the process by consolidating the two, so that the review and inspection could take place in less than 15 business days,\u201d said Rogers. \u201cTraditionally, the process maintained more than 60 days.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Rogers added the city also created instant permits for small repairs and solar installations. That allowed homeowners to obtain approvals in less than two minutes, she said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Those types of speedy permitting systems could significantly improve construction and review timelines, said Joan O\u2019Neil, chief knowledge officer at the International Code Council.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cModernized building departments with technology and solutions can increase permit issuance by 80%,\u201d said O\u2019Neil. \u201cWe know that technology can streamline permitting, and we also know that this is the biggest bottleneck that we hear in terms of slowing construction.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"standard-heading\"><span><span><span><strong><span><span>Artificial intelligence in construction<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The conference also focused on how visual artificial intelligence and digital inspection technologies allowed officials to remotely review jobsites and identify potential issues before stepping on the site.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>For example, Stephen DeVito, director of technology at Procon, a McLean, Virginia-based construction management and technology firm, described a project with the General Services Administration where inspectors virtually walked a building before arriving onsite using continuously captured visual records and spatial modeling tools.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201c[The inspector] said he knew the building so well that when he got there, he ended up being able to do two floors per day\u201d versus taking two days per floor previously, said DeVito. \u201cThat\u2019s just the beginning of what this technology can do.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>These kinds of tools give officials and inspection teams more context and visibility into ongoing work, said DeVito.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cThe ability to map what the actual evidence is at a given point in time, that is going to help with inspections the most,\u201d said DeVito. \u201cWe have over 100 inspectors in our firm, and they have adopted this technology rapidly.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>AI surfaced repeatedly throughout the conference, though several examples focused more on simulations and potential rather than fully deployed field systems.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>A team at contech giant Procore, for example, trained an AI system using thousands of pages from NIBS\u2019 Whole Building Design Guide, said Blake Shiver, general manager for Procore\u2019s public sector. The team then prompted the tool to generate a detailed disaster response and reconstruction strategy for a hypothetical hurricane scenario involving displaced residents and damaged petroleum infrastructure.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cWe\u2019re able to take something that might have taken months to sequentialize with old technology and get it down to minutes,\u201d said Shiver. \u201cThat\u2019s going to save lives.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Shiver also said AI could help preserve <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/ai-construction-labor-crunch\/809628\/&amp;sa=D&amp;source=docs&amp;ust=1779907033317250&amp;usg=AOvVaw1JVm2flYp2ldBcSHqzfZ8o\" target=\"_blank\">institutional knowledge<\/a> as experienced workers retire from the industry.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cIt effectively took decades and generations of wisdom and allowed me to apply it in context in minutes,\u201d said Shiver. \u201cWe never had that capability before.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Nevertheless, the AI systems still require guardrails, such as human oversight and continuous feedback loops, said Colin Whitlatch, chief technology officer at Kahua, an Alpharetta, Georgia-based construction management software provider. He added there are not any automatic decisions being made at the firm.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cWe operate off of something \u2018called human in the loop,\u2019\u201d said Whitlatch. \u201cBecause one thing is AI, with limited exception, never says, \u2018no.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<section class=\"storylines-carousel-wrapper hide-small show-large\" id=\"desktop-carousel\"\/>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>AI implementation can also bring on additional administrative burdens, said David Jackson, a consultant and founder of the Code Advisory Group, who works with tribal nations on code adoption and inspections. With AI tools, Jackson described situations where inspectors had to complete both handwritten inspection forms and digital documents simultaneously.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cI still have to leave a carbon copy. I still have to leave written documentation on the jobsite,\u201d said Jackson. \u201cSo, it\u2019s almost a duplication of my workload to manually fill out 100 plus inspection tickets, leave them physically on the jobsite, come back into the computer, load my notes verbatim.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/nibs-digital-permitting-ai-tools\/821260\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">This article was originally posted at Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Listen to the article 5 min This audio is auto-generated. 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McLEAN, &#8230; <a title=\"Digital permitting, AI tools top of mind for NIBS panelists\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/digital-permitting-ai-tools-top-of-mind-for-nibs-panelists\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Digital permitting, AI tools top of mind for NIBS panelists\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[457],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-dive","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35610\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}