The Challenge
In the wake of the project-shuttering COVID-19 lockdown, new pandemic-related safety rules emerged industry-wide—and virtually overnight. The Lagassé Group immediately instituted mandated wellness checks for each worker entering the jobsite—a labor and paper-intensive process that caused project delays, staggered shifts, shortened workdays, and administrative burden.
The Solution
Using Procore integration partner Nyfty.ai’s Health Survey Bot, the Lagassé Group fully automated the wellness check process through its Procore platform’s Inspection Template. Nyfty.ai’s Health Survey Bot not only conducted the survey of all project workers via text, but the bot also analyzed the survey result— notifying the worker of his/her site access status and alerting the superintendent by text message.
The Results
“Nyfty conducted 300 Health Surveys last week. That would normally have taken 40 hours of our time. All required pre-screening and inspections were completed. Using Nyfty is like having an extra worker at your side. Nyfty actually does the task, alerts us to any issues in real time, and saves everything for us in Procore.”
Andrew Cote
Superintendent
The COVID Productivity Challenge
The Lagassé Group is a familiar presence in the Boston Metro area, the cape, and the Boston Harbor Islands. Residential and commercial construction, building management, estate care, renovation services—the Lagassé Group’s varied portfolio keeps them very busy.
When COVID-19 arrived without warning, Lagassé moved quickly and expertly to institute evolving COVID screening protocols to keep its construction sites safe and its workers healthy and secure. What this meant on the ground was impromptu thinking and executing. Pen-and-paper sign-in sheets and screening required employees on site to use a shared pen and to be in ill-advised proximity to one another. The time-intensive screening also meant workers lining up outside the gate to await screening, and then their shifts being staggered to minimize site crowding and exposure.
Automating Site Wellness
"When COVID arrived, our jobsites were shut down, of course," says Andrew Cote, Superintendent for The Lagassé Group. "When we found out what the requirements would be to reopen, we realized we needed to hire more people—or find some sort of automated solution."
The willingness to execute the new health and safety protocols was there but the cost was high in terms of productivity and schedule. "One of our projects was open for about a week—but experienced huge delays as we screened our people to get them onto the jobsite." The Lagassé Group quickly understood the importance of moving to a more fluid automated solution, but they needed a fix that would easily and quickly integrate with their construction management platform. "We did our research and found some solutions—but they weren’t integrated with Procore, which is where we needed to collect the data. We were hoping to find a software ‘add-on’ to the Procore platform we were already using. When we found Procore integration partner Nyfty.ai’s Health Survey Bot, it was the perfectly streamlined solution.
Nyfty.ai: Bots that Save Projects
Nyfty.ai is an A.I. technology that automates people-centric construction processes. In use across the USA and Canada, Nyfty.ai’s bots are smoothing processes that used to slow projects down. As Nyfty.ai founder and CEO Matt Edwards explains, "We make ‘little robot helpers’—software robots that do tasks for people. Our bots automate for safety, wellness, and productivity tasks, and have already had tens of thousands of actual conversations with workers while conducting health surveys as part of required Pandemic Response Plans."
The Lagassé Group’s Andrew Cote is all smiles. "Nyfty.ai acts on constructive feedback from the contractors who use their product. The result is that Nyfty.ai’s Bots are continually evolving to meet our needs. The time savings for field personnel who can more quickly direct their attention to their work; it’s been incredible." Amid all the bot talk, though, it’s also helpful to know the human element is likewise bug-free. "The Lagassé Group has really enjoyed working with Nyfty," says Marketing Director Paul Lagassé. "Not only is the product fantastic and tailored to our needs, but Matt has been exceeding our expectations and has been extremely accommodating. Thank you!"
