AI Project Engineer
From tender pack to 4D construction model.
AIPE reads a civil tender the way a senior project engineer does: the drawings, the specification and every state road-authority standard it invokes. It builds a typed model of the job, derives the scope, lots, method, program and quality plan, prices the work from first principles, and composes it all as a 3D scene that moves through time.
In active build. Early access for civil contractors as design partners.
How it works
Five stages, one graph.
Each stage reads what the stage before it wrote, and writes typed records back into the same graph. The output of one tender is a single connected model: every price, lot and hold point traces back to the words that asked for it.
The pack arrives
Writes
The graph
A typed model of the job.
The ontology has 153 node kinds and about 900 named relationships, written as text and generated into a validated schema. Every write is checked against it. Below is the slice that carries a tender to a 4D model, drawn from the live schema. Hover or tap a kind to see what it connects to.
Traceability
Every step answers to a clause.
A step in the 4D model is one method step carried out on one task. It points back at the method that defines it, the safety statement that controls it, the inspection it is the place for, and the requirement that inspection answers. The requirement keeps the exact words of the standard and the page they are printed on.
Ask why a roller is on Lot 04 on a Tuesday, and the model answers with a page number.
- StepCompact unbound base, Lot 04, pass 3 of 6
- MethodStepCompact: plant, crew, duration rule, wait after
- MachineTypeSmooth drum roller, 4.19 m long, 1.43 m drum
- SWMSPlant and people interface, controls on the edge
- ITP itemCompaction test, lot-based frequency
- RequirementLimit, frequency, test method, actor
- ClauseEdition, clause number, page, box, characters, quote
The 4D model
The method, animated at true scale.
The scene is generated from the program. At any date it knows which elements exist, which machine works where and which hold point stands open. The browser draws it live, and Unreal Engine renders it to film. The plant library is built to manufacturer dimensions, so a lot is the right size and a machine fits the space it is given.
20 t excavator, 07H configuration
Built from published geometry: 15 rigid parts, four hydraulic cylinder pairs and a four-bar bucket linkage that closes through the cycle.
- Track length / width
- 4.450 / 2.980 m
- Boom / stick pin spacing
- 5.700 / 2.900 m
- Tail swing radius
- 2.830 m
- Bucket width
- 1.200 m
Single drum roller, BW 145 D-3
Scanned body aligned to the manufacturer's manual, with the drum rebuilt as a true cylinder and wheel pivots on the stated wheelbase.
- Overall length / width
- 4.194 / 1.546 m
- Wheelbase
- 2.222 m
- Drum diameter x width
- 1.058 x 1.426 m
- Cab roof
- 2.750 m
Toward a construction simulator
The same graph that prices a job can run it. After award, the model is refreshed against the contract as let, and the loops take over: the day loop reads dockets, timesheets and laboratory results as they arrive; the lot loop tests, releases and closes each lot with its conformance record; the period loop prepares claims, cost reports and forecasts.
The long-range aim is a civil contractor that tenders on real projects and delivers them with agents doing the engineering and administration, and people signing where the contract and the law ask for a signature.
- TenderRead, plan, price and model the job before the bid closes.
- DayDockets, timesheets, deliveries and results filed against the step they belong to.
- LotHold points released on evidence; each lot closed with its conformance report.
- PeriodProgress claims, payment schedules, cost against budget.
Measured
Scored against marking schemes.
A marking scheme is a standard marked up item by item: every hold point, witness point, limit and test frequency it contains, each anchored to its page. Four have been built and adopted, 578 items across Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia specifications. Every version of the reader is scored against them before it is used, and the floors are written into the company's policy.
Current reader, version 3, across four documents and 105 clauses. Floors rise as the reader improves.
Standards coverage
Five state road authorities, on the shelf.
Every document on each authority's specification shelf has been censused: its clause tree, its tables of hold and witness points, its test frequencies and the grammar each authority uses to print them. The census tells the reader what to expect before it reads a word.
| State | Authority | Documents | Pages | Clauses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| QueenslandTransport and Main Roads (MRTS) | Transport and Main Roads (MRTS) | 161 | 4,662 | 8,818 |
| New South WalesTransport for NSW | Transport for NSW | 255 | 8,329 | 11,449 |
| Western AustraliaMain Roads WA | Main Roads WA | 89 | 2,504 | 1,382 |
| South AustraliaDepartment for Infrastructure and Transport | Department for Infrastructure and Transport | 225 | 3,350 | 6,236 |
| VictoriaDepartment of Transport and Planning | Department of Transport and Planning | 161 | 1,741 | 1,294 |
| All five | 891 | 20,586 | 29,179 |
Austroads guides are being added as the shared layer beneath the state specifications. Project specifications and their amendments sit above both, in contract order of precedence.
Roadmap
Built in sections, each one measured.
AIPE is built as a sequence of milestones. Each ends with an evaluation against a written rubric, and the next begins on measured ground. This is where the build stands in September 2026.
- M0Complete
Foundation
Pinned agent harness, validated graph writes, approval gates, a shared task board and a release gate.
- M1Complete
The ruler
Five-state standards census and the marking-scheme method; four schemes adopted.
- M2Scored
The reader
Requirement extraction scored against every adopted scheme, with floors set in policy.
- M3In build
The spine
One tender pack to one closed lot with its conformance report, end to end on the board.
- M4In build
The tender pipeline
Scope, lot rules, ITPs, safety statements, method, program, price and bid on one real pack.
- M5Next
The day loop
Dockets, timesheets and laboratory results by email, filed against the work they record.
- M6First scenes
The 4D model
Scene manifests per stage, the browser viewer and the Unreal render; first plant assets built to dimension.
- M7Planned
The period loop
Progress claims, payment schedules, cost accounts and reports.
- M8Planned
The remaining functions
The rest of the skill library, one function at a time.
About
Who builds AIPE.
AIPE is developed by Applied Ontologies, which builds knowledge models and agent systems for civil construction. Its sister brand Range AI sets up practical AI for businesses across regional Queensland.
The work is led from Queensland by Tom Lynch.
Design partners
We are working with a small number of civil contractors who tender on state road-authority work. A design partner shares a past tender pack, sees AIPE read it, and shapes what gets built next.
Investors and estimators are welcome to get in touch too.
tom@rangeai.com.au