First attempt at web app

[MRob909]

I’ve made an attempt at a web app with the aim of helping building owners assess the severity of cracks they may have around their property. It’s certainly a work in progress but thought it would be great to get some feedback (good or bad) from fellow engineers

 

[Greenalleycat]

Our firm does a LOT of damage assessment for insurance and similar purposes.
This app feels like a dangerous thing to create - you need the full context of a crack to understand why that crack exists

 

[EngDM]

I'd be hesistent to throw a program like this this out there; what if the AI determines that it is a superficial crack, when in reality it is a dangerous crack and the owner ignores it due to your app, and failure comes at a later date?

 

[MRob909]

Thanks both, and valid concerns rightly raised - the way we’ve tried to frame it is more of a tool to determine when to seek professional assistance as opposed to “if” to seek professional advice.

Fully willing to scrap the whole project if deemed too close to the line, but the information it is based on is freely available elsewhere online. The hope was it would give further guidance and understanding of a potential problem to the average person.

 

[Greenalleycat]

I understand, and it's a potentially useful tool but I think you'd be opening yourself up for a huge amount of liability with this app and I struggle to see the upside for you
I can't imagine ever being able to charge enough for its use to be worth the effort to create it, let alone worth the liability

The reality IMO is that very few cracks are expected in well-done construction: seeing cracks in your cladding or internal linings is usually an indication of a problem somewhere
So, inherently you want to be considering a professional opinion

My concern is that people are really lazy, dumb, and cheap. You stick something with "AI" on it that says "cosmetic crack" they're going to accept it as it's what they want to hear
People will also assess cracks in isolation whereas there needs to be a holistic view - where are the cracks, how many, how big, floor settlement pattern, other factors such as doors jamming, are the gutters overflowing outside, etc