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

 

[IRstuff]

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

Lots of examples where actual humans didn't properly assess cracks in buildings, leading to tragic results

 

[Brad805]

This seems to result in the same problems one sees with WebMD.

 

[Greenalleycat]

Lots of examples where actual humans didn't properly assess cracks in buildings, leading to tragic results

No denying that but do you think that outsourcing this to non-engineer operated AI is better or worse?

 

[Ron247]

Does the app pay you any money? If so, keep researching whether to keep it or not. If it is not paying you anything, get rid of it. NO UPSIDE.

As far as potential users, many of them will make their judgement through a huge filter that will convince them they have no problem and will absolutely blame you if it turns out to be one. Eventually, one of them will be a lawyer or kin to one. Also, builders will use your site to convince owners the cracks in their new residence are not a problem if they see situations where it will. They will never mention your site if it indicates there is a problem.

Many, only see what they want to see. As an example, the picture below is job I looked at for a bank just to see if the person can refinance their house. The soil in the picture is at least 12' tall. Look under the "17" in 2017, that is a pickup truck below it. Note all the holes in the soil. The Owner excavated a crawl space house so he could work on Tractor-Trailer rigs under his house. This is the only job I ever looked at for 1 minute and got out from under it. The Owner, "Been like this for 20 years and never been a problem. I don't see why you can't sign off, after all, I am paying you to do so". I told him how dangerous this was and he actually thought I was being very overly cautious.

View attachment 1747268414045.jpeg

 

[Euler07]

The fact is, the owners can already upload their photos to AI and ask it to assess the crack. I'm not sure how the liability would change if you kept the same terms and conditions etc. as the AI company. I think if you are able to make money from it then it's worth tuning the terms and conditions to cover you, and extending your insurance to cover software apps just in case.