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AI Might Be Running the Building — But It’s Still Waiting on You

Picture of William Tygart

The property manager opens their laptop.
You see dashboards everywhere:

  • CO₂ levels

  • Real-time leak detection

  • AI forecasts for HVAC usage

  • Automated alerts for anything “off-trend”

They smile and say,

“The building runs itself now.”

You smile back.
Because you know:

It might know when something’s wrong. But it still needs you to fix it.

🧠 What AI Can Do in a Smart Building

  • Flag weird humidity spikes

  • Estimate energy usage

  • Auto-fill emissions reports

  • Compare this floor’s performance to another

  • Predict equipment failures before they happen

It’s useful. It’s fast. It’s smarter than a clipboard.

But…

❌ What AI Can’t Do (And Where You Come In)

AI Says You Know
“Unusual moisture levels detected” The window flashing failed behind the drywall
“IAQ within normal range” But you just pulled five feet of soggy carpet in the lobby
“System stable” But you smell something growing in the ceiling tile
“Maintenance recommended” You’re already on-site doing it — in boots, not code

AI can log the signal.
You solve the source.

🛠 How to Partner With AI Without Competing With It

✅ Respect the alerts — then go deeper
Bring your field intuition. Look beyond the sensor.

✅ Use your logs to validate or correct the system
“This reading doesn’t match our field results — here’s what we found.”

✅ Offer a sync-up report
“We can prep a closeout doc that matches what your AI system is logging — that way everything aligns.”

✅ Let them know when AI missed something
Not to show off — to help the building get smarter.

🧭 How to Talk About AI With Clients

“We’ve worked alongside smart building systems before — want us to format our readings to match your dashboard?”

“We noticed your system didn’t flag this one — we’ll log the data so it syncs moving forward.”

“AI can estimate a lot — but we’re here to confirm, log, and explain it in real terms.”

You’re not being old-school.
You’re being the human layer of intelligence.

🧠 TL;DR for the Restoration Crew

AI isn’t your enemy.
It’s just another tool — and you’re still the one swinging the hammer.

When you treat smart buildings like teammates,
and bring your real-world read to the digital readout,
you become the crew that makes the tech work better.

And that’s the kind of role no dashboard can replace.
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