susan_adams•2mo agoMost Upvoted

A client's offhand joke about my estimate software hit a little too close to home

I was in a kitchen in Portland last week, going over a remodel bid with a homeowner. He watched me plug numbers into the software and said, 'So when that thing gets smart enough to measure and quote the job itself, you're out of a job, right?'. He was laughing, but it wasn't funny. It stuck with me because the program already does half the math I used to do by hand. Has anyone else in trades had a moment where the automation felt like it was coming for your actual skills, not just the busywork?

4 comments

4 Comments

jessej232mo ago

Yeah, that "out of a job" line is rough. I read an article about how the real skill is knowing when the software's answer is wrong.

juliarodriguez2mo ago

Seriously though, how do you even LEARN to spot those mistakes? Like, is it just years of getting stuff wrong first?

king.val1mo ago

Jesse nailed it - the software's just a smart helper, not the boss.

wyatt1352mo ago

Oh man, that reminds me of my buddy who's a plumber. His fancy pipe layout program totally missed a load-bearing wall last month! Like @jessej23 said, the real job is catching the mistakes the software makes.