The future of onsite building technology
“Technology is not coming for construction. It’s already here.”
That was the feeling running through our conversation with Vas from C.R. Kennedy, and honestly, it is hard not to get excited about where things are heading. Because this is not just about shiny gadgets or sci-fi site toys. It is about tools that make building more accurate, more efficient, safer, and a whole lot easier to communicate to clients.
On the Mindful Builder Podcast, we sat down with Vassili Achkar to talk about the technology changing construction on the ground. C.R. Kennedy is best known as one of Australia’s leading distributors across geospatial, imaging, medical, surveillance, and more, but for this conversation, the focus was on the geospatial and construction tech that is starting to reshape how sites are measured, mapped, checked, and managed.
Tech on Site Is Getting Very Real
We got into the kind of tools that still sound futuristic until you realise they are already being used. 3D cameras. Laser systems. Total stations. Robotic add-ons. Even the possibility of robot dogs moving through sites and helping with repetitive or hazardous tasks.
For builders, one of the biggest game changers is site capture. The ability to quickly and accurately scan an existing structure or live site changes everything. It improves communication, helps clients understand progress without needing to physically be there, and gives teams a much clearer record of what is actually happening on site.
Better Set-Outs, Less Guesswork
One of the standout parts of the conversation was around total stations and robotic set-out technology. This is where construction starts to feel less like “close enough” and more like precision work backed by real data.
Instead of relying on manual interpretation and hoping everyone is reading the plans the same way, these tools help teams set out with greater speed and accuracy. Less rework. Fewer mistakes. Better alignment between design and delivery. And in an industry where small errors can become expensive problems very quickly, that matters.
The Safety Conversation Matters Too
We also talked about exoskeletons, which might sound a bit out there until you think about what they are actually solving. Fatigue. Repetitive strain. Wear and tear on the body. The stuff that slowly pushes good trades out of the industry earlier than it should.
If technology can help people stay on the tools longer, with less physical damage, that is not gimmicky. That is practical. It is the same story with robotics for inspections or hazardous checks. The goal is not to replace people. It is to reduce risk and let people focus on the parts of the job where human judgment matters most.
Construction Is Changing, Fast
Construction technology is no longer a fringe conversation. It is becoming part of the everyday toolkit. Not because the industry wants novelty, but because the pressure for accuracy, efficiency, safety, and transparency keeps increasing.
Vas brought a grounded perspective to all of it. Yes, the tools are impressive. But the real value is in what they solve. Better information. Better workflows. Better outcomes on site.
This conversation is a reminder that the future of construction is not some distant concept. It is already showing up on site, in the form of geospatial tools, 3D capture, robotic systems, and smarter ways of working.
And if the industry is willing to stay curious and keep adapting, that future looks pretty exciting.
LINKS:
Connect with Vas:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vassili-achkar-b2013412b/
https://www.instagram.com/crkennedybuild/
Pro Clima - https://mindful-builder.captivate.fm/proclima
MEGT - https://mindful-builder.captivate.fm/megt
Connect with us on Instagram: @themindfulbuilderpod
Connect with Hamish:
Instagram: @sanctumhomes
Website: www.yoursanctum.com.au/
Connect with Matt:
Instagram: @carlandconstructions
Website: www.carlandconstructions.com/
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[00:00:57] Hamish: we're obviously coming from the [00:01:00] Port audible Promus Yes. Port Audible Proclama studio. So if everyone who actually listens to this podcast, we don't really have a set place where we record.
[00:01:09] We're pretty mobile. So, um, today we're fortunate enough to be in Wilderness BuildCo's HQ in Fitzroy,
[00:01:17] Matt: the wildness,
[00:01:18] Hamish: pro climber studio, the wilderness pro climber built to last studio, of course. And, uh. Today it's wrapped
[00:01:24] Matt: in pro climber.
[00:01:25] Hamish: It's all wrapped in pro climber. You just can't see it. Yep. Uh, today we are joined by VA from CR Kennedy. why are you here? Why do we have you on today? That's, and who a question why, why do we have you? Do you wanna, do you wanna talk to us about your, uh, you, you're a new dad, aren't you?
[00:01:40] Vas: I am a new dad.
[00:01:41] Hamish: Yeah.
[00:01:41] Vas: So that's, it's very hard. I've now realized. You can't really convey that to someone unless they've had a kid. Oh, because I, I get told all sorts of stories, you know, the best thing that someone told me was, it is the best and worst thing that'll ever happen to you. Absolutely. It's like, yeah, it
[00:01:57] Hamish: is.
[00:01:57] That especially the first one. The first one is like such a [00:02:00] disruption to your life. 'cause you are once, and you would know this, Matt, you just recently had a, had Noah. You're like, you can do whatever the fuck you want. You can sleep in, you can stay up late. You can go out and get drunk and be hung over.
[00:02:12] You can't do that
[00:02:13] Matt: How are you going? Are you enjoying it? Like, have you Yeah,
[00:02:15] Vas: me, I'm good.
[00:02:15] Matt: Some.
[00:02:16] Vas: Uh, for, for me as a guy, like I, I feel pretty good about it.
[00:02:20] I'm the oldest of four kids, so, you know, I've gone through something similar a few times. Yeah. Yeah. I would say, um, for my wife, definitely much, much harder. Yeah. So she's got, you know, history of anxiety and stuff and Yeah. Uh, going through that sort of to be like frank postnatal depression sort of stuff is, there's a lot.
[00:02:35] Yeah. Definitely.
[00:02:37] Hamish: She's doing everything right there. I, I know that, I know there's probably not, this, not, there's definitely not the reason why we got you on, but I think the, I think it actually is an interesting to talk about because I've had male friends that have gone through postnatal depression and also I know of, um, women close to me who've gone through postnatal depression.
[00:02:55] I know Lucy had a little bit. Um, and it is actually a thing that people should be [00:03:00] aware of and talk about more.
[00:03:02] Matt: We have to get Julie back on. Maybe that's something
[00:03:03] Hamish: we do. Get Julie back, you know? 'cause there are a lot of young dads like listening to this and it's a thing and young moms not, you're not doing anything wrong.
[00:03:10] You know, it's just something that's a reality. And
[00:03:12] Vas: the way that I put it now, like having this experience with my wife and whatnot, um, she's doing well now. It's really good. Shout out to, she was always doing well.
[00:03:20] Hamish: Yeah.
[00:03:21] Vas: Oh, shout out to the Australian healthcare system. Like, it's incredible, like the amount of resources out there for you if you know, like that they're there.
[00:03:27] Um. This sort of stuff is super common, like speaking to so many women now, they're like, oh, you know. Yeah. It was the worst thing ever. Like I, I spoke to my mom and, yeah, I don't know if it's on YouTube, but she literally said to me, she was a single mom with me when she had me, and she said, you know, I was on the 13th floor balcony, just sort of thinking, is this high enough at one point.
[00:03:43] Hamish: Wow.
[00:03:44] Vas: Yeah. And so this is not an unusual story
[00:03:46] Hamish: and like, and I don't know enough about it, but I'm just gonna butcher this and I, and I hope, um, I hope I don't get caught out for this. My understanding is that when you are. You, you're not really set up for success, are you? Because you generally go [00:04:00] into labor at nighttime, so you don't sleep for 24 hours.
[00:04:03] Your baby comes in the morning and then you are awake trying to look after this small human. You are the reason that this thing stays alive. All that responsibility comes, you know, comes back to you. You're trying to then catch up to this 24 hour bender that you've just gone on. You should
[00:04:19] Matt: be used to that, shouldn't you?
[00:04:20] Hamish: What's that?
[00:04:21] Matt: You should be used to that.
[00:04:22] Hamish: And then all of your hormones just change like that.
[00:04:26] Vas: I'd say the no sleep and the hormones thing. Insane. Yeah. Like if you've ever seen one of those really roed up sort of gym junkie kind of guys, or if you've got any friends like that. You know when they come off cycle Yeah.
[00:04:38] They're, they're a bit wild, you know? Yeah. Very similar. If you've had a baby in you and you've had X number of hormones for nine months and you go cold Turkey next day, no steroids. It's crazy.
[00:04:47] Hamish: Well, you know, that's a, you know, that's a really good analogy. I reckon three men talking about giving birth.
[00:04:51] Yeah,
[00:04:51] Vas: yeah. Alright, listen up please.
[00:04:54] Hamish: Lemme tell you a thing about childbirth, but I think it's a good thing to like touch on and we're not gonna spend the [00:05:00] whole conversation talking about it, but it is, it's a thing. It's a thing, right? And it's really amazing to see. And hear about the support that you've given your partner through this.
[00:05:09] You know, you sound like a pretty active dad, the conversation we've had So good on you. I hope you know you're getting a bit more sleep now and that your wife is doing better and little. Oscar Oscar boy. That's right. Oscar, yeah. 50% chance. Yeah. Yeah, it was, yeah. I actually asked him when I saw him the other week and completely forgot.
[00:05:27] That's okay. But that's great to um, hear that you're doing well.
[00:05:29] Vas: Yeah. So
[00:05:29] Hamish: we Good. Tell us about who you are,
[00:05:32] Vas: where you're from. So, um, I suppose the reason you might have brought me on today is because we've got a bit of a history together with, um. Suppose digital construction. Yeah. My background's in land surveying and now I'm with, uh, CI Kennedy, uh, CI Kennedy being, uh, Australia wide and New Zealand distributor for photography, drones, medical imaging, digital construction products.
[00:05:55] We now do robots as
[00:05:57] Hamish: well. Yeah, that's pretty, we're not here to talk about medical imaging, which is, [00:06:00]
[00:06:00] Vas: we're gonna get off the pregnancy topic, but I do
[00:06:02] Hamish: wanna talk about the robots at the length thats in today. So let's, uh, you've got robots.
[00:06:07] Vas: We, we've got humanoid and dog style robots. Yeah.
[00:06:10] Matt: Tell me, I'm wanna jump into that.
[00:06:11] No, no, no,
[00:06:12] Hamish: no.
[00:06:12] Matt: Let him finish
[00:06:13] Hamish: first. Let him
[00:06:13] Matt: finish so we can have like a little dog running around That's not Charlie. We can have a
[00:06:17] Hamish: for build a dog.
[00:06:17] Matt: Yeah,
[00:06:18] Hamish: we want a mile for build a dog.
[00:06:19] Vas: All right. I'll put it on the list. So,
[00:06:22] Matt: so just we get that in rank star Kennedy, you're going to sur plaster the robot.
[00:06:25] Build it dog.
[00:06:25] Vas: Yeah.
[00:06:26] Matt: Yeah. Right. And
[00:06:27] Vas: also c
[00:06:27] Hamish: Kennedy r coming on
[00:06:28] Matt: as well. We'll call it V as well. Actually we
[00:06:31] Vas: bas the dog's. The, that's the man.
[00:06:34] Matt: Where's VAs on Go? Fitch me water.
[00:06:38] Vas: Yeah, so CR Kennedy I suppose like the interesting part about it is that it's been an Australian family business for 92 years now.
[00:06:45] So what did
[00:06:46] Hamish: it start out doing?
[00:06:47] Vas: Um, originally, not robots. I should memorize the whole spiel to be honest, but I believe it was photography, so, okay. Importing, you know, hassle blood and Pentax and all the sort of highend camera systems. And they just
[00:06:59] Hamish: generally [00:07:00] speaking, like just all for, for construction.
[00:07:02] Vas: Uh, for construction. I'd say that's the last. Sort of 15 years that they've picked up into, I think
[00:07:06] Matt: they just would've had a camera would've been cool.
[00:07:09] Vas: This is back, this is back in like 1930 something where it's like a camera. Dear God, you're stealing my soul. It's, uh, yeah. So it's changed a lot since, but now we've got, you know, fingers in all sorts of pies.
[00:07:21] But the reason that I'm here is because we've got a pretty big focus and Leica, so we do Leica products, which lasers and measuring equipment, uh, globally. Um. I have a big focus on the construction industry now. Yeah. So I think my whole spiel about it is. The last 20 years. Right. Uh, the biggest change in tech is that whatever, it still does the same thing, but it's way easier to use.
[00:07:42] Hamish: Yeah.
[00:07:42] Vas: Like, it's not, you don't have to be a, a rocket surgeon to pull out a laser these days, and the laser is the size of your phone. Like it's supposed to jump. I wonder
[00:07:50] Matt: how much smaller it's gonna get. Are we gonna like, have things in our eyes that we just like blink and it just measured something?
[00:07:55] Vas: Yeah.
[00:07:56] Well, I mean, I can get into that if you want.
[00:07:58] Hamish: I mean, like, I guess the, the, the sort [00:08:00] of the biggest gateway drug that you guys provide to the industry, in my opinion, is your 3D camera. Which is, you know, I guess where we started, um, with our relationship with you guys. And we're very slowly working towards getting one of these beautiful, uh, set out stations.
[00:08:14] So
[00:08:15] Matt: the construction camera, honestly, and I'm, this isn't just a plug for you guys. If you are a builder and you do not have one Yeah. Fucking idiot.
[00:08:24] Hamish: Well, I actually think straight, straight out. It's so, so
[00:08:27] Matt: cheap and affordable.
[00:08:28] Hamish: So for the cost. Uh, 1500 bucks, whatever, whatever it is,
[00:08:32] Vas: it's, you get a pizza if you pay 1500 as well.
[00:08:34] Sorry.
[00:08:34] Hamish: There you go. Perfect. Great. A pizza
[00:08:36] Vas: Uhhuh.
[00:08:37] Hamish: Uh, but it is like, if you think about, um, oh, we're always talking about risk management, right? And we're talking about like giving the best product to our clients for us to go around at certain stages and do a full 3D walkthrough one. To show the client that, hey, that thing is in the wall.
[00:08:55] But two, Matt, I know you've got a story about forgetting about where some, so I've
[00:08:59] Matt: got two [00:09:00] stories. One of my clients was living in Japan.
[00:09:02] Hamish: Yep.
[00:09:02] Matt: The whole build. Mm-hmm. We just scan, kept scanning it and sending it to them.
[00:09:06] Hamish: Perfect.
[00:09:06] Matt: They picked up errors along the way, like we didn't think that. Door was gonna be like that.
[00:09:10] Can we change it? Can we do this easy? They actually went full nerd and got the full visual gla, uh, goggles. Oh, wow. Or like walk around their house. Yeah. Yeah. So that was so, well you can do that with the, with the client. Yeah. They can do walkthroughs. So walk, so they did that. So perfect for a client that might, if you're building in maybe a remote area that you want to keep the client informed.
[00:09:28] Um, or they're not on site all the time or they're extremely busy. So that was one now two my own house where. $1,500 for a camera. We'll just say that's what it costs. I don't actually remember the cost, but not gonna be
[00:09:40] Vas: 12 or 30. I can't remember.
[00:09:41] Matt: Yeah, so
[00:09:41] Vas: use referral code, Matt.
[00:09:42] Matt: Yeah. Yeah. So we, we'll have a, for the 1500 prize.
[00:09:46] So what mean you'll split the difference. What I did is we scanned pre plaster every project. You can see everything. We can measure a Batten if we need to hang something from the wall, from a TV to a piece of artwork, or can't find a pipe when [00:10:00] joiners are wanting to screw something through and we don't wanna hit the pipe so we can remember where everything is a lot more.
[00:10:04] And it's all measured to within a few mil like we've tested. It's pretty good.
[00:10:07] Vas: It's generally pretty reliable. I usually say a finger width or sorry, like
[00:10:10] Matt: that's what you can, yeah, like it's incredibly close. So what happened is the. I dunno if I should blame Drew passive jerk here. But what happened is that I think you can, yeah, I'm gonna blame him.
[00:10:19] I think you can blame, I don't think it was his fault, but I'm gonna blame him. What happened in, in my, my toilet? The water closet. The HRV outlet.
[00:10:27] Hamish: I don't wanna know what happens
[00:10:28] Matt: in your, when no was not long. It wasn't long enough. Or it got cut by someone and the plaster plastered over it.
[00:10:34] Hamish: Okay.
[00:10:34] Matt: We didn't, I had finished tiles everywhere.
[00:10:37] It was all like, and like to rip and find it. If I got it wrong, I was screwed. Like,
[00:10:42] Hamish: do you know what I reckon Grand design were thinking going, yes,
[00:10:45] Matt: he's pulling
[00:10:45] Hamish: tiles off the wall.
[00:10:47] Matt: So content. Yeah. Great content. But what happened is. We got that camera up, measured the scan off all four walls. It was the same pinpoint, put a hole through, little hole through piece of wire to make sure we're [00:11:00] touching it.
[00:11:00] It's like bang on the middle. Found it. I can tell you it was gonna be a lot more than $1,500 to fix that problem.
[00:11:07] Hamish: Yeah.
[00:11:07] Matt: And that camera paid for itself off in one, one instant hit. So,
[00:11:11] Hamish: and it's not just that too, like we're obviously in the high performance game and I know, have you been talking to the guys from
[00:11:17] some of the passive house designers about utilizing the scans as, um, I guess Ference Point certification
[00:11:23] Vas: reference. Yeah, potentially. So the idea is that you can actually get like full floor plans out of it if you are that inclined. Where we've got some architects that probably use the more step up commercial version of it that.
[00:11:35] They use for their sort of renovation measure, their mapping, the mapping sort of stuff. Yep. Um, which again, for what you guys do, you do mainly new builds, so it's probably less relevant, but yeah, you can definitely use that for mapping some existing buildings and retrofitting or reevaluating. Are
[00:11:49] Matt: they a lot more expensive?
[00:11:50] Like, uh,
[00:11:51] Vas: the commercial ones, like 12 grand or so? But
[00:11:53] Matt: if you are said, if you are designing 10, 15 projects a year on renovations and you are mapping out constantly. That's,
[00:11:59] Vas: oh, it's [00:12:00] a no brainer thing that that makes No, that's, yeah, we like to say things like that, even with the set out tools, like, it's not for everyone, but for the people it's for, it's not even a question, it's just, all right, I'm gonna use that.
[00:12:09] Like, yeah, twice a month, three times a month, whatever. I'm get paid off in two months. Done. Yeah. So
[00:12:13] Matt: yeah,
[00:12:13] Vas: it's, um, yeah, that's the nature of a lot of those sort of tech that we do as well. It's not for everyone. We tend to do the more sort of high end or specific, you guys, it's passive house, you know, the more specific solutions to things, but for the people that you know, have the value in it.
[00:12:27] It's not even a, a question like, I, I don't really have to pitch it so much, you know?
[00:12:31] Hamish: So we, we know, we know about the, um, the gateway drug, and that's the camera. I really want you to dive into the set outs, total stations and, and even I guess, the robotic add-ons that I know you can do to the total stations with the mobile.
[00:12:47] Can I flip the script a bit? Absolutely. Flip ask
[00:12:50] Matt: a total station is a laser level to some extent is a base
[00:12:53] Vas: it does
[00:12:53] Matt: that. Yeah,
[00:12:53] Vas: yeah, yeah. It does that. If there's base level does anything else but to flip the script a little bit, 'cause I think it might help, um, 'cause I imagine you have a [00:13:00] lot of builders that Yeah.
[00:13:00] Listening to this architects might help them sort of, you know, understand what this sort of stuff is for. Yes. Um, talk to me about pfa. So what's your overview? 'cause I've got a lot of clients in the prefab manufacturing space now, and I'm also, uh, spoilers, seeing Australian sustainable hardwoods, uh, next week.
[00:13:17] Yeah. Um, talk to me about what you guys see.
[00:13:19] Hamish: I know you are talking to Chris at the moment.
[00:13:21] Vas: You are mate.
[00:13:22] Matt: So, I, I, I, I think prefab is part of the solution to build. More.
[00:13:27] Hamish: Yep. And I also know that when, 'cause we've done a dozen, um, SIPS projects, so that's some kind of prefabricated, I kind of know where your question's going.
[00:13:38] Which is, which is good. Well, trust
[00:13:39] Matt: is a prefabricated. That's a form of
[00:13:40] Hamish: Yeah. Yeah. But if you think about it like you want confidence, like prefab is all about speed. There is no point building prefab if you're waiting for the slab to go down, if you're waiting for the walls to go up to measure your tru trusses, what is gonna expedite that?
[00:13:55] You ordering the, before you even break ground on site, you ordering the [00:14:00] sips. That's where the efficiencies is. How do you then make sure, and you might be able to answer this, how do you then make sure that the slab that you're putting on the ground that can't be fucking moved once it's there is millimeter perfect to that structure that's going on top?
[00:14:14] Vas: So that's pretty much the ticket where again, my background Lance surveying, like my experience building is, uh, I built a climbing wall at home and I rebuilt my deck. But, uh, when it comes to prefab, my perspective on it now is that when it works, it's the second coming of Christ. It's incredible. I've gone from like slab to lock up in like a week when it doesn't work.
[00:14:34] Dear God, what have I done? Like, what have I chosen to build prefab? What's wrong with me? Um, and there's really not that much middle ground, I'll be honest. Like every time I've seen something go wrong, it's gone from a week to months. Effectively. Like redesigned, potentially repermit. Is it
[00:14:47] Matt: more commercial perspective or you?
[00:14:49] Vas: No. Domestic and commercial to be honest. Um, SIPS manufacturers, um, um, to. Not name names, but, uh, one of the, one of the great Satans for you guys. Uh, prefab steel frames, I suppose. [00:15:00] Yeah, I, I see the looks. Uh, I didn't say
[00:15:04] Matt: anything.
[00:15:05] Hamish: Still, still works if it's tell the same envelope.
[00:15:06] Vas: Yeah, yeah, yeah. But um, there's also another one that's more, doesn't
[00:15:10] Matt: catch fire him.
[00:15:13] Vas: Jet fuel, but uh, and mixed media, sort of modular construction. There's someone up in Shepparton that's getting pretty big with that as well. Um, yeah, as you've already said, like it sort of has to click together like a, like a puzzle. Yep. Like a Lego set. Yep. Um, you design a slab, you design frames, you design the pieces, you get to site, you land, it works.
[00:15:32] Right. Okay. Uh, how often is your concrete flat. And how flat is flat. How our
[00:15:38] Matt: houses, our houses are perfect. They're all the tide, they're flat.
[00:15:40] Vas: Yeah. Perfect. Always in the right spot. You guys pay, you know, top dollar for best concrete is every time the concrete has always spent extra, you know, two weeks checking its level, growing it.
[00:15:48] Absolutely. Yep. So of course it works. Perfect. So jumping back into reality, uh, I would say the best slide I saw was up in Bendigo and it was like across maybe a [00:16:00] 15 by 30 sort of commercial slab. Worst I got was about seven mil out for height, which is nuts. That's good. That's pretty good. Whoa. Because often when you ask concrete, oh no, I'm within five mil.
[00:16:09] Yeah. Have you checked? Um, nominally, I would say it's not unusual in a typical domestic build to see between two 10 to 20 mil in undulation in that site. What? I'm not joking. As in like, I've gone to so many sites, like it's not, and everyone will tell you, oh, no, no, no, no. Like it's perfect
[00:16:25] Hamish: comes down. You know, the reality is that you would never notice that.
[00:16:28] If you were, you've walked in that if you, if you rode a skateboard over it, you would never notice. Yeah. You'd never notice it. Not, not one thing. The only time you notice it is when it rains and then you go,
[00:16:36] Matt: you see the puddles. That's how I judge on a concrete slab and how good it was. And if there's big puddles the next day and you walk, you see,
[00:16:43] Hamish: so what you're saying is we should design all our concrete slabs with like 10 mil fall.
[00:16:46] So there's no water on,
[00:16:48] Matt: there's no water on them. And lift the frame up, coming outta a job, lift the frame up when it's the water goes. Yeah.
[00:16:54] Vas: Yeah. So that's honestly the, the simplest sort of explanation for using some digital set out tools. [00:17:00] Step one, there you have to have, uh, a flat, you know, correct position, correct shape slab to construct the rest of your building on.
[00:17:07] The reason I brought up prefab is because in traditional construction. It's definitely more of a she'll be right mate situation where, you know, you can kind of jerry rig things around, frame stuff, make it work. It's fine. With prefab stuff, it's, it's obviously much more challenging. And the idea here is I've got a number of, um, both commercial domestic clients and manufacturers now that utilizes sort of digital layout tools to do that QA analysis and sort of.
[00:17:33] Assurance that they can maintain to their, uh, timelines on delivery where post poor or even during poor, they're able to validate flatness to within whatever amount.
[00:17:43] Matt: Mm-hmm.
[00:17:44] Vas: But in the instance that, you know, you haven't had the best day concreting necessary, uh, you're able to at least rapidly, I'm talking like, uh, 20 minutes.
[00:17:54] Um, go check all the key points where you're gonna land your frames and panels and mark the shim heights straight away. And [00:18:00] check if you're gonna have overrun on bottom plates or anything, just mark that straight away
[00:18:03] Matt: so it's not just used for setting out a slab.
[00:18:06] Vas: Oh, it's that as well. But yeah, there's,
[00:18:07] Matt: so do you, like, do you use that for like, say, setting out electrical and all those things too?
[00:18:11] Vas: So it depends what you're doing. I would say more on slab and pre slab is the, is the ticket. Um, realistically you can take any plan that you've got on your phone or PDFs or whatever. Yeah,
[00:18:19] Hamish: maybe, maybe, maybe, uh, talk does, maybe talk through what it is and what it does. Because I reckon there would've been, I mean, there's probably a lot of listeners that, that have seen this out there, you know, with you walking around with the staff and an iPad and stuff like that.
[00:18:32] But what is it that. It's doing what? What total station? What's the unit doing?
[00:18:36] Vas: Yeah.
[00:18:37] Hamish: How's it doing? What it's doing, and then what do you, and how do you do what you do with a screen in front of you?
[00:18:42] Vas: Yeah, so the way I like to tell people they're new to it normally is when you typically do your own set off grids or whatever you're using for an existing build.
[00:18:51] Uh, you nominate some datum, whether it's walls or the surveyors, marks or fences or whatever. Um, and you go, okay, I'm gonna tape my offsets from [00:19:00] there and start laying out 3, 4, 5, blah, blah, blah. There I go. Right now, same thing on the sort of total stations, the machines. You'll upload your plan. Instead of you running around taping 3, 4, 5, check, check, check, three people.
[00:19:13] Whatever, uh, you point the laser to your reference points, you go, yep, that's one, that's two, that's three. It'll tell you how good they are.
[00:19:19] Matt: So you start with a reestablishment survey.
[00:19:21] Vas: Ideally get
[00:19:21] Matt: the pins.
[00:19:22] Vas: Ideally, yeah, ideally that's it, which is not always the case if you're building, you know, more acreage sort of situations or internal fitouts.
[00:19:28] Good point.
[00:19:28] Matt: Yeah,
[00:19:29] Vas: pick something, make it work. Uh, and the machine will tell you how good it is. You go, okay, that's good enough for me. Rock and roll. Pick anything on your, on your plan, whether it's um, bottom plates or slab or penetrations. It'll guide you physically, like, which way to go and say, okay, cool, that's within five mil.
[00:19:43] Mark it there. Oh, better than that if you want. Off you go.
[00:19:46] Hamish: Yep. So you, you can, you can actually go through and work out exactly the center of a waste point in a bathroom.
[00:19:53] Vas: Yeah. So
[00:19:54] Hamish: on a greenfield site,
[00:19:55] Vas: generally that's the application for plumbers that we have. Yeah. So they use either that like total [00:20:00] station or a GPS unit 'cause it's gotta be good enough.
[00:20:02] Hamish: Yeah.
[00:20:03] Vas: Um, and they'll have a list of all their penos, wastewater, drainage, downpipes, whatever. They'll run out, they'll spray 'em up and they'll also check them afterwards. So, I mean, between doing the spray and then doing the digging and the installs. Bit of a difference, uh, and you'll get certainty for where they are.
[00:20:20] And Ima, this is my new sort of slogan. Imagine building the plan.
[00:20:25] Matt: So, so you bought, do you buy this once and then that's it? Or is there a subscription per month along with it? Or
[00:20:30] Vas: for our lucky viewers today only? No. Uh, so look, with Lanka products, um, I will say they're definitely. The more high end sort of more premium solution for this sort of stuff.
[00:20:41] And with that, you don't get subscriptions, you just, you buy it, it's yours.
[00:20:45] Matt: Is that the one that we typically see that will Mark, Mark's got one. Yeah.
[00:20:49] Vas: Yeah. So Mark, MBH has one. Um, and
[00:20:52] Matt: that's just a buy it no subscription. See
[00:20:53] Vas: later? No, you just, you updates and
[00:20:56] Hamish: look, let's, let's be fair. Like these so cheap.
[00:20:58] These things aren't cheap.
[00:20:59] Vas: [00:21:00] Mm-hmm.
[00:21:00] Hamish: However. You need to think about it this way, and this is where we're starting to justify it. And, and we will, your sleeping sites to, we'll, we will pull the trigger on it very soon. You're almost, you're eliminating the need to put any hurdles. You're eliminating the need to getting, um, your surveyor out to do your grid lines, although maybe it's a reestablishing survey.
[00:21:22] Matt: Yeah,
[00:21:22] Hamish: but that's fine. You can do that. Um, you can set out a house one person in a day.
[00:21:31] Vas: In an hour.
[00:21:32] Hamish: Like it's so quick. It's ridiculous.
[00:21:34] Matt: And what do they like I, what do they cost? I actually don't know because
[00:21:37] Vas: anywhere from like 30 to 60 grand, depending which one 60
[00:21:39] Matt: is like the bee's knees
[00:21:40] Vas: 60 can run like digs.
[00:21:43] Matt: Yeah.
[00:21:43] Vas: So you can tell Diggers where to dig, like automatically to get final trims. It's not for you necessarily small. Yes. So what would
[00:21:48] Matt: like pay mission? I need like a standard that's
[00:21:50] Vas: probably around like 47, 50 grand or so.
[00:21:52] Matt: And they're gonna come down in price as technology comes
[00:21:55] Vas: from generally. Yeah.
[00:21:55] Yeah. And as well, most we're gonna hold, uh, vast to
[00:21:59] Matt: no, [00:22:00] because like, the reason I say passive
[00:22:00] Vas: house discounts today only? Yes.
[00:22:02] Matt: No, because they say, people say 46 grand is so expensive for tool, but the reality is tools are so expensive. But we look at this and I'm just gonna do quick math, but that's what I
[00:22:08] Hamish: was saying.
[00:22:08] You need to, you need to break down what, what the problem is solving. Like, if you think about the labor that you are
[00:22:13] Matt: saving, it's a, there's a week to set out a whole project between two people.
[00:22:16] Hamish: So I, I would literally have, like in my, in my set out, there might be five grand worth, minimum, five, six grand, minimum worth of worth of stuff, material, labor, whatever.
[00:22:26] Plus, you know, 1500 bucks to get your survey surveyor out. So you do five jobs a year, it's paid for itself
[00:22:31] Vas: at a minimum. That's sort of what you're looking at. I would say the more big ticket stuff. 'cause often people ask me, oh, is it faster? Blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, look. I don't try and convince people it's faster.
[00:22:40] I know it's faster. I you can get faster. It's more about these situations where it's mission critical, right?
[00:22:45] Hamish: Yeah.
[00:22:45] Vas: So you're not about doing it, you know, 10 times faster. You're about doing it once and doing it right.
[00:22:49] Hamish: Yeah. Yeah. Actually imagine building to plan. Like I love that. Yeah. But you're actually, and, and, but it's giving you the confidence to go, right, I'm gonna order my sips or order my prefab, or order my windows, or [00:23:00] whatever, like before you even start on site.
[00:23:02] And knowing as long as I'm building to plan. As long as I'm doing everything that this screen in front of me is telling me to do, it's gonna be fine.
[00:23:09] Matt: And if you've got multiple heights, that's where efficiencies come. Oh, sloping sites. So most of my jobs are flat site. Pretty simple. Mm-hmm. Like for me to justify it would be a few, like you'd have to, it's a bit tricky.
[00:23:21] Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I've seen some of your projects where you're on slope sites and you've got cuts and Yeah, you've got multiple heights, like it almost paid itself off in the job at the time.
[00:23:30] Hamish: I reckon it would get close over a couple of jobs if you, uh, if you think about expediting like supervision, labor, and then other miscellaneous kind of set fucky stuff.
[00:23:40] Matt: Mm-hmm.
[00:23:41] Hamish: Like even the plumber and the sparky. I mean, I know. Their price may or may not come down, but their job would get easier. Yeah. And I think if you could demonstrate to them how much easier it's gonna be Now, big plug to Daniel Perham, and he doesn't use one of your units, but he's been using, um,
[00:23:59] Vas: [00:24:00] something
[00:24:00] Hamish: similar Trimble, Trimble, Trimble for, for a long time, and he has the digger.
[00:24:04] Nice.
[00:24:05] Vas: Yeah.
[00:24:05] Matt: So what's the dig bit Do at least She just tells you like, dig here.
[00:24:08] Hamish: Yeah. And you, it, it, you can actually, it it maps where your, um, bucket is scoop and you
[00:24:13] Matt: put like a sensor on your digger.
[00:24:14] Vas: Yeah.
[00:24:15] Hamish: Yeah. But it's got a bunch of like little, um, receivers on the, on the digger arm. It's incredible. Like the stuff's wild.
[00:24:20] Vas: It's like playing a video game. Like imagine you're playing like a simulator of a digger and you've got a screen like of what it's meant to be and where you're meant to go. And when you're meant to dig and when you're too high and too low and everything, it just tells you.
[00:24:30] Matt: You could set out an asset of a pipe and be like,
[00:24:32] Vas: yeah,
[00:24:33] Matt: sensor don't
[00:24:34] Hamish: like, well, so, so again, to give Daniel a plug, 'cause he's, he does it and you can do the same thing with Alec stuff.
[00:24:39] So he No, no, go for it. So he does design construct, he, he does design in plus spec. He pulls out a plus spec, like literally just a layer, puts it into the set out station, tablet,
[00:24:48] Vas: whatever. Yeah.
[00:24:49] Hamish: And he does block set out. To the millimeter. He does Rod set out to the millimeter footing level, like and some of the sites he's on.
[00:24:58] Super tricky. Mm-hmm. Like [00:25:00] that is the best case use of where this stuff would come into place.
[00:25:03] Matt: I look at Brads job that he's got in the middle
[00:25:06] Hamish: of, oh, that is Prime for this.
[00:25:07] Matt: Yeah.
[00:25:08] Hamish: Prime.
[00:25:08] Matt: Because he's set and forget.
[00:25:09] Hamish: Yeah.
[00:25:10] Vas: Like for me it's just, I don't, it doesn't matter what brand is just exciting to see people getting more digital, more sort of into the tricky stuff because.
[00:25:17] I was so like, and prior to getting involved with CI Kennedy, just in land surveying, I was so blind to, I suppose, the construction industry and like what you know, is, was normal, I suppose, where I, as a non builder, I'm just kinda like, oh, you know, I. Plans. So if I go out there and measure whatever is on that plan, it's gonna be exact, it's gonna be pretty the same like within five.
[00:25:37] Don't smile. Um, but you
[00:25:39] Hamish: know what? It's human error.
[00:25:41] Vas: Yeah. It's just part of the gap. Like, it's just, there's nothing wrong with what you're doing. It's just more that's the way that life works. Like there's, you know, sort of push and pull. We just get it done. There's a vision that you achieve. That's it. So coming at it from a, like my perspective before this was like a, oh, there's only a right way and a wrong way.
[00:25:56] But no, there's obviously like quite a, quite a broad set. [00:26:00] Um,
[00:26:00] Hamish: so other, so other than the, the set out stations, I mean, I know because the, like some of these things aren't accessible.
[00:26:06] Vas: Yeah.
[00:26:06] Hamish: Do you, do you, um, hire the, the units to
[00:26:10] Vas: Yeah, so we do all the hires and training. Um, we really, really put a lot of time into.
[00:26:16] The training, support and sort of business integration part of it. So,
[00:26:18] Matt: and I'll tell you that's a hundred percent correct, not just say that he's, oh, this isn't vastly seal, uh, selling hat on now. Like, you guys came out on site a few weeks ago and showed all my team how to use a camera.
[00:26:29] Vas: Yep. Yeah,
[00:26:30] Hamish: we tried.
[00:26:30] Yeah. We, we even had another, a retraining session the other day, uh, and mind, 'cause we were having a couple of issues with getting it uploaded onto, um, Matterport on the Matterport. But even just you training them of where to position the camera. Yeah. Like, and actually just looking at the plans beforehand and really just working out where you're gonna put the camera.
[00:26:48] Mm-hmm. And just having a think about it for five minutes before you start and that, that actually capture was the best one we've ever done.
[00:26:55] Vas: Oh, nice. Yeah. So I take full credit for that
[00:26:56] Hamish: by way. Absolutely. Thank you very much. Thank, but um, so what, what, what are [00:27:00] some of the other cool stuff? What the other cool shit happen that we're talking about?
[00:27:04] Um, like this is like future construction technology here. Which really kind of isn't. It's been here for a long time, but it's starting to sort of bleed its way into residential. It's becoming accessible for residential. What, what are some of the other cool stuff that c Kennedy
[00:27:19] Vas: just like earlier? I want to, um, flip the script for a second and it's one of these things that I get asked, like,
[00:27:25] Hamish: is it your
[00:27:25] Vas: podcast?
[00:27:25] Is it No, no.
[00:27:27] Hamish: Well, today we're at the C Kennedy
[00:27:29] Vas: podcast, so, uh, no. The, uh, one thing that I get asked a lot about, because a really sort of like salient, you know, besides AI sort of thing, it's, uh, VR. And I wanna pop the bubble in vr. I think if someone's selling you vr, it's often a real like snake oil thing.
[00:27:46] It is actually pretty tricky to get, you know, VR to what a builder would need. Generally you get something out of it. But, uh, beyond that, I think the more exciting thing to be aware of besides the sort of digital construction, 3D modeling, all that sort of [00:28:00] stuff is, yeah, that like robotics space, honestly, um, we're getting some inquiries, probably less domestic, but more commercial infrastructure for.
[00:28:09] Literally like exoskeletons at this point. Do
[00:28:11] Matt: I do the a hundred mil trick?
[00:28:12] Vas: What with the exoskeletons? Yeah. Um, for the right price. We'll do anything.
[00:28:17] Matt: So what, so talk to me what, like, like I'm in my brain thinking that this robot comes on site and it's hanging plaster sheets. Well, hang on. Are you
[00:28:25] Hamish: talking a different thing though?
[00:28:26] Vas: There's 2D there's exoskeletons, there's two few things. So there's the exoskeletons, which, um, we were at the home Glen yesterday and that was sort of a big feature for them as well. Um, which is more of a support like Mecca body suit, sort of like Brad
[00:28:38] Matt: has.
[00:28:38] Vas: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:28:39] Matt: Okay. Yep. Cool.
[00:28:40] Vas: Beyond that, we have the humanoid robot, which look, to be honest, it's more of a research sort of space
[00:28:47] Matt: at the moment.
[00:28:47] Just with the excess, lemme just go back to this conversation. So it's like a safety device for your body to help you lift? Yeah.
[00:28:52] Vas: What,
[00:28:52] Matt: what's it? What's it doing?
[00:28:53] Vas: Yeah. The target market obviously is to reduce strain on like, let's say at the very basic level. If you're 85 and walking up a [00:29:00] mountain, you can walk up a mountain in an exoskeleton, no worries.
[00:29:02] But we are getting to the stage where it's starting to be a, okay, if I wanna lift heavy products, if I'm doing repetitive motions on site, et cetera, that's. This is starting to play in. I'm not gonna say like, Hey, go out and buy an exo skeleton. That's not what, are they
[00:29:13] Matt: expensive? Like what's roughly, I dunno.
[00:29:15] Just, I dunno. Again, I'm just much
[00:29:16] Hamish: Was Brad's, Brad's a few grand landed, wasn't it?
[00:29:18] Matt: Yeah.
[00:29:19] Vas: Uh, of, I dunno, I'm not the exo skeleton guy. I'm very sorry.
[00:29:22] Matt: Because like, I'm just gonna say like, honestly, like, I think let's just call it five grand, I'm, I'm gonna call it 10 grand as a tradie. Like if you intend on being on the tools for the next 15 years, that is the best 10 grand you could possibly spend.
[00:29:35] Hamish: Well, as soon as Brad, as soon as Brad got it, like I turned to some of my. When I say older guys, I'm so, some of the guys sitting 40, 40, 45 my age. Um, I said this is a no brainer if you guys wanna stand the tools.
[00:29:47] Matt: Yeah.
[00:29:47] Hamish: Like Sanctum Home should look at investing in some of these for you guys 'cause your body ain't getting any younger.
[00:29:54] Matt: May, maybe those apprentices when they're 50 to start their apprenticeship that the government have brought out might be outside. Oh,
[00:29:59] Hamish: they, they need, they need [00:30:00] to come out with all their exoskeletons.
[00:30:01] Vas: Oh, we're all living
[00:30:02] Matt: longer. Exoskeleton. If you start an apprenticeship at the age of 50
[00:30:06] Vas: a discounter, that's a dystopian future.
[00:30:10] Um, yeah. So look, I think the robotics space is definitely, and you mentioned price is definitely coming down. I, I know like. 10 years ago or whatever, we'd all be looking at those Boston Dynamics dogs like jumping around and stuff like, wow, that's a trillion dollars for a military to buy a dog or whatever.
[00:30:24] Now it's more like a, like 10, 20 grand and you have a robot dog,
[00:30:26] Matt: but what does their robot dog do?
[00:30:28] Vas: So the robot dog is probably more, has more market penetration than exoskeleton at this stage. Um. There's a, a little one that's more of a runaround sensor camera. It logs everything for you. And there's a big one where
[00:30:41] Matt: protects the sight
[00:30:42] Hamish: from the baddies.
[00:30:43] Vas: Well, I was gonna say, hang, hang on. You both of you could ride it.
[00:30:46] Hamish: Hang on. So, so. No, no. Let's get back to the dog for a sec. So the dog, the dog. Can act as a camera?
[00:30:52] Vas: Well, it has to so the dog can navigate, right? So it's got sensors on it. Yeah, it's got a laser scanner and it's got cameras, um, in order to allow it [00:31:00] to, you know, navigate the environment and avoid obstacles and whatnot.
[00:31:02] Um, the main use for the bigger dogs at the moment. Is, uh, site inspections, autonomous, um, and hazardous inspections as well. So we're talking about, you know, mine sites, fires, uh, waste material, whatever. Just automate this thing. Do they
[00:31:19] Hamish: look like dogs?
[00:31:21] Vas: Got four legs I can add a tail to for the right price if you want.
[00:31:24] Hamish: Like ears and like No, there's a park. There's a park.
[00:31:29] Vas: Can we get that sound bite please? '
[00:31:32] Matt: cause I mean, yeah. Anyway.
[00:31:34] Vas: Yeah, I'll, I'll, they're out there. I think we've got a bunch of videos and them dancing and doing flips and walking upstairs and stuff. You can just gotta get some smoke, eh.
[00:31:42] Matt: Seeing the robot dog down to.
[00:31:44] Vas: Send robo out. We've already had jokes about the dogs unionizing. Don't worry.
[00:31:48] Matt: But like, let's look at like the household. So like I've got two robo vacs. I've got one upstairs and downstairs. One does its vac and mop in the morning, does a afternoon vac after dinner and then upstairs goes and [00:32:00] they, how long ago?
[00:32:01] Were 10 grand? A thousand bucks? Not even.
[00:32:05] Hamish: Yeah, I mean, robotics has been introduced into our life, you know, more and more these days without just kind of even knowing. 'cause I, you know, I don't really. Think about that as a robot, but it is a robot.
[00:32:15] Matt: So I've seen, I know I got served some crap on Instagram about like, yeah, when you talk about the 80-year-old hiking that they put on these things, and I think it's China or Korea, and you put on these leg things and you walk up these massive mountains and they're at the end of it, they're like, oh, I'm not even tired.
[00:32:29] Vas: Yeah. So that's like the base level of that sort of technology, that sort of, um, we're becoming androids, I suppose.
[00:32:34] Matt: Like it takes a strain, but think about it like you're 80, you love walking. It takes a strain off your body and you can continue to do the bits you love. This shit
[00:32:40] Hamish: gets you out and about, doesn't
[00:32:41] Matt: it?
[00:32:41] Maybe your heart might. Car get halfway through, but like at least you. Yeah.
[00:32:45] Hamish: Alright, so we've got, we've got robot dogs and then what are these ones that we can ride around the building side?
[00:32:50] Vas: Yeah. So that's the big boy horses. That's, that's the one, uh, I wish I knew off the top of my head, I think. It's like a 60 kilo carrying capacity or something on it, so you can actually load like [00:33:00] tools and materials on it.
[00:33:01] I'm, I'm overweight
[00:33:01] Matt: bud,
[00:33:03] Vas: and there's also minimum height to be on the,
[00:33:10] listen, I'm only an inch or two taller, all right there. I
[00:33:13] Matt: walk on site and I've got like my Disneyland with a little thing. No, Matt, you can't jump on the robot.
[00:33:18] Vas: Uh, that's what we do. Um, what's called vertical integration. We sell platform shoes as well.
[00:33:26] Matt: Haha. Short joke. Never had that one before. You guys are really original.
[00:33:30] Hamish: Oh, this is brilliant. I love it. Anyway,
[00:33:32] Vas: um, yeah, so look, robotics is, I would say beyond, um, the lasers and the set out stuff that's somewhere you want to keep your eyes on. We've had, um. Someone, it's not directly in your space. A high-end builder in Victoria.
[00:33:44] Um, Scotty from W Build. Yep. Um, we put 'em in contact with our guys from Uni Tree in China. I think he went over and sort of looked at their factories and everything else. So there's a lot of interest in that robotic space at the moment. And I'm curious to see less about, you know, what's new in tech and more [00:34:00] about real people using it.
[00:34:01] Like that's what I'm about,
[00:34:02] Matt: like glasses and like surely there's gotta be like some form of glasses that eventually come out. You can measure off like, you know. Without getting a tape measure out and gives you an accurate measurement. And,
[00:34:12] Hamish: no, I thought I saw something online, um, of a guy, like a roofer measuring stuff.
[00:34:16] Mm-hmm. And he would just like, take photos he's measuring and then go back to his, um, drop saw, and then he'd just bring up a thing in his glasses of, of,
[00:34:23] Vas: yeah.
[00:34:24] Hamish: I mean, this is simple technology, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You, you can see, oh, that's that length, that's that length, that's that length. Rather have to write it all down and forget.
[00:34:31] So,
[00:34:31] Vas: so that's the principle idea with the camera that you guys have, right. Um, it's called, if someone wants to go deep dive, put themselves to sleep, uh, photogrammetry, which is like the maths and science of you take a bunch of photos and it straps into a 3D model. Right. So it's the same thing. You can do it from live, you know, glasses, like meta glasses and whatnot.
[00:34:48] So, and
[00:34:48] Matt: they're not a, they're going hard on that space. I think I saw
[00:34:51] Vas: Yeah, the virtual reality space and all
[00:34:53] Matt: that. I think, I think, yeah. But like even Apple, they're
[00:34:55] Vas: mm.
[00:34:56] Matt: Their VR thing died pretty quickly, didn't it? Like so they, if they're not making Yeah. Were it
[00:34:59] Vas: called? I don't even
[00:34:59] Matt: remember. It [00:35:00] was the Apple one.
[00:35:00] Yeah. But if they're not making it work, yeah's to me, like, Hey, it's not there. Like, they're the, they're the ultimate of. Uh, making a product. If they can't get it to take off, then probably it's semi dead.
[00:35:11] Vas: So as a measurement nerd, as a land surveyor, that's where, you know, the cookie starts to crumble, where everyone gets excited about 3D models and stuff, but it's like, Hey, if I'm cutting timber or steel to fit, I need that to be within two mil.
[00:35:24] Or whatever. Uh, which again, if someone's selling you a VR solution, I guarantee you I put my hat on it. It's not like 10 mil maybe, if you're lucky.
[00:35:33] Hamish: So a VR vrs good for just
[00:35:35] Vas: context,
[00:35:35] Hamish: context gaming. Yeah, yeah,
[00:35:37] Vas: I've got some friends, um, in ASCI who are looking heavily into that space.
[00:35:41] Aserion is like a global sort of engineering construction firm. Um, more for infrastructure. Safety assessment stuff. So virtual site walkthroughs, identifying hazards, uh, visualizing services underground, which is pretty cool as well. So, uh, jumping back on those plumbers that are doing the greenfields and everything, they're recording all those assets before they're buried now as [00:36:00] well.
[00:36:00] So you have
[00:36:01] Hamish: Oh, okay.
[00:36:01] Vas: Yeah. Actual location,
[00:36:02] Matt: so we don't get those old, uh, hand drawn.
[00:36:05] Vas: Yeah,
[00:36:06] Matt: that's right. Plans that have the fate and you can't rate it.
[00:36:08] Hamish: Yeah, I just get like a, like a, a
[00:36:11] Matt: like a photo of, um,
[00:36:12] Hamish: you
[00:36:12] Matt: know,
[00:36:12] Hamish: the what, the, where the plumbers run
[00:36:14] Vas: the water. Yeah, the dowsing rod and you know, as you go.
[00:36:16] Hamish: So, okay, so exoskeletons, um, robots, robots, robots, drones, lasers, sot So before we just go off, go away from like the robots for a second, you know, we're sitting here championing trades and we're championing, um, people getting into apprenticeships and that, you know, it's a reasonably safe kind of market to be in if you are wanting a job.
[00:36:39] When are the robots coming? Yeah. When are they gonna paint our walls?
[00:36:42] Vas: Um, that's the thing that I, I think is funny about all this AI is taking my job thing where I'm like a ai pessimist in that sense. Where if your job is making slabs, the AI chat, PTs not gonna pull you a slab for quite a while.
[00:36:58] Matt: Yeah.
[00:36:59] Vas: Like, if your [00:37:00] job is, you know, putting up frames or your job, eh. That sort of stuff. Uh, I don't see going towards robots in AI for a while. I, I've worked with, um, a couple of firms now in the 3D concrete printing space as well, which is, you know, novel. But
[00:37:16] Matt: I think that's a load of crap
[00:37:19] Vas: I've, I.
[00:37:20] Matt: I'm straight out.
[00:37:21] I, I just, I, I work with, I straight out will tell you, I, my opinion is like, who's gonna move these massive machines to every site and concrete? Have we not understood that? It's one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the world. And unless you're gonna go and enviro concrete, which no one wants to pay for, or even
[00:37:38] Hamish: the polymer stuff, that old mate came
[00:37:39] Matt: in.
[00:37:39] Yeah. Like that. That's awesome in that sense. But these massive machines are gonna start 3D printing houses. Come on.
[00:37:46] Vas: My opinions are my own, and I, I share similar opinions. There is a way to do it, I think, but it's very, very challenging to make it commercially viable. Uh, I'm all in on prefab, I'll be honest, but yeah.
[00:37:57] Yeah,
[00:37:57] Hamish: I think prefabs a big one. I am
[00:37:58] Matt: too,
[00:37:58] Vas: but
[00:37:58] Matt: not that type of prefab,
[00:37:59] Vas: not [00:38:00] that, yeah,
[00:38:01] Hamish: I think, sorry. I think any, any kind of like controlled construction. I mean, let's call it that, where it's in a factory, however it is, and then coming to site,
[00:38:10] Matt: who wants to live in a concrete house? Like
[00:38:13] Hamish: actually really
[00:38:13] Matt: like, have we, not really, let's going back to post-war type of houses, backed up these
[00:38:17] Hamish: concrete houses, aesthetic and now they suck.
[00:38:19] Aesthetic. Aesthetic. Like I'm looking at a precast concrete wall there. Like aesthetically. I, yeah, I love it. I quite like the look of it, but um, I don't think it's a viable product. Well, sorry, energy input wise, it absolutely is a viable product, but from an energy consumption point of view, I, I don't, I don't Absolutely right it now.
[00:38:34] Exoskeletons, robots, drones.
[00:38:36] Vas: Mm, mm-hmm. So typical, you know, DJI stuff and Yep. A couple other brands as well. For construction. Um,
[00:38:44] Hamish: for Instagram.
[00:38:45] Vas: For Instagram. Yeah. That's the easy answer. You press a button, it follows you around and makes videos of you. You seen those ones or not?
[00:38:50] Matt: No.
[00:38:51] Vas: Oh, they're little mini ones now.
[00:38:52] So
[00:38:52] Matt: they're they DJ Minis?
[00:38:54] Vas: Yeah, dj.
[00:38:54] Matt: They're only like 300, 400 bucks.
[00:38:55] Vas: Yeah. You pop 'em up in the air, it follows you around. You pretend that you got third person view if you want.
[00:38:59] Matt: And it can actually go through a [00:39:00] job site through all the walls.
[00:39:00] Vas: Yeah, so we tested, there was a video that we put out ages ago. Oh,
[00:39:03] Matt: can you get me one of them please?
[00:39:04] Vas: Yeah. I added the list with the Exoskeleton Robot Dog.
[00:39:07] Matt: Next song, I'm gonna walk in
[00:39:09] Vas: platform shoes. Got
[00:39:10] Matt: got no money, had to sell, had to sell the house. Matt got a dog.
[00:39:16] Vas: And you're living in virtual reality the whole time as well. I'm
[00:39:18] Matt: pretending I'm still in my old house.
[00:39:21] Vas: Wake up, Matt. Wake up.
[00:39:22] Hamish: Come on, Matt.
[00:39:23] Wake up.
[00:39:23] Vas: Yeah, so no, that's um, definitely I feel like it's an
[00:39:26] Matt: episode of Black Mirror here. That's, that show scares me.
[00:39:30] Vas: Oh yeah.
[00:39:31] Matt: I love it. But it scares me. Shit on
[00:39:32] Vas: We are, we are getting there.
[00:39:33] Matt: There is,
[00:39:34] Hamish: I stopped watching it because it was a little bit, I'm just like, oh, I could actually see a world where this is actually
[00:39:39] Matt: reality.
[00:39:40] It was the one that got me was when the partner had like a brain. Cancer. And they, you, you can, they can fix you, but you get a subscription. But as time went, the subscription kept going up to, to for so many hours per day, but they couldn't afford it. And so eventually they just turned the subscription off and they just ads.
[00:39:57] The person just talks ads all day. Oh
[00:39:59] Vas: God.
[00:39:59] Matt: [00:40:00] It is like, so as you, if you don't pay the next subscription during the day, they'd out of nowhere, they'd be like, oh, and welcome to pro Climber. Like, and I'd just start talking and then they'd go back to conversation. So like, that was like, oh my god.
[00:40:12] Vas: Grandma's still alive, but she won't shut up about Proli.
[00:40:16] Matt: So like, I like that's, it's honestly one of my favorite shows. But every time I can do one episode and then I need to take a breath 'cause I'm like freaked out.
[00:40:25] Hamish: Sidetrack.
[00:40:26] Matt: Yeah.
[00:40:26] Vas: Yeah.
[00:40:27] Matt: The map, the brain of Matt and Hamish.
[00:40:28] Hamish: So, um, and I know some of the other things we're talking about, like camera's a big one, like, you know, site security and, and
[00:40:35] Vas: so that's what we're gonna try with you guys as well, that TimeLapse camera.
[00:40:37] Yeah. So I was chatting to Michael before I came here from our office and. Yeah, I think that'll be a great sort of field test of the product with you guys for specifically, I suppose, content, really an evaluation of the build.
[00:40:48] Hamish: And are we allowed, like, with that one, can you, can you remotely pull the content?
[00:40:53] Vas: That's a good question. I, I'll be honest. I'm, it's Michael. Michael questions like it's a new product for us. Yeah. Because if you think
[00:40:58] Hamish: about it, it'd be great if like [00:41:00]
[00:41:00] Vas: just stream it out.
[00:41:01] Hamish: Stream it out would be
[00:41:01] Vas: awesome. Yeah.
[00:41:02] Hamish: Site
[00:41:02] Matt: security.
[00:41:04] Vas: Yeah, we do all the CCTV stuff as well.
[00:41:06] Matt: What are you, like the ING kind of stuff
[00:41:08] Vas: or as in what brand do we do?
[00:41:09] Yeah, so we do Dawa mainly. Oh, that's what I've
[00:41:11] Matt: got for my house.
[00:41:11] Vas: Oh, there you go.
[00:41:12] Matt: Do they have one with like a solar panel and like a camera? Yeah. Okay,
[00:41:15] Vas: cool. Yeah, pretty standard. Um, so Dawa is a pretty massive brand for, I think we did all of Crown as well. Don't, can you say Dawa
[00:41:21] Hamish: as in the fishing brand?
[00:41:22] Dwa,
[00:41:23] Vas: is it fishing brand? No, I
[00:41:24] Hamish: dunno. Is it D-A-I-W-A.
[00:41:27] Vas: DAIW? No, no, no. So like DAH.
[00:41:30] Matt: Oh, okay. So question on cameras. 'cause Dylan from all projects was, he messaged us last week and someone went on site and stole his cameras.
[00:41:37] Vas: Oh no. Like camera cameras?
[00:41:38] Matt: Yeah, the actual security cameras. Oh, so he needs now security cameras.
[00:41:41] For the security cameras.
[00:41:43] Hamish: The irony that all
[00:41:44] Matt: but like do, because I feel like that's something I'm look into investing next. I used to have like made my own one up, but I'm like one, I don't know. Because what happened is we actually got broken into, caught the person stealing it, caught the person, and [00:42:00] then they're just like, yeah, we just can't do anything for it.
[00:42:02] And I'm like, well then what's the point of having all this? Mm. Um, it didn't change anything with this insurance. I was like, what's the f what's the point of the effort? Well, you got
[00:42:09] Hamish: good content.
[00:42:10] Matt: Mm. We literally caught, I got a call from Cash Converters being like, the people are here trying to sell all this stuff.
[00:42:16] Is this your team? No. Police got there arrested. And they, we gave 'em the footage, but what would, long story short, what it didn't capture is them actually breaking into the site from the street to prove that they broke in. But you see them jump the fence. Oh, that they needed it from the other Because it, it, yeah.
[00:42:35] How does that
[00:42:35] Vas: work
[00:42:35] Matt: when it comes to Yeah. Common sense. I don't know. I don't know. I just was like, well, whatever. I got my tools back.
[00:42:41] So how about, how about technology? Cool things? We talk a lot of builder stuff. How about for architects or engineers?
[00:42:47] Vas: So we've talked about robot,
[00:42:50] Matt: robot architects,
[00:42:51] Vas: robot stuff.
[00:42:51] Yeah. Listen, you're living a dream now. No, look, the crazy thing about, um, my job and having come from like, I suppose [00:43:00] somewhat of a one track sort of land survey experience, I'll have a day now where I'm with, you know, a domestic builder in the morning. In the afternoon, I'm with maybe a plumber, and maybe the next day I'm with a stone mason and the afternoon and the next day I'm with Toyota in Altona.
[00:43:16] So there's these products I'm talking about like all this measurement, laser robot stuff. I guess like I opened with the cool part is that it's actually not that hard to sort of start using it and getting into it. So in terms of like getting, getting back to your question, the architect space, the most relevant stuff talk about is the measure ups.
[00:43:33] So whether it's that commercial camera that gets you like super accurate sort of models and floor plans of whatever, um, building you're fitting out. More commercial sense, I'd say. Um, or the tools to lay out interior, fit out solutions for cabinet makers and just, you know, interior fit out, framing, whatever, guys.
[00:43:51] Um, that's sort of where the focus is at the moment. That's where we're finding little attraction. And you probably saw our, um, a printer that drives around sort of [00:44:00] prints, prints on slab. Um,
[00:44:02] Hamish: mark had that at, uh, Turak.
[00:44:04] Matt: He actually did it.
[00:44:06] Vas: A little piece with Alex. Yeah.
[00:44:07] Hamish: Yeah. And he got it to write MBH
[00:44:09] Vas: on the what does
[00:44:10] Hamish: actually
[00:44:10] Matt: write it in like a.
[00:44:11] Vas: Asbestos? No, no. It's, it's literally ink. So the company, um, and,
[00:44:16] Matt: and doesn't wash off in the rain.
[00:44:18] Vas: Uh, the thing that gets it over time is uv. Yeah. Okay. So the most permanent one. Um, in Australian sun, you know, car architect. Yeah. A few months out of it. Okay, cool. That sort of wears out.
[00:44:26] Matt: Yeah.
[00:44:26] Vas: Um, but if you've been there for a few months, God, that's slow building.
[00:44:29] Yeah. Yeah. Uh, I will say, um, just to save us a lot of, because a very exciting product. Don't get me wrong. I love it. It's, it's awesome.
[00:44:37] Matt: Not for residential.
[00:44:37] Vas: Not for residential.
[00:44:38] Matt: It's for massive commercial warehouses
[00:44:40] Vas: and fit
[00:44:40] Matt: outs and.
[00:44:41] Hamish: Yeah, good question. I mean, we're, we're talking about like, you know, to your point before about a, like a.
[00:44:46] Big investment. Like are you finding, say, maybe builders partnering up and buying one together? Like is that something that you're kind of seeing? So
[00:44:54] Vas: this is, um, my secondhand info from Alex. Um, but what's happened, the clearest case of [00:45:00] that is in Taz to give a shout out to Azzie Builders blog.
[00:45:03] Hamish: Oh yeah.
[00:45:04] Vas: So I believe Sean Shawn Pny loves prawn love Sean.
[00:45:06] So I believe he, um, initially like. Picked it up to share across a couple of, um, partners, I suppose. I actually
[00:45:13] Matt: knew that, which is why I was Oh, so what's he done? He's bought one himself and then leases it out.
[00:45:17] Hamish: Yeah. Him and him and his mates bought one together.
[00:45:20] Matt: What if you all need it on the same day?
[00:45:21] Hamish: Well, this, this is, I guess where's the tricky part is, but, but
[00:45:23] Matt: how often do you ever do
[00:45:25] Hamish: that though? But think about that though, like. When would you and I be pouring a slab on exactly the same day,
[00:45:31] Matt: the day that we bought one together? Probably
[00:45:34] Hamish: he's trying to sell you on it right now, probably. Do you know what I mean?
[00:45:36] Like I think you can kind of manage around that.
[00:45:38] Matt: No, no, you
[00:45:39] Hamish: just, I, you might, Matt needs it there or I'll just put my slab there. But
[00:45:43] Matt: for me, where I see the value more so is, it's like literally, I don't know, does it take elevations as well? And Yeah. So, but for me, how I see like this working in my brains, you done this.
[00:45:51] It's not the value in this slab. It's to set out of every electrical point, every PowerPoint, every me.
[00:45:56] Hamish: Correct me if I'm wrong, but you could go through and work at exactly where that downlight [00:46:00] is. Yes. Based off the drawings.
[00:46:00] Vas: So what's cool is that you can upload any of the drawings you want. It'll point out to you in the building where everything goes.
[00:46:06] Yeah. Literally on the wall, on the ceiling. So imagine you
[00:46:08] Hamish: set up, go up a ladder and it can go beep, beep, beep. It's right there.
[00:46:11] Vas: Uh, better than that. It'll just show you the laser. It will immediately ping the laser to exactly where to drill the hole.
[00:46:16] Matt: So that's why I see the value in it as well. More so, more so from actually, especially on a high level architectural detail job.
[00:46:23] Hamish: Yeah.
[00:46:23] Matt: Because if the plans are right, we shouldn't have a problem. Yeah.
[00:46:25] Hamish: So then imagine building the plan. So then okay. Just, and maybe. I think I know the answer to this, but say we're on a greenfield site, we've got our triangulation points. Mm-hmm. How does that then translate inside once you're in the building?
[00:46:38] And maybe you've gotta set it up on the lower level and then you've gotta set it up, be a pin, wouldn't
[00:46:41] Matt: it? It'd just be a pin.
[00:46:42] Vas: Yeah. Good question. So, two ways around it, I'll try not to get too deep into it, but, uh, number one thing to consider is after you've got, you know, the slab or a base down, whatever you have.
[00:46:52] It doesn't matter where that is, that's now where your house is. So instead of setting up off your reference points, yeah, after that, you actually probably come off the slab edge or [00:47:00] something and say, Hey, this is where my slab is. Tell me where everything else is now. Likewise, on a second floor, or even inside of like, you know, internal sort of fit out situation.
[00:47:08] On the plans, whoever's drawn it up will probably have the existing walls. You tell it. Okay. Wall one, wall two, bing, bing. We know where that is. We know where we are. Awesome. Maybe I'll set my height off, you know, lift core or RL somewhere and then it knows all the elevations in the room as well.
[00:47:22] Matt: And is the 360 laser has that
[00:47:24] Vas: helped?
[00:47:24] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 360 laser you can do, you know, plum points up now and check your wall of plumpness if you do tilt panels or whatever. Yeah. Um, yeah, it's really. I dunno. I get really excited about it when I start using it with someone that actually sees the value. It's
[00:47:37] Matt: even joinery, just like all of
[00:47:38] Hamish: it.
[00:47:39] Stone measuring stone.
[00:47:40] Matt: Nah. That left some of them to do that part. I know.
[00:47:44] Vas: Yeah,
[00:47:45] Matt: that's def definitely. But you could still measure stone with this
[00:47:47] Vas: point. I do have one client here in Vic, um, creator Homes that does that. So creator homes have picked one up and they do all their own set and they also do their templating for their, um, joiners and some of those stone masons as well.
[00:47:58] Um, 'cause it's got that pen that you can [00:48:00] go around and tap.
[00:48:00] Matt: How about window? Window heights. Boom. Done? Yeah. Double checked.
[00:48:03] Hamish: Oh, ab all of it.
[00:48:04] Vas: Yeah.
[00:48:04] Matt: Subfloor. Especially like a subfloor be even like that's,
[00:48:08] Hamish: I think it's back to your point before, imagine building to plan. Like everything is built to plan because there is, um, I mean the job that you were at on site the other day and you're outside, like that is a tricky building site.
[00:48:17] Yeah. And guarantee, if you went and got a tape measure and measured everything and then reference it back to plan, there'd be discrepancies everywhere. But it's all obviously within. Three mil here, 4 million, five, like whatever. But it, but there'd still be discrepancies.
[00:48:32] Vas: So putting on the business hat, um, a lot of, I see a lot of waste in the process where every trade and every contractor is re measuring, rem measuring, REM measuring, REM measuring, REM measuring.
[00:48:43] Like there's never a true measure. There's never anyone that goes, oh, here's the actual info. Everyone you engage has to do a separate measure. Again,
[00:48:50] Matt: you've sold me and
[00:48:50] Vas: again.
[00:48:51] Matt: Mm-hmm. Um, we Conscious on time. Yeah. We have a segment called the Mindful Builder. Uh. The, oh, what's the segment? I've gone.
[00:48:59] [00:49:00] E-G-T-E-G-T, the mindful moment, uh, sponsored by MEGT, Australia's Leading apprenticeship experts. Question I have for you. Usually Hamish and I give a bit of a, a advice to these apprentices or kids looking into, into the industry. The question I have is, if you're a young kid getting into it. How you start learning about this tech side of thing and get in early, maybe to do a course or some training to understand what the future might look like.
[00:49:27] Uh, what avenues would they have from that perspective?
[00:49:30] Vas: Excellent question. I will, um, say the best answer for learning for anyone right now, honestly, like LLMs, like chat, bt or you have the world's information straight away, that'll guide you to where you need to go beyond that. Um, you start, we're starting to work with TAFEs and we're trying to introduce this sort of like digital construction technology as an extension to their education, not as a replacement of
[00:49:52] Matt: that, but that'd be a great, like, hey, four week course.
[00:49:54] Vas: Mm-hmm.
[00:49:55] Matt: Even for us and like our team, like go do the digital construction costs.
[00:49:59] Vas: Mm.
[00:49:59] Hamish: I would [00:50:00] love a four week. Like, I, I would invest the money in getting my, my apprentices trained up on them.
[00:50:04] Vas: Yeah.
[00:50:05] Hamish: On that.
[00:50:05] Vas: We've got, um, a again, to jump into it, uh, rather than pointing to a direct source, what I wanna say, like, for all your kids out there, um, don't be afraid of tech.
[00:50:16] Don't be afraid of jumping on the computer. Don't be afraid of, you know, CAD and scary things like this, like. A lot of this stuff isn't learned in a classroom. It's, it's learn by you finding, you know, you have something you wanna do and having a crack at it.
[00:50:29] Matt: That's
[00:50:29] Hamish: a good
[00:50:29] Matt: point. VAs, how do we get onto you?
[00:50:32] How do people contact you? Yeah. Um, social media, websites, emails, anything like that.
[00:50:36] Vas: Yeah. So you can catch us on Insta at cr kennedy build. Uh, we try and put up some, you know, relevant content for everyone. Yeah. Uh, otherwise you can catch the website on, uh, ci candy dot comu, I believe, where you can see all the products, et cetera.
[00:50:50] You'll find emails and contact numbers there or give us a DM on Instar. Yeah, we are all over Australia and like I said, we really focus on training coming out with you and
[00:50:59] Hamish: yeah, your [00:51:00] customer service is excellent. Yeah, like
[00:51:01] Matt: So yeah, reach out to anything, uh, to these guys in our show notes. bass thing.
[00:51:05] Hamish: Future construction.
[00:51:06] Matt: Yeah. What
[00:51:06] Hamish: It's
[00:51:07] Matt: future. Yeah. And you, you've gotta accept it. It's happening.
[00:51:11] Hamish: Don't fight it. It's coming.
[00:51:11] Matt: Um, yeah.
[00:51:12] Hamish: Imagine building the plan.
[00:51:13] Matt: Yeah. But just
[00:51:13] Hamish: go with like, change is
[00:51:14] Matt: good.
[00:51:15] Hamish: Robots are coming. You heard it from VA here today. The robots are coming.
[00:51:18] Matt: Yeah. The dogs. Little, little hamish on my job site. Can't wait to have him running around. I
[00:51:22] Hamish: totally calling a bass coming. Thanks.
[00:51:27]