AI for engineers · Sydney

AI for engineers: keep the engineering, lose the typing

In most consultancies the engineers are also the report writers, the proposal writers and the people who chase the timesheets. Site inspection notes typed up a week later, certification letters rebuilt from the last one, fee proposals assembled from old jobs. I help engineering firms turning over one to ten million take that load off, one small step at a time, using the systems you already run.

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Where an engineering firm’s week actually goes

Walk through a week at a structural, civil or services consultancy and the calculations are rarely the bottleneck. The bottleneck is around them: a site inspection with twenty photos and a page of handwritten notes that becomes a report on Friday, a certification letter that has to say exactly the right thing for the certifier, a fee proposal that starts from whichever old one somebody can find, and hours that never quite match the job number.

None of it is hard. All of it is constant, and it lands on chartered engineers whose time is what you actually sell. That is the kind of work AI is now good at: reading notes, photos and documents, drafting in your format and your wording, and putting the result in front of an engineer to check and sign.

This is not about a new platform or letting a model near your design. You keep Revit, 12d, your analysis software, your practice system, Xero and your project folders. The job is to connect AI to what you already run, so the paperwork is drafted for you and your engineers review it instead of writing it.

What I’d take off your plate first

Usually Revit or 12d alongside your analysis software, a practice system such as Deltek or a spreadsheet for jobs and timesheets, Xero or MYOB for money, and Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace for everything else. I connect AI to those, rather than asking you to replace them.

Inspection reports from site notes

Photos, a voice note and the checklist from site become a draft inspection report in your template, with each photo captioned and each defect listed. The engineer reads, corrects and signs.

Certification letters

Letters drafted from your approved wording, the job details and the inspection record, so the standard parts are always right and the engineer only looks at what is specific to this site.

Fee proposals and scopes

An architect’s or builder’s request read and summarised, scope and exclusions drawn from comparable past jobs, and a proposal drafted in your format. The fee stays with the principal.

Requests and RFIs, logged and answered

Questions from builders, architects and certifiers read as they arrive, logged against the job, and a first reply drafted from the drawings and earlier answers for an engineer to approve.

Timesheets and job health

Hours checked against job numbers and fee stages each week, gaps chased politely, and jobs heading over budget flagged with a sentence on why before month end rather than after.

Invoicing and supplier bills

Stage and hourly invoices drafted for Xero or MYOB the day the work is done, and sub-consultant and testing lab bills read, matched to the job and coded before anyone has to look.

And the admin every office has

The same work turns up in every engineering consultancy: email, spreadsheets, documents, and a Microsoft or Google setup that grew without a plan.

Invoicing and accounts payable

Supplier bills read, coded and matched to the order or the job before they reach Xero or MYOB. Mismatches drafted into an email for someone to approve. Overdue invoices chased politely, on a schedule.

Email that answers itself, nearly

The inbox triaged each morning, routine replies drafted in your tone, attachments filed to the right folder, and a short list of what actually needs you today.

Spreadsheets you stop rebuilding

The weekly report that someone copies and pastes together every Monday, produced before you arrive, with a sentence on why the number moved.

Documents and slides

Proposals, letters, reports and board slides drafted from your own templates and your own past work, so the first draft is eighty per cent there rather than a blank page.

Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, set up properly

Shared drives that make sense, permissions that match who you are now, and AI connected to mail, calendar and files the same way for everyone instead of five people doing it five ways.

Project and job tracking

Status updates written from what actually happened in email and the job system, tasks pulled out of meeting notes, and a morning brief per person of what is due.

How it works: audit, roadmap, implementation, training, support

Sold one step at a time. Each step is quoted before it starts, stands on its own, and you decide after each one whether to take the next. Most businesses your size go from the audit to a working, trained setup in three to six months.

Audit

Two weeks, fixed price. A map of every system you run, a ten-minute staff survey, a few five-minute screen recordings of the work that eats the week, and short conversations with the people who run the business. It costs your team minutes, not hours.
Roadmap

A ninety-day plan written from what the audit found: which processes first, ranked by admin removed against cost and risk, which AI plan and accounts your team should be on, and a two-page policy on what may go in. Every item has its own price.
Implementation

I build the first one or two automations inside your own Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, connected to the systems you already run. AI drafts, a person approves anything that leaves the building, and it runs beside the manual way until you trust it.
Training

Your team learns on their own work, not on demos. One standard setup for everyone, a short session per group, and one-to-one time with the two or three people who will carry it once I step back.
Support

A light monthly retainer: one call, a one-page summary, fixes, and the next routine your team worked out promoted into something the business runs. I read the AI news so your people do not have to.

Use AI without handing over your clients’ data

An engineering firm’s files hold drawings and calculations for other people’s buildings, client and site details, certification records that carry your professional name, and fee history you would rather competitors never saw. None of it needs to leave your own accounts for AI to be useful.

The work happens inside your Microsoft or Google tenant on a business AI plan, with a company account for every person who uses it. Nothing goes into a free chatbot, and no report, letter or certificate goes out without an engineer reading it and saying yes.

The basics, every time

Company accounts on a business AI plan, never personal logins. Business plans do not train on your data.
AI connected to your own Microsoft or Google tenant, so files stay where they already live and access is revoked in one place.
A two-page policy your team can actually remember: which accounts, what may go in, what never does.
Everything I build lives in your accounts and is logged. I work from a staff login, not the master key.

Where most start

A typical first project: inspection reports from site photos and notes

The quick win in a consultancy is usually the inspection report. Photos and a short voice note from site become a draft report in your template, filed to the job, waiting for the engineer to check and sign. It runs alongside the usual way for a few weeks until the team trusts it. From there, certification letters and fee proposals are usually next.

Where I work

Based in the Sutherland Shire. In person across these areas, remote everywhere else in Australia.

Sutherland Shire

Cronulla, Miranda, Caringbah, Sutherland, Gymea and around.

Southern Highlands

Bowral, Mittagong, Moss Vale, Exeter, Robertson and around.

St George

Hurstville, Kogarah, Rockdale, Sans Souci, Bexley and around.

Eastern Suburbs

Bondi Junction, Double Bay, Paddington, Woollahra, Randwick and around.

Frequently asked questions

Will AI do any of our engineering?

No, and it should not. Design, calculations and the judgement behind a certificate stay with your engineers. What AI takes on is the writing, filing and chasing around that work, which is where most of the lost hours are.

Who is responsible for a report the AI drafted?

The engineer who signs it, exactly as now. Everything I build produces a draft that a person reads, changes and approves. Nothing with your name on it goes out on its own.

We use Deltek (or a spreadsheet, or something homegrown). Do we need to change?

No. I connect AI to what you already run. If there is a way in, I use it. If not, I start from exports and move to a proper connection later, so a slow vendor never holds things up.

Is this worth it for a firm our size?

If your engineers are writing reports and proposals after hours, usually yes. The audit will tell you honestly, and if a better template would do, I will say so.

How much of my team’s time does this take?

Minutes, by design. Ten for the survey, ten for an optional screen recording, an hour with the key people. Whoever runs operations spends two or three hours across the first fortnight.

Do we have to commit to the whole thing?

No. Every step is quoted on its own and you decide after each one. Plenty of businesses take the audit and one project, and stop there until they see it working.

Are you tied to a particular AI vendor?

No. I lead with Claude because I think it is the strongest all-rounder for business work today, and I work just as happily with Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT or Gemini if that is what your team already uses. Everything is built so the model is one part you can swap.

Questions engineers ask me

We’re on Microsoft 365. Should we just use Copilot?

Often, yes, at least as the place to start. Copilot Chat comes with Microsoft 365 business plans, and the paid Microsoft 365 Copilot is the version built to work across your own email, files and Teams. But Claude and ChatGPT can also connect to Microsoft 365 now, so you are not locked in.

Running a engineering consultancy and doing the admin at night?

Tell me what you run, how many people, and what eats the most time. I will tell you honestly whether an audit is worth it.

Tell me about your business

Tell me what you're dealing with

Three lines is plenty. I reply personally, usually within a day, and the first call is free.