August 26, 2025 • 30 mins
What if your home could predict when your HVAC system was about to fail, automatically adjust temperatures room by room based on occupancy, or even guide you through complex DIY repairs with step-by-step visual instructions? This isn't science fiction—it's the very near future of homeownership!
Donnie and Eric dive deep into how artificial intelligence will transform our homes over the next five years, exploring technologies that are either already available or just on the horizon. From energy optimization systems that could significantly reduce utility bills to predictive maintenance alerts that prevent costly breakdowns, AI promises to make home management both easier and more affordable.
The conversation explores how facial recognition security can distinguish between family members and strangers, providing customized responses for each. Donnie shares a recent experience using AI visualization to help clients preview a roofing project, demonstrating how these tools are already changing the renovation process. The hosts debate whether augmented reality repair guidance could reduce dependence on service professionals, with Donnie noting, "I don't think it'll put a lot of plumbers or heating and air guys out of a job."
Perhaps most fascinating is the discussion of emerging health applications—from bathroom fixtures that can detect illness before symptoms appear to air quality monitors that automatically improve ventilation when contaminants are detected. The episode concludes with equal parts enthusiasm for these innovations and Donnie's humorous concern that eventually, "that bathroom will kill you intentionally as they go to take over and Skynet rules the world."
Visit thecarolinacontractor.com to hear past episodes or submit questions about your own home improvement projects!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Carolina Contractor Show with
your host, general ContractorDonnie Blanchard.
So, donnie, we need to startoff the show with an apology
from me.
I didn't leave you waiting toolong but, for people who don't
realize, donnie will let me knowwhen we're ready to record, and
I need to be in the studioready to record.
(00:21):
But I came home and I told himI said hey, we'll record it this
time.
And I was watching a movie andI got distracted, because there
are some movies and I know youhave some, donnie that you start
watching and you can't breakaway.
This was no Country for Old Menwas the one that was playing
and I got sucked into that and Iwas trying to think Shawshank
Redemption does that to me andthere's a couple others.
(00:44):
But I all of a sudden realizedI let 30 minutes go by, so I
kind of had to rush over to thestudio to record today.
So apologies, and do you have amovie off the top of your head
that makes you do the same thing?
Get distracted?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, the kid in me seems to like all the Marvel
movies, so they just appeal tome and I don't know anything
that will take you back and makeyou feel young again.
I think has the ability to grabyour attention when it's
passing along.
It drives my kids crazy, likedad, another one and I'm like
I'm not really watching it, Ijust have it on in the
background.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
So, yeah, that feels good, I remember two others
there Will Be Blood I have towatch that and Field of Dreams.
Those are movies I just oncethey're on you got to keep
watching them.
So again, I'm sorry for thedelay of recording the show.
All good, it was my fault, butwe're here now.
Yes, that's what's important.
We're together.
Now we can all hug.
(01:36):
This is the Carolina ContractorShow.
My name's Eric Smith.
I do inside sales for homebuilders in Wilson and
Greenville, across from me.
The other movie buff is DonnieBlanchard, your general
contractor.
You own SureTop Roofing.
Right now.
At the time of this recording,donnie, how many weeks or months
are you out because business isdoing well?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Everything's great and we can always work somebody
in if there's an emergencyrepair or replacement.
But we've got I don't know amonth's worth of work on the
books and I can't say thatthat's been the case since
pre-pandemic.
So there was a lot of a drop insales.
I think every roofer from theMidwest and up North decided to
land in Central North Carolina.
I know we talked about NorthCarolina being the third most
(02:17):
influx state behind Texas andFlorida after the pandemic and I
believe anybody who had apickup truck and a ladder
decided to get into roofing.
There was a spell of about twoyears where they really watered
the market down and they didn'thave the same overhead as we do.
We just kind of had to waitthose guys out because we knew
they wouldn't sustain and I'mpleased to say since around
about the time of the electionthe phone started to ring again
(02:39):
and we were busy all the waythrough the winter.
It continued through the summerand it seems like this summer
we can't get enough dry days toget caught up.
But we're getting there.
We've had not a lot of rain andwith the building company kind
of in a sweet spot right nowwhere we just finished up five
jobs and two this week, and thatrounds out the five
(03:09):
no-transcript.
That's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
And you're.
You are definitely in position,and rightly deserve, to uh,
enjoy the fruits of your labor.
If you want to find out somedetails of what Donnie means
about his construction and hisroofing and stuff, go to our
website,thecarolinacontractorcom.
There's information there aboutit, but the main point of the
website is to talk about theshow you're watching.
If you're watching us onYouTube or listening to, if
(03:36):
you're in a podcast mood, or ifyou're listening to us on the
radio we're on multiple stationsacross state of North Carolina.
The carolinacontractorcomwebsite has all the details
about the show how to find us,what we talk about, past
episodes and podcast form.
They are listed by show titleor subject, so if there's
something specific you want tolook for, you can do it that way
(03:57):
.
Here's an example Today's showwe're going to be talking about
how artificial intelligence AIwill benefit homeowners over the
next five years.
So we just picked a year whatthe future will look like with
AI in 2030, kind of thing.
But several times before and wedid one last year we did a show
called Smart Homes and it's anacronym and I'm going to have
(04:18):
Donnie really quickly give thedefinition of that acronym.
But you could go tothecarolinacontractorcom and
search up smart home and findthat particular podcast and
listen to it at your ownconvenience.
Also, if you have a questionabout your house inside, outside
up down, doesn't matter Goahead and hit the ask the
contractor button, because thatgoes to Donnie and he's a
(04:39):
general contractor.
He'll answer your question.
And sometimes we do entireshows that are nothing but
questions from listeners and goahead and submit that
information.
We are due for a show that isnothing but questions, so we'll
have to get one of those in thefuture, but it's, if I can
remember, right self-monitoringanalysis reporting technology.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
So S-M-A-R-T and, yeah, super sexy.
Where this came about is whenwe used to boot up your computer
15 years ago.
You'd see all the numbers andletters going across the screen.
So that was your computerchecking itself for potential
problems and basically theylabeled that with the acronym
SMART.
So that carried all the wayover to now and if you search
(05:29):
online you can't really findthat acronym in a lot of places.
But when we did the originalSMART home show, that did come
up as the explanation for howthey labeled everything SMART
homes and I think it fits.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
It sure does, and I think it dovetails into today's
show extremely well, becausewithout smart technology, you
really can't have the AI portion.
Come in, talk about the cart.
Before the horse, I said horse.
You've got to have thistechnology in place so AI can
communicate with all the otherdevices or all the other things
(06:01):
that it does.
So if you want to listen tothat show, hit the website
thecarolinacontractorcom, andtoday we'll jump into ways
artificial intelligence is goingto very possibly revolutionize
the way you live in your housewithin the next few years.
Are you ready, donnie?
Do you have a fresh mind?
I think so.
I sure do.
All right, here we go.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
I got kind of cracked my neck.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
All right, let's start with one that everybody
likes, and that's going to beenergy optimization.
It's a lot sexier than itsounds.
This is how you can save moneywith AI, and it cuts your energy
bills through automation.
Now you think about yourthermostat.
You probably have I know youhave these and you can set them
to run at certain times, runwhen you're not the smart, smart
(06:44):
, smart ones, the super smartones you can control remotely.
Do you have the remote accessfor your thermostats?
Donnie, sure, do.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Yes, sir, I don't really utilize it a lot, but it
is nice to check the temperature.
If you got out of town orcoming home, you can drop the
temperature down and make thehouse nice when you get there.
You don't have to wait for itto heat up or cool down.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Drop the temperature down and make the house nice
when you get there.
You don't have to wait for itto heat up or cool down.
Yeah, so I have the most basicone.
You just program it.
But if you go on vacation andyou forget about it for a week,
it's going to run that sameschedule.
Ai is going to cut your energybills because it adjusts the
lights, it adjusts thermostatsbased on your occupancy and we
(07:32):
talked about one of themanufacturers of them a while
back where you are, it senseswhen you walk by it and knows
you're in the room.
And then it senses when youleave the room.
Well, ai literally can tellwhether it's thermal or movement
, if you're in a room or if it'sunoccupied, and will adjust the
thermostats, the lights.
What was the name?
There's like Google, nest andEcobee is the one I have.
Is that the one?
You walk by?
And it kind of tells if you'restill there in the room or not.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Yes, it does.
It tells if that's one of thefeatures.
I can click on it in the secondhome at the coast and it'll
tell me if it's occupied or not.
So that's kind of cool that ifyou check on it and you want to
know if somebody's down there orthey made it yet it'll tell you
if there's any kind of motionsensor activation.
So yes, sir, that's a good one.
But I think all of those havethat same feature.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Well, the AI will use that to incorporate where to
set those temperatures when youleave, and it can determine
outside temperatures Some ofthem will be able to determine
the wall temperature instead ofjust the air temperature and
determining how to makeadjustments.
Now, if you have solar panels,ai is going to manage that
(08:31):
excess power more efficientlythan it can currently do.
It'll store it in the batteries, it'll pull it at night to run
appliances and it can actually,if your system is hooked up,
direct where that battery poweris going to use for what devices
.
So instead of all of it gettingburned on the washing machine
running, it can keep otherthings on with that solar power
and maximize the energyefficiency, and that, in turn,
(08:51):
is going to save you money.
So, several of these ideas AIis going to save you money and I
think everybody'd be on boardwith that.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
They have something that's out right now.
I know it'll get moresophisticated because not a lot
of folks utilize this, but theyhave monitors that you can hook
to your panel box, so yourelectrical panel it'll tell you
exactly what's pulling what interms of energy, and I think
that those will be somethingthat's probably going to be a
code thing, especially if allhouses, or 90% of the houses, go
(09:20):
smart.
That's going to tell you whereyour energy consumption is going
and what you really need to bemindful of keeping an eye on to
save that money.
But yeah, agreed on all thatand every single year.
I want to say that thermostatis probably the most implemented
smart home technology, becauseeverybody seems to have a smart
thermostat nowadays andeverybody has Wi-Fi, so you have
(09:43):
the ability to control that.
But in terms of money savings,I think that's the biggest one
and so far at this point.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Well, it definitely gives you a big ROI.
Now here's something that Ithink could save a whole lot
more money using AI than athermostat, and that is
predictive maintenance.
Think about your AC system.
My guy comes in twice a year,spring and fall, and one of the
things he does is run theefficiency of the airflow.
He runs the efficiency of thecapacitors and he hooks up all
(10:12):
these weird things and he knowswhat he's doing and he prints me
out a report.
He says things like voltage isgood, capacitor is good, or
things like that.
Well, I won't see him again for180 days.
Things can happen.
Ai can keep a basic calendarfor you and say your HVAC
filters need to be changed.
Okay, that's easy enough.
(10:32):
But now AI can monitor thevoltage of your HVAC systems and
if it realizes a capacitor isbeing inconsistent or there's an
airflow issue, it can tell youhey, this has fallen out of its
parameters.
You need to call your tech.
That tech can come over thereand fix or play something for a
(10:54):
lot less money.
Then it keeps on going and thenext thing you know your motor
or your compressor's gone out.
And instead of a hundred dollarservice call and a $50 part,
he's saying yeah, we're lookingat 2,300 bucks, literally.
Using AI can save you from everhaving that happen, and it can
do it for dishwashers andrefrigerators and water lines.
(11:17):
It can tell you hey, here's apossible problem, check it out.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Where I think the population is going to buck that
idea and I think that it willbe implemented all the way
around.
But I think it'll be slow,because what they're basically
doing is taking that device thatthe HVAC tech plugs into your
unit and test all the thingsthey have to build all that in.
They see tech plugs into yourunit and test all the things
they have to build all that in,and then they have to put a
communicator, wi-fi communicator, to talk to your phone or
(11:41):
whatever.
The hub is that all thatinformation is sent to.
So they have to install thatinto the unit and they have to
have those readings real time.
So basically, what you wouldhave like your service contract
is what?
Twice a year.
So they would have everythingthat that service tech has on
his truck built into the unit.
That's what's going to have tohappen.
(12:01):
And when that drives the priceof the unit up a grand, two
grand, same with a dishwasher.
All of a sudden your dishwasheris $1,500 instead of $500,
which I'm all about it.
And if they could justify it bysaying, hey, the lifespan of
these dishwashers is going to bedouble, that means you don't
have to buy a new dishwasher fortwice the time.
So I could see paying an extragrand for a dishwasher in that
(12:21):
circumstance.
But I believe that when theystart to implement these things,
it's going to be expensive, andI'm just playing devil's
advocate here because I'mhearing what you're saying.
I agree with it wholeheartedlyand I can't wait till it's a
real thing in every house in theworld really.
But I think that it's going tocost a little extra money and I
believe that a lot of peoplewill buck that and stick to
their old ways.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
I think that is an excellent point and I didn't
consider that.
We kind of have that abilitywith cars.
You can buy a reader that willtell you what an issue is with a
car plugging it in, and mostmodern cars are already
compatible with those devices.
But you're right, there is someinformation that is proprietary
that only a manufacturer canread.
(13:02):
So it would require, you'reright, the manufacturer to tell
you what devices it will work onand what you would need to have
that feature, and then you'dprobably have to sign a service
agreement with thatmanufacturer's either service
department or one they recommend.
They might say well, yourcurrent one is great, but he's
not affiliated.
(13:22):
You can't use him if you wantthis AI service.
So excellent observation,donnie.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah, that's exactly what they do too.
They back you into a cornerevery chance they get.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Yeah, and you can't buy anything anymore.
You have to buy it off the weband you're only renting it and
then you're held hostage.
That's a whole nother story.
Yeah, um, I have the mostsimple uh security system.
Is we talk about AI?
I have dogs.
Um, I also have a ring doorbell.
That's about as high as I needto go, um, or feel I need to go.
I also have a Smith and WessonI'm sorry I lied, it's a Dan
(13:50):
Wesson, but you have, um, moreadvanced security than I do.
Ai is now coming up withsomething that would work like a
ring doorbell that a lot of ushave with a camera.
But facial recognitiontechnology will now come down to
the consumer level and AI willbe able to recognize who's at
your door, whether it's a familymember or neighbor, or if you
(14:13):
don't like your mother-in-law,it can send out an alarm.
But it also can recognize ifyou are coming in with your arms
full and unlock your door, cantell if it's Amazon, us Mail,
ups delivering a package.
You can tell if it's a salesman.
This facial recognitiontechnology that just a few years
(14:33):
ago was for movies and missionimpossible is now coming to your
house with cameras and and doorring compatible type devices,
so you can actually know who'sat your door without even
looking at a camera.
It'll just say your dad's here,yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
I think that the big question is going to be who
steps into the market that'sgoing to challenge ring, because
ring seems to have cornered, uh, the market.
They, they quietly were boughtout by amazon what?
Two or three years ago wetalked about that on a show.
So it's kind of scary that youknow the ring monitors, who's
coming and going and and what.
(15:11):
80 of the time that's amazonand so, um, I don't know what,
what they are, what theirintentions were by, you know,
combining the two companiesother than monitoring your
shopping habits.
But that's gotta have somethingto do with it.
And, um, yeah, I don't know, Idon't know how that's going to
work out with the, with thefacial recognition.
I live in the country, you know, you live in a quiet
(15:31):
subdivision, but I could totallysee the value in that If you
live in a busy area and knowing,hey, that's not the person that
lives here and they've enteredthe house.
And, yeah, it definitely wouldmake me feel safer if I lived in
a bigger city or something.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Next thing on AI and how it can benefit your home on
this episode of the CarolinaContractor is smart budgeting,
and I don't mean just the basicbudgeting tool.
Building a house is expensive.
You're doing renovations.
You help people do renos, notjust new builds.
Donnie, have you seen some ofthe AI stuff you can do?
If a person says, I want torenovate my kitchen, what's it
going to look like?
(16:06):
Sometimes it's an iPad or alaptop and you give them.
Well, it could kind of looklike this.
But there's new AI programswhere you hold a phone or a
camera up in the room and youcan make real time adjustments
to anything, say, in a kitchen.
Have you used it, or at leastseen it?
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Oh, every week and I'm getting better at it.
I had to teach myself how tohow to be very detail oriented
and you have to say specificallyeverything that you want.
Or it's going to just dreamsomething up to fill that space,
or it's going to just dreamsomething up to fill that space.
The way I used it this week waswe did a large roof for a
recurring client and there's 32units in this place and we just
(16:44):
did the first two.
They were extremely worriedabout picking the wrong color
shingle because when the firsttwo led the way, that means the
other 31 units had to followsuit and we had to pick the
right color.
So we had a couple folks fromthe Homeowner Association in our
conference room at the officeand what I did before they got
there is I took a picture of thefirst two units and I basically
(17:05):
uploaded the picture, and Ialso uploaded a swatch of the
weathered wood shingle that theywanted to see, and I told the
AI to use that particularshingle and replace the existing
shingles with that shinglecolor, which was the second
image that I uploaded, and Ialso specified that it should
scale that image down to matchthe shingle exposure, which was
(17:26):
five inches of the existingshingles so that everything
looked to scale.
And it did exactly that.
And just for fun, I took apicture of the finished product
and you almost couldn't tell thedifference, other than the time
of day.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Wow, you know, and it kind of goes into how AI can
help with like home design,because it's not just colors on
a wall or something, it's thatvirtual reality, that VR 3D,
where you can almost reach outand determine.
This is the height.
I want my counter, even thoughthere's nothing there, I want
the shape of it to be here.
(18:01):
You really allow a homeowner toalmost not literally but
figuratively get a feel for yourrenovation before you even take
out a wall.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Absolutely.
And, speaking of that, we havethe renovation that I mentioned.
We'll carry on through the restof this month.
They have a very narrow kitchen.
They had a pipe burst and theircabinets were flooded.
So when we got to the job, thedemo crew had already been there
and torn everything out.
Uh, it looked basically like awar zone.
We got there and they ask aboutthe possibility of taking out a
(18:31):
wall on the opposite side ofthe kitchen.
They have a a narrow kitchen,like I mentioned, so you kind of
it kind of bottlenecks youthrough the downstairs.
Um, we took a picture, anoverview, long ways, of the
kitchen and I can't take anycredit for this because the
homeowners did this, but, um,they, they, they took the
picture and told it what theywanted.
I said, you know, whitecabinets, quartz countertops,
(18:52):
shaker style doors on thecabinets and, you know, add a
new light fixture on the ceiling.
And they told it what to do.
And, man, when I say thefinished product is, uh, isn't
there yet.
But they came up with a picturethat was beautiful and I mean
it.
It gave the homeowner a visionand I think, overall and just
homeowner contractorrelationship, just them seeing
that vision and saying, can youreally do this?
(19:13):
And I said, absolutely, thatwas a win for me and I didn't
have to do anything but justsend a picture in.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
And you're very confident as a contractor that
you can build it how they see itand how the VR puts it up there
with the AI.
Almost exactly.
Yes, sir man, talk aboutpersonalized designs.
And another cool thing realquick on that subject of
budgeting and personalization isyou can scan a product that you
want for your house and say youtold the contractor hey, I
(19:42):
found this at Lowe's.
Ai can say, hey, lowe's has it,but this place down the street
from you has the exact samething or a comparable model for
$500 less.
So in real time, and it candetermine availability and
inventory if that's allowed bythe people that own the company
or the business.
But you'd be able to find themgreat deals as a contractor or
(20:03):
the homeowner could find greatdeals on a moment's notice and
say, oh, I can get it today andI can get it for less.
Ai just sorted through allthose ads and businesses and
found it for me.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Yeah, we do that already with Amazon, and as much
as I hate to support Amazonover some of the local stores,
you know the homeowner can sendme their selection and I'm a big
proponent for plumbing fixturesto use Delta, because all the
internal parts are brass versusplastic parts with the other
brands.
And so when they send me theirDelta selections, a lot of times
(20:36):
I'll go to Lowe's orhomDepotcom and they'll say sure
, we can get it, but it'll benext Thursday.
I can type that same productinto Amazon and have it before I
wake up the next morning, whichis awesome and scary at the
same time.
But I will say that Amazontends to be a bit cheaper than
the big box stores as well.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
I'm going to agree with you about Delta.
I had a plumber come in onetime because our kitchen faucet
handle literally just popped offone day.
It just came right off and Itold him what do you recommend?
And he just goes Delta,internal parts last better or
last longer, and they're betterparts, he said that's the only
thing I use.
So anytime I've had a fixturereplaced unless it unless it has
to be artsy, fartsy, withsy,with cool curled handles because
(21:16):
it's a women's bathroom, Idon't know, but it's all Delta
and grief.
The one we have in our kitchenmust be at least 15 years old.
That's how long ago the old onefrom a competitor failed after
maybe two years.
All right, donnie, you haveyour house, it's ready.
You like to keep it clean?
One thing that's pretty coolabout AI is it can do a lot of
home tasks.
(21:36):
We talked about making yourHVAC system run more efficiently
, but it can sync lighting andHVAC and dim lights, adjust that
thermostat when you're asleep,but it also can coordinate the
running of appliances.
There's a couple that you canrun at night, like your
dishwasher, off peak hours, andAI now can even tell on some
dishwashers if it's full or itshould run a half load.
(21:59):
They have automatic dispensers,which I didn't know existed
until I did some research.
The AI can tell the look at thedishwasher, determine how much
it needs to wash the length, how, what the load is, and inject
the right amount of detergent,so you don't overuse detergent.
Your dishes do all but load andunload themselves.
Ai takes care of the restwithout you lifting a finger,
(22:21):
which is kind of cool.
Now, this is what I was mostexcited for and since we've got
plenty of time, I want to drilldown on this for a minute.
Home DIY.
I want someone to imagine thisis with AR, augmented reality,
maybe something like Googlelenses, the glasses and AI.
You have a lawnmower and itwon't start.
Put on these and bring up theapp or whatever it's going to
(22:44):
need.
You look at your lawnmower andyou can even use voice command.
The demo I saw is stunning.
My lawnmower won't start.
Give me some ideas.
It will instantly scan yourmower, determine what it is and
then start offering solutions,and it might say into your
earpiece sounds like your fuelline is clogged.
Well, what do I do?
You'll need the following toolsyou gather the tools and then,
(23:06):
while looking through yourGoogle lens or whatever you're
using, it will, step by step,direct point to the screws, the
clamps, the hose, the parts andtell you how to take it apart,
clean it out, reassemble it.
You could do it if you'reswitching out a light switch or
working on your car or doingother jobs in your house.
Plumbing you want to put in anew Delta faucet.
(23:28):
It can guide you step-by-stepwith a grid pattern and virtual
reality and literally show youhow to change it in real time,
versus how we usually do it now,which is go to YouTube, watch
three videos, take a couplenotes and then screw it up
anyway.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Yeah, and I think that's pretty amazing.
If it works like it's supposedto, that is, and I, I, I have a
sneaky suspicion that that Idon't.
I don't know that that'll gothat smooth.
I feel like it's not going toput a lot of, probably not going
to put a lot of plumbers orheating and air guys out of a
job because you know, I think,other than you labeled it right,
you said DIY task and so juston the small stuff, it's
(24:04):
probably going to work prettygood.
But you know, once it getsbeyond changing that faucet out
or just doing a couple of otherthings, you know, it may, may
still be a need for a servicetech.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
I still don't want to .
I'm not comfortable with adetailed electrical and I don't
like pressurized water lines.
We've mentioned it a lotbecause that scares me.
Because if you don't do apressurized line connection
correctly, you don't want tofind out the next day that you
had sprung a leak under thehouse or your bathroom's
flooding because you have astream running down into your
(24:34):
kitchen.
So not to, but it would helpthe person doing the repair
because the repairman could comein, scan it instantly, know
what he's working with and beable to fix that problem faster.
He doesn't have to tell thehomeowner.
But you know, five years fromnow, when AI is more
incorporated, maybe that'll bethe case.
One other thing I want to get to.
I don't have any of the robovacuums or what are they called
(24:55):
Ro to get to.
I don't have any of the robovacuums or what are they called?
Roomba Roombas.
I know some people that havethem and they give them names
and everything.
I'm not sold because I don'tthink my house, especially with
multiple levels, is designed forit.
But cleaning and maintenancewith AI is absolutely.
The stuff they're coming upwith is great.
You get a schedule and AIcontrols it to when to run your
(25:17):
Roomba.
It'll clean high traffic areasduring off hours.
Robotic lawnmowers I havesomeone down the street that has
one and I was the first personto go.
This is stupid.
And then I saw it work and Ithought it was cool because when
it was done and you didn't seethis little rover going across
his lawn, you had no idea that amachine did it or a person did
it and it went back into hisgarage and got on a little dock.
(25:38):
You could schedule it when youwant to do it and AI can say
we're going to do this nowbecause it's scheduled to rain
later today, so we're going todo it or we're going to delay
because it hasn't grown much,because there's been no rain.
They'll set up on very superdetailed, more than a Roomba can
do with what is in a room thatthey need to avoid, what is
(25:59):
outside that they need to avoid.
Um, I talked about earlier.
They can determine, like with,uh, the load sides of a
dishwasher and the correctdetergent.
Um, ai ovens sound stupid butthey can identify food with
cameras in your oven anddetermine if it's cooked enough
gauges or if it's going to getburned if it goes any longer,
(26:19):
and even adjust the temperatureup and down, determining what
you need done on it.
So your food, which I know thiswould hurt you you could have
someone do your grilling for youwith AI.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Oh no, that's just take away my enjoyment.
Why don't you?
I think it's cool, and theyhave the refrigerators now with
the internal cameras.
I read something today when wewere looking into the topic that
they actually have an app nowwhere it will populate your
shopping list for you, so it'llmake your grocery list for you,
it'll order your groceries andyou just do the pickup.
Mentioned something earlierabout having a robot in the
(26:57):
house and um, they have these,um, uh, robots that monitor air
quality from room to room.
Um, they did mention and theydidn't go into detail, so I'm
not sure how this works, butit's it's something to do with a
health monitor.
I read where a lot of this, this, uh, smart home technology, is
going to revolve around betterhealth, when and, of course, air
quality's probably at the topof that list.
It showed an example when alady sprayed some hairspray, you
(27:18):
know, it told the return tokick on, or the supply and the
return to kick on and clear theair, so it sensed when there was
something there that wasn'tsupposed to be.
The very the coolest thing wasthey said you should show up one
day and have an unexpectedpackage at your door and and
basically there are sensors thatare going to be in your
bathroom one day, that willmonitor your, your health and
(27:39):
that that your uh.
The sensor picked up that youmay have the symptoms of a cold,
or it sensed viruses uh presentand and it went ahead and
ordered the medication that youneeded and had it delivered to
your house before you even knewyou were sick.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
That might be a stretch but you know it's Star
Trek, but I could see ithappening and that's when they
become, as I said, sentient,like the self-healing concrete,
and it will.
Eventually that bathroom willkill you intentionally as they
go to take over and Skynet rulesthe world.
That's interesting.
It may be a little invasive,but wow, I never thought about
(28:19):
that.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Well, I read something about that a while
back, but it was talking about atoilet having that, and I could
totally see that, because itbasically takes your solid waste
or liquid waste or whatever andit analyzes that when you go to
the doctor, you pee in a cupsometimes and they'll tell you
all kinds of things.
And it and it analyzes thatwhen you go to the doctor, you
pee in a cup sometimes andthey'll tell you all kinds of
(28:41):
things.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
So I could totally see that technology being built
into a toilet and I'm all for itno-transcript, because remember
(29:03):
, with COVID, how they couldtell if there was a spike in the
virus was wastewater treatmentplants would be taking samples.
They couldn't be particular toa neighborhood or a household
but they could say, hey, we'venoticed a spike in COVID.
Or then they could say, hey,we've noticed it's gone down
because of wastewater test.
So they already do that.
(29:25):
So I don't think it'd be toodifficult to put that into a
house.
And yeah, I agree with you, aiand health can be very
beneficial.
Someone said they had a reallybad back problem.
Went to acupuncture doctors,physical therapists nobody could
fix it.
Plugged it in AI and AI alwaysanswers.
I'm not a doctor, but suggestedthey hang on a bar for 30
seconds, like a pull-up bar, butnot do a pull-up, just hang
there.
And they said within 15 secondstheir back went and the pain
(29:46):
went away.
Yes, that's awesome.
So it's an assistant.
Ai is again, lots of things itcan do.
That will be very beneficial,even though eventually it will
kill you as it takes over theworld.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
As long as they come up with a substitute for a
prostate exam, I'll be happy.
I'm approaching 50.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Yeah, oh, they're fun Until you take the wet and wild
ride, buddy.
All right, we'll put the showup on the website, also up on
the YouTube page.
Start atthecarolinacontractorcom, and if
you have some ideas about AI ormaybe some things you would
just like us to talk about asubject, you can submit that
information there,thecarolinacontractorcom.
(30:28):
Thanks for checking us outtoday.
We hope to see and hear fromyou next week on the Carolina
Contractor Show.
Have a great day everybody.
Thanks for listening to theCarolina Contractor Show.
Have a great day everybody.
Thanks for listening to theCarolina Contractor Show.
Visit thecarolinacontractorcom.
Welcome to the Carolina Contractor Show with
your host, general ContractorDonnie Blanchard.
So, donnie, we need to startoff the show with an apology
from me.
I didn't leave you waiting toolong but, for people who don't
realize, donnie will let me knowwhen we're ready to record, and
I need to be in the studioready to record.
(00:21):
But I came home and I told himI said hey, we'll record it this
time.
And I was watching a movie andI got distracted, because there
are some movies and I know youhave some, donnie that you start
watching and you can't breakaway.
This was no Country for Old Menwas the one that was playing
and I got sucked into that and Iwas trying to think Shawshank
Redemption does that to me andthere's a couple others.
(00:44):
But I all of a sudden realizedI let 30 minutes go by, so I
kind of had to rush over to thestudio to record today.
So apologies, and do you have amovie off the top of your head
that makes you do the same thing?
Get distracted?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, the kid in me seems to like all the Marvel
movies, so they just appeal tome and I don't know anything
that will take you back and makeyou feel young again.
I think has the ability to grabyour attention when it's
passing along.
It drives my kids crazy, likedad, another one and I'm like
I'm not really watching it, Ijust have it on in the
background.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
So, yeah, that feels good, I remember two others
there Will Be Blood I have towatch that and Field of Dreams.
Those are movies I just oncethey're on you got to keep
watching them.
So again, I'm sorry for thedelay of recording the show.
All good, it was my fault, butwe're here now.
Yes, that's what's important.
We're together.
Now we can all hug.
(01:36):
This is the Carolina ContractorShow.
My name's Eric Smith.
I do inside sales for homebuilders in Wilson and
Greenville, across from me.
The other movie buff is DonnieBlanchard, your general
contractor.
You own SureTop Roofing.
Right now.
At the time of this recording,donnie, how many weeks or months
are you out because business isdoing well?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Everything's great and we can always work somebody
in if there's an emergencyrepair or replacement.
But we've got I don't know amonth's worth of work on the
books and I can't say thatthat's been the case since
pre-pandemic.
So there was a lot of a drop insales.
I think every roofer from theMidwest and up North decided to
land in Central North Carolina.
I know we talked about NorthCarolina being the third most
(02:17):
influx state behind Texas andFlorida after the pandemic and I
believe anybody who had apickup truck and a ladder
decided to get into roofing.
There was a spell of about twoyears where they really watered
the market down and they didn'thave the same overhead as we do.
We just kind of had to waitthose guys out because we knew
they wouldn't sustain and I'mpleased to say since around
about the time of the electionthe phone started to ring again
(02:39):
and we were busy all the waythrough the winter.
It continued through the summerand it seems like this summer
we can't get enough dry days toget caught up.
But we're getting there.
We've had not a lot of rain andwith the building company kind
of in a sweet spot right nowwhere we just finished up five
jobs and two this week, and thatrounds out the five
(03:09):
no-transcript.
That's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
And you're.
You are definitely in position,and rightly deserve, to uh,
enjoy the fruits of your labor.
If you want to find out somedetails of what Donnie means
about his construction and hisroofing and stuff, go to our
website,thecarolinacontractorcom.
There's information there aboutit, but the main point of the
website is to talk about theshow you're watching.
If you're watching us onYouTube or listening to, if
(03:36):
you're in a podcast mood, or ifyou're listening to us on the
radio we're on multiple stationsacross state of North Carolina.
The carolinacontractorcomwebsite has all the details
about the show how to find us,what we talk about, past
episodes and podcast form.
They are listed by show titleor subject, so if there's
something specific you want tolook for, you can do it that way
(03:57):
.
Here's an example Today's showwe're going to be talking about
how artificial intelligence AIwill benefit homeowners over the
next five years.
So we just picked a year whatthe future will look like with
AI in 2030, kind of thing.
But several times before and wedid one last year we did a show
called Smart Homes and it's anacronym and I'm going to have
(04:18):
Donnie really quickly give thedefinition of that acronym.
But you could go tothecarolinacontractorcom and
search up smart home and findthat particular podcast and
listen to it at your ownconvenience.
Also, if you have a questionabout your house inside, outside
up down, doesn't matter Goahead and hit the ask the
contractor button, because thatgoes to Donnie and he's a
(04:39):
general contractor.
He'll answer your question.
And sometimes we do entireshows that are nothing but
questions from listeners and goahead and submit that
information.
We are due for a show that isnothing but questions, so we'll
have to get one of those in thefuture, but it's, if I can
remember, right self-monitoringanalysis reporting technology.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
So S-M-A-R-T and, yeah, super sexy.
Where this came about is whenwe used to boot up your computer
15 years ago.
You'd see all the numbers andletters going across the screen.
So that was your computerchecking itself for potential
problems and basically theylabeled that with the acronym
SMART.
So that carried all the wayover to now and if you search
(05:29):
online you can't really findthat acronym in a lot of places.
But when we did the originalSMART home show, that did come
up as the explanation for howthey labeled everything SMART
homes and I think it fits.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
It sure does, and I think it dovetails into today's
show extremely well, becausewithout smart technology, you
really can't have the AI portion.
Come in, talk about the cart.
Before the horse, I said horse.
You've got to have thistechnology in place so AI can
communicate with all the otherdevices or all the other things
(06:01):
that it does.
So if you want to listen tothat show, hit the website
thecarolinacontractorcom, andtoday we'll jump into ways
artificial intelligence is goingto very possibly revolutionize
the way you live in your housewithin the next few years.
Are you ready, donnie?
Do you have a fresh mind?
I think so.
I sure do.
All right, here we go.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
I got kind of cracked my neck.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
All right, let's start with one that everybody
likes, and that's going to beenergy optimization.
It's a lot sexier than itsounds.
This is how you can save moneywith AI, and it cuts your energy
bills through automation.
Now you think about yourthermostat.
You probably have I know youhave these and you can set them
to run at certain times, runwhen you're not the smart, smart
(06:44):
, smart ones, the super smartones you can control remotely.
Do you have the remote accessfor your thermostats?
Donnie, sure, do.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Yes, sir, I don't really utilize it a lot, but it
is nice to check the temperature.
If you got out of town orcoming home, you can drop the
temperature down and make thehouse nice when you get there.
You don't have to wait for itto heat up or cool down.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Drop the temperature down and make the house nice
when you get there.
You don't have to wait for itto heat up or cool down.
Yeah, so I have the most basicone.
You just program it.
But if you go on vacation andyou forget about it for a week,
it's going to run that sameschedule.
Ai is going to cut your energybills because it adjusts the
lights, it adjusts thermostatsbased on your occupancy and we
(07:32):
talked about one of themanufacturers of them a while
back where you are, it senseswhen you walk by it and knows
you're in the room.
And then it senses when youleave the room.
Well, ai literally can tellwhether it's thermal or movement
, if you're in a room or if it'sunoccupied, and will adjust the
thermostats, the lights.
What was the name?
There's like Google, nest andEcobee is the one I have.
Is that the one?
You walk by?
And it kind of tells if you'restill there in the room or not.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Yes, it does.
It tells if that's one of thefeatures.
I can click on it in the secondhome at the coast and it'll
tell me if it's occupied or not.
So that's kind of cool that ifyou check on it and you want to
know if somebody's down there orthey made it yet it'll tell you
if there's any kind of motionsensor activation.
So yes, sir, that's a good one.
But I think all of those havethat same feature.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Well, the AI will use that to incorporate where to
set those temperatures when youleave, and it can determine
outside temperatures Some ofthem will be able to determine
the wall temperature instead ofjust the air temperature and
determining how to makeadjustments.
Now, if you have solar panels,ai is going to manage that
(08:31):
excess power more efficientlythan it can currently do.
It'll store it in the batteries, it'll pull it at night to run
appliances and it can actually,if your system is hooked up,
direct where that battery poweris going to use for what devices
.
So instead of all of it gettingburned on the washing machine
running, it can keep otherthings on with that solar power
and maximize the energyefficiency, and that, in turn,
(08:51):
is going to save you money.
So, several of these ideas AIis going to save you money and I
think everybody'd be on boardwith that.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
They have something that's out right now.
I know it'll get moresophisticated because not a lot
of folks utilize this, but theyhave monitors that you can hook
to your panel box, so yourelectrical panel it'll tell you
exactly what's pulling what interms of energy, and I think
that those will be somethingthat's probably going to be a
code thing, especially if allhouses, or 90% of the houses, go
(09:20):
smart.
That's going to tell you whereyour energy consumption is going
and what you really need to bemindful of keeping an eye on to
save that money.
But yeah, agreed on all thatand every single year.
I want to say that thermostatis probably the most implemented
smart home technology, becauseeverybody seems to have a smart
thermostat nowadays andeverybody has Wi-Fi, so you have
(09:43):
the ability to control that.
But in terms of money savings,I think that's the biggest one
and so far at this point.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Well, it definitely gives you a big ROI.
Now here's something that Ithink could save a whole lot
more money using AI than athermostat, and that is
predictive maintenance.
Think about your AC system.
My guy comes in twice a year,spring and fall, and one of the
things he does is run theefficiency of the airflow.
He runs the efficiency of thecapacitors and he hooks up all
(10:12):
these weird things and he knowswhat he's doing and he prints me
out a report.
He says things like voltage isgood, capacitor is good, or
things like that.
Well, I won't see him again for180 days.
Things can happen.
Ai can keep a basic calendarfor you and say your HVAC
filters need to be changed.
Okay, that's easy enough.
(10:32):
But now AI can monitor thevoltage of your HVAC systems and
if it realizes a capacitor isbeing inconsistent or there's an
airflow issue, it can tell youhey, this has fallen out of its
parameters.
You need to call your tech.
That tech can come over thereand fix or play something for a
(10:54):
lot less money.
Then it keeps on going and thenext thing you know your motor
or your compressor's gone out.
And instead of a hundred dollarservice call and a $50 part,
he's saying yeah, we're lookingat 2,300 bucks, literally.
Using AI can save you from everhaving that happen, and it can
do it for dishwashers andrefrigerators and water lines.
(11:17):
It can tell you hey, here's apossible problem, check it out.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Where I think the population is going to buck that
idea and I think that it willbe implemented all the way
around.
But I think it'll be slow,because what they're basically
doing is taking that device thatthe HVAC tech plugs into your
unit and test all the thingsthey have to build all that in.
They see tech plugs into yourunit and test all the things
they have to build all that in,and then they have to put a
communicator, wi-fi communicator, to talk to your phone or
(11:41):
whatever.
The hub is that all thatinformation is sent to.
So they have to install thatinto the unit and they have to
have those readings real time.
So basically, what you wouldhave like your service contract
is what?
Twice a year.
So they would have everythingthat that service tech has on
his truck built into the unit.
That's what's going to have tohappen.
(12:01):
And when that drives the priceof the unit up a grand, two
grand, same with a dishwasher.
All of a sudden your dishwasheris $1,500 instead of $500,
which I'm all about it.
And if they could justify it bysaying, hey, the lifespan of
these dishwashers is going to bedouble, that means you don't
have to buy a new dishwasher fortwice the time.
So I could see paying an extragrand for a dishwasher in that
(12:21):
circumstance.
But I believe that when theystart to implement these things,
it's going to be expensive, andI'm just playing devil's
advocate here because I'mhearing what you're saying.
I agree with it wholeheartedlyand I can't wait till it's a
real thing in every house in theworld really.
But I think that it's going tocost a little extra money and I
believe that a lot of peoplewill buck that and stick to
their old ways.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
I think that is an excellent point and I didn't
consider that.
We kind of have that abilitywith cars.
You can buy a reader that willtell you what an issue is with a
car plugging it in, and mostmodern cars are already
compatible with those devices.
But you're right, there is someinformation that is proprietary
that only a manufacturer canread.
(13:02):
So it would require, you'reright, the manufacturer to tell
you what devices it will work onand what you would need to have
that feature, and then you'dprobably have to sign a service
agreement with thatmanufacturer's either service
department or one they recommend.
They might say well, yourcurrent one is great, but he's
not affiliated.
(13:22):
You can't use him if you wantthis AI service.
So excellent observation,donnie.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah, that's exactly what they do too.
They back you into a cornerevery chance they get.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Yeah, and you can't buy anything anymore.
You have to buy it off the weband you're only renting it and
then you're held hostage.
That's a whole nother story.
Yeah, um, I have the mostsimple uh security system.
Is we talk about AI?
I have dogs.
Um, I also have a ring doorbell.
That's about as high as I needto go, um, or feel I need to go.
I also have a Smith and WessonI'm sorry I lied, it's a Dan
(13:50):
Wesson, but you have, um, moreadvanced security than I do.
Ai is now coming up withsomething that would work like a
ring doorbell that a lot of ushave with a camera.
But facial recognitiontechnology will now come down to
the consumer level and AI willbe able to recognize who's at
your door, whether it's a familymember or neighbor, or if you
(14:13):
don't like your mother-in-law,it can send out an alarm.
But it also can recognize ifyou are coming in with your arms
full and unlock your door, cantell if it's Amazon, us Mail,
ups delivering a package.
You can tell if it's a salesman.
This facial recognitiontechnology that just a few years
(14:33):
ago was for movies and missionimpossible is now coming to your
house with cameras and and doorring compatible type devices,
so you can actually know who'sat your door without even
looking at a camera.
It'll just say your dad's here,yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
I think that the big question is going to be who
steps into the market that'sgoing to challenge ring, because
ring seems to have cornered, uh, the market.
They, they quietly were boughtout by amazon what?
Two or three years ago wetalked about that on a show.
So it's kind of scary that youknow the ring monitors, who's
coming and going and and what.
(15:11):
80 of the time that's amazonand so, um, I don't know what,
what they are, what theirintentions were by, you know,
combining the two companiesother than monitoring your
shopping habits.
But that's gotta have somethingto do with it.
And, um, yeah, I don't know, Idon't know how that's going to
work out with the, with thefacial recognition.
I live in the country, you know, you live in a quiet
(15:31):
subdivision, but I could totallysee the value in that If you
live in a busy area and knowing,hey, that's not the person that
lives here and they've enteredthe house.
And, yeah, it definitely wouldmake me feel safer if I lived in
a bigger city or something.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Next thing on AI and how it can benefit your home on
this episode of the CarolinaContractor is smart budgeting,
and I don't mean just the basicbudgeting tool.
Building a house is expensive.
You're doing renovations.
You help people do renos, notjust new builds.
Donnie, have you seen some ofthe AI stuff you can do?
If a person says, I want torenovate my kitchen, what's it
going to look like?
(16:06):
Sometimes it's an iPad or alaptop and you give them.
Well, it could kind of looklike this.
But there's new AI programswhere you hold a phone or a
camera up in the room and youcan make real time adjustments
to anything, say, in a kitchen.
Have you used it, or at leastseen it?
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Oh, every week and I'm getting better at it.
I had to teach myself how tohow to be very detail oriented
and you have to say specificallyeverything that you want.
Or it's going to just dreamsomething up to fill that space,
or it's going to just dreamsomething up to fill that space.
The way I used it this week waswe did a large roof for a
recurring client and there's 32units in this place and we just
(16:44):
did the first two.
They were extremely worriedabout picking the wrong color
shingle because when the firsttwo led the way, that means the
other 31 units had to followsuit and we had to pick the
right color.
So we had a couple folks fromthe Homeowner Association in our
conference room at the officeand what I did before they got
there is I took a picture of thefirst two units and I basically
(17:05):
uploaded the picture, and Ialso uploaded a swatch of the
weathered wood shingle that theywanted to see, and I told the
AI to use that particularshingle and replace the existing
shingles with that shinglecolor, which was the second
image that I uploaded, and Ialso specified that it should
scale that image down to matchthe shingle exposure, which was
(17:26):
five inches of the existingshingles so that everything
looked to scale.
And it did exactly that.
And just for fun, I took apicture of the finished product
and you almost couldn't tell thedifference, other than the time
of day.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Wow, you know, and it kind of goes into how AI can
help with like home design,because it's not just colors on
a wall or something, it's thatvirtual reality, that VR 3D,
where you can almost reach outand determine.
This is the height.
I want my counter, even thoughthere's nothing there, I want
the shape of it to be here.
(18:01):
You really allow a homeowner toalmost not literally but
figuratively get a feel for yourrenovation before you even take
out a wall.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Absolutely.
And, speaking of that, we havethe renovation that I mentioned.
We'll carry on through the restof this month.
They have a very narrow kitchen.
They had a pipe burst and theircabinets were flooded.
So when we got to the job, thedemo crew had already been there
and torn everything out.
Uh, it looked basically like awar zone.
We got there and they ask aboutthe possibility of taking out a
(18:31):
wall on the opposite side ofthe kitchen.
They have a a narrow kitchen,like I mentioned, so you kind of
it kind of bottlenecks youthrough the downstairs.
Um, we took a picture, anoverview, long ways, of the
kitchen and I can't take anycredit for this because the
homeowners did this, but, um,they, they, they took the
picture and told it what theywanted.
I said, you know, whitecabinets, quartz countertops,
(18:52):
shaker style doors on thecabinets and, you know, add a
new light fixture on the ceiling.
And they told it what to do.
And, man, when I say thefinished product is, uh, isn't
there yet.
But they came up with a picturethat was beautiful and I mean
it.
It gave the homeowner a visionand I think, overall and just
homeowner contractorrelationship, just them seeing
that vision and saying, can youreally do this?
(19:13):
And I said, absolutely, thatwas a win for me and I didn't
have to do anything but justsend a picture in.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
And you're very confident as a contractor that
you can build it how they see itand how the VR puts it up there
with the AI.
Almost exactly.
Yes, sir man, talk aboutpersonalized designs.
And another cool thing realquick on that subject of
budgeting and personalization isyou can scan a product that you
want for your house and say youtold the contractor hey, I
(19:42):
found this at Lowe's.
Ai can say, hey, lowe's has it,but this place down the street
from you has the exact samething or a comparable model for
$500 less.
So in real time, and it candetermine availability and
inventory if that's allowed bythe people that own the company
or the business.
But you'd be able to find themgreat deals as a contractor or
(20:03):
the homeowner could find greatdeals on a moment's notice and
say, oh, I can get it today andI can get it for less.
Ai just sorted through allthose ads and businesses and
found it for me.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Yeah, we do that already with Amazon, and as much
as I hate to support Amazonover some of the local stores,
you know the homeowner can sendme their selection and I'm a big
proponent for plumbing fixturesto use Delta, because all the
internal parts are brass versusplastic parts with the other
brands.
And so when they send me theirDelta selections, a lot of times
(20:36):
I'll go to Lowe's orhomDepotcom and they'll say sure
, we can get it, but it'll benext Thursday.
I can type that same productinto Amazon and have it before I
wake up the next morning, whichis awesome and scary at the
same time.
But I will say that Amazontends to be a bit cheaper than
the big box stores as well.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
I'm going to agree with you about Delta.
I had a plumber come in onetime because our kitchen faucet
handle literally just popped offone day.
It just came right off and Itold him what do you recommend?
And he just goes Delta,internal parts last better or
last longer, and they're betterparts, he said that's the only
thing I use.
So anytime I've had a fixturereplaced unless it unless it has
to be artsy, fartsy, withsy,with cool curled handles because
(21:16):
it's a women's bathroom, Idon't know, but it's all Delta
and grief.
The one we have in our kitchenmust be at least 15 years old.
That's how long ago the old onefrom a competitor failed after
maybe two years.
All right, donnie, you haveyour house, it's ready.
You like to keep it clean?
One thing that's pretty coolabout AI is it can do a lot of
home tasks.
(21:36):
We talked about making yourHVAC system run more efficiently
, but it can sync lighting andHVAC and dim lights, adjust that
thermostat when you're asleep,but it also can coordinate the
running of appliances.
There's a couple that you canrun at night, like your
dishwasher, off peak hours, andAI now can even tell on some
dishwashers if it's full or itshould run a half load.
(21:59):
They have automatic dispensers,which I didn't know existed
until I did some research.
The AI can tell the look at thedishwasher, determine how much
it needs to wash the length, how, what the load is, and inject
the right amount of detergent,so you don't overuse detergent.
Your dishes do all but load andunload themselves.
Ai takes care of the restwithout you lifting a finger,
(22:21):
which is kind of cool.
Now, this is what I was mostexcited for and since we've got
plenty of time, I want to drilldown on this for a minute.
Home DIY.
I want someone to imagine thisis with AR, augmented reality,
maybe something like Googlelenses, the glasses and AI.
You have a lawnmower and itwon't start.
Put on these and bring up theapp or whatever it's going to
(22:44):
need.
You look at your lawnmower andyou can even use voice command.
The demo I saw is stunning.
My lawnmower won't start.
Give me some ideas.
It will instantly scan yourmower, determine what it is and
then start offering solutions,and it might say into your
earpiece sounds like your fuelline is clogged.
Well, what do I do?
You'll need the following toolsyou gather the tools and then,
(23:06):
while looking through yourGoogle lens or whatever you're
using, it will, step by step,direct point to the screws, the
clamps, the hose, the parts andtell you how to take it apart,
clean it out, reassemble it.
You could do it if you'reswitching out a light switch or
working on your car or doingother jobs in your house.
Plumbing you want to put in anew Delta faucet.
(23:28):
It can guide you step-by-stepwith a grid pattern and virtual
reality and literally show youhow to change it in real time,
versus how we usually do it now,which is go to YouTube, watch
three videos, take a couplenotes and then screw it up
anyway.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Yeah, and I think that's pretty amazing.
If it works like it's supposedto, that is, and I, I, I have a
sneaky suspicion that that Idon't.
I don't know that that'll gothat smooth.
I feel like it's not going toput a lot of, probably not going
to put a lot of plumbers orheating and air guys out of a
job because you know, I think,other than you labeled it right,
you said DIY task and so juston the small stuff, it's
(24:04):
probably going to work prettygood.
But you know, once it getsbeyond changing that faucet out
or just doing a couple of otherthings, you know, it may, may
still be a need for a servicetech.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
I still don't want to .
I'm not comfortable with adetailed electrical and I don't
like pressurized water lines.
We've mentioned it a lotbecause that scares me.
Because if you don't do apressurized line connection
correctly, you don't want tofind out the next day that you
had sprung a leak under thehouse or your bathroom's
flooding because you have astream running down into your
(24:34):
kitchen.
So not to, but it would helpthe person doing the repair
because the repairman could comein, scan it instantly, know
what he's working with and beable to fix that problem faster.
He doesn't have to tell thehomeowner.
But you know, five years fromnow, when AI is more
incorporated, maybe that'll bethe case.
One other thing I want to get to.
I don't have any of the robovacuums or what are they called
(24:55):
Ro to get to.
I don't have any of the robovacuums or what are they called?
Roomba Roombas.
I know some people that havethem and they give them names
and everything.
I'm not sold because I don'tthink my house, especially with
multiple levels, is designed forit.
But cleaning and maintenancewith AI is absolutely.
The stuff they're coming upwith is great.
You get a schedule and AIcontrols it to when to run your
(25:17):
Roomba.
It'll clean high traffic areasduring off hours.
Robotic lawnmowers I havesomeone down the street that has
one and I was the first personto go.
This is stupid.
And then I saw it work and Ithought it was cool because when
it was done and you didn't seethis little rover going across
his lawn, you had no idea that amachine did it or a person did
it and it went back into hisgarage and got on a little dock.
(25:38):
You could schedule it when youwant to do it and AI can say
we're going to do this nowbecause it's scheduled to rain
later today, so we're going todo it or we're going to delay
because it hasn't grown much,because there's been no rain.
They'll set up on very superdetailed, more than a Roomba can
do with what is in a room thatthey need to avoid, what is
(25:59):
outside that they need to avoid.
Um, I talked about earlier.
They can determine, like with,uh, the load sides of a
dishwasher and the correctdetergent.
Um, ai ovens sound stupid butthey can identify food with
cameras in your oven anddetermine if it's cooked enough
gauges or if it's going to getburned if it goes any longer,
(26:19):
and even adjust the temperatureup and down, determining what
you need done on it.
So your food, which I know thiswould hurt you you could have
someone do your grilling for youwith AI.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Oh no, that's just take away my enjoyment.
Why don't you?
I think it's cool, and theyhave the refrigerators now with
the internal cameras.
I read something today when wewere looking into the topic that
they actually have an app nowwhere it will populate your
shopping list for you, so it'llmake your grocery list for you,
it'll order your groceries andyou just do the pickup.
Mentioned something earlierabout having a robot in the
(26:57):
house and um, they have these,um, uh, robots that monitor air
quality from room to room.
Um, they did mention and theydidn't go into detail, so I'm
not sure how this works, butit's it's something to do with a
health monitor.
I read where a lot of this, this, uh, smart home technology, is
going to revolve around betterhealth, when and, of course, air
quality's probably at the topof that list.
It showed an example when alady sprayed some hairspray, you
(27:18):
know, it told the return tokick on, or the supply and the
return to kick on and clear theair, so it sensed when there was
something there that wasn'tsupposed to be.
The very the coolest thing wasthey said you should show up one
day and have an unexpectedpackage at your door and and
basically there are sensors thatare going to be in your
bathroom one day, that willmonitor your, your health and
(27:39):
that that your uh.
The sensor picked up that youmay have the symptoms of a cold,
or it sensed viruses uh presentand and it went ahead and
ordered the medication that youneeded and had it delivered to
your house before you even knewyou were sick.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
That might be a stretch but you know it's Star
Trek, but I could see ithappening and that's when they
become, as I said, sentient,like the self-healing concrete,
and it will.
Eventually that bathroom willkill you intentionally as they
go to take over and Skynet rulesthe world.
That's interesting.
It may be a little invasive,but wow, I never thought about
(28:19):
that.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Well, I read something about that a while
back, but it was talking about atoilet having that, and I could
totally see that, because itbasically takes your solid waste
or liquid waste or whatever andit analyzes that when you go to
the doctor, you pee in a cupsometimes and they'll tell you
all kinds of things.
And it and it analyzes thatwhen you go to the doctor, you
pee in a cup sometimes andthey'll tell you all kinds of
(28:41):
things.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
So I could totally see that technology being built
into a toilet and I'm all for itno-transcript, because remember
(29:03):
, with COVID, how they couldtell if there was a spike in the
virus was wastewater treatmentplants would be taking samples.
They couldn't be particular toa neighborhood or a household
but they could say, hey, we'venoticed a spike in COVID.
Or then they could say, hey,we've noticed it's gone down
because of wastewater test.
So they already do that.
(29:25):
So I don't think it'd be toodifficult to put that into a
house.
And yeah, I agree with you, aiand health can be very
beneficial.
Someone said they had a reallybad back problem.
Went to acupuncture doctors,physical therapists nobody could
fix it.
Plugged it in AI and AI alwaysanswers.
I'm not a doctor, but suggestedthey hang on a bar for 30
seconds, like a pull-up bar, butnot do a pull-up, just hang
there.
And they said within 15 secondstheir back went and the pain
(29:46):
went away.
Yes, that's awesome.
So it's an assistant.
Ai is again, lots of things itcan do.
That will be very beneficial,even though eventually it will
kill you as it takes over theworld.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
As long as they come up with a substitute for a
prostate exam, I'll be happy.
I'm approaching 50.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Yeah, oh, they're fun Until you take the wet and wild
ride, buddy.
All right, we'll put the showup on the website, also up on
the YouTube page.
Start atthecarolinacontractorcom, and if
you have some ideas about AI ormaybe some things you would
just like us to talk about asubject, you can submit that
information there,thecarolinacontractorcom.
(30:28):
Thanks for checking us outtoday.
We hope to see and hear fromyou next week on the Carolina
Contractor Show.
Have a great day everybody.
Thanks for listening to theCarolina Contractor Show.
Have a great day everybody.
Thanks for listening to theCarolina Contractor Show.
Visit thecarolinacontractorcom.
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