(example)

Example: Replacing a Build Step with Information

This example illustrates how Open Source Ecology (OSE) replaces recurring construction labor with upfront design and specification, eliminating entire build steps rather than accelerating them.

Conventional Build Step (Labor Exists)

Scenario: Interior wall electrical rough-in

Typical field process:

1. Carpenter frames wall.
2. Electrician arrives later.
3. Electrician measures stud bays and decides box heights.
4. Holes are drilled and wires are routed and stapled.
5. Inspector verifies placement and clearances.
6. Drywall work is delayed or works around incomplete bays.
7. Electrician returns to correct conflicts or inspection issues.

Hidden labor present:

• Measuring and layout
• Drawing interpretation
• Field decision-making
• Trade coordination
• Waiting between steps
• Rework and callbacks

Although classified as electrical labor, most of this work exists due to uncertainty rather than physical necessity.

OSE Replacement: Information Eliminates the Step

OSE replaces this workflow with a fully specified wall module drawing set that functions as an executable specification rather than advisory documentation.

The drawing set includes:

• Fixed stud spacing
• Fixed electrical box heights relative to a datum
• Fixed wire routing paths
• Predefined hole locations
• Fastener schedules
• Electrical ports at module boundaries

These specifications remove all discretionary field decisions.

Resulting Physical Assembly (Only Unavoidable Labor Remains)

Wall module assembly proceeds as follows:

1. Pre-cut studs are placed into a jig.
2. Electrical boxes snap into indexed locations.
3. Wiring is placed into predefined channels or indexed holes.
4. The module is closed and sealed.
5. Quality control is pass/fail against the specification.

Remaining labor is limited to physical actions such as placing, fastening, and joining components.

Labor Eliminated by Design

Eliminated Labor	Replaced By
Measuring and layout	Dimensioned CAD
Judgment and interpretation	Fixed standards
Trade coordination	Module completeness
Inspection negotiation	Pre-approval and evidence
Rework and callbacks	Elimination of degrees of freedom

System-Level Impact

The conventional process allocates approximately 15–25% of wall-related labor to layout, coordination, and correction. In the OSE system, this labor is removed entirely and replaced with a one-time design effort amortized across all builds.

This example demonstrates how OSE replaces labor with information to collapse all-in labor toward the physical minimum.

Enabling Condition: Schema-Based CAD Automation

The replacement of build steps with information is enabled only by schema-based CAD automation. This approach defines construction elements as parametric schemas with explicit interfaces, constraints, and completion rules, which are then compiled into fully specified CAD artifacts for production and assembly.

Prior to AI-assisted design automation, maintaining this level of documentation fidelity was impractical. Human-driven drafting could not keep pace with the combinatorial complexity required to specify every dimension, interface, routing path, tolerance, and dependency across an entire building system with constant design iterations. As a result, construction documentation necessarily left gaps that had to be resolved by labor in the field through judgment, coordination, inspection, and rework.

AI-enabled schema-based CAD changes this constraint. Schemas allow intent to be captured once, while AI-assisted compilation generates complete, consistent, and up-to-date drawings across all modules and assemblies. This makes it feasible to eliminate discretionary field decisions and replace them with executable specifications at full detail level.

Under this model, labor is no longer used to compensate for missing information. Instead, information completeness is enforced at design time, allowing construction labor to be limited strictly to unavoidable physical assembly.