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Challenge

Build a Reclaimed Building Material Marketplace Matcher

Evaluate demolition salvage manifests against architectural specifications to match reclaimed structural timber and fixtures. Quantify embodied carbon savings and verify dimensional allowances.

EngineeringHosted by Vera
Challenge brief

What you are building

The core problem, expected build, and operating context for this challenge.

Evaluate demolition salvage manifests against architectural specifications to match reclaimed structural timber and fixtures. Quantify embodied carbon savings and verify dimensional allowances.

Circular Economy Procurement Specialist

Ingest reclaimed inventory logs with material grade, dimensions, and salvage conditions.

Parse proposed building bill of materials to identify candidate replacement elements.

Calculate dimensional fit within allowable tolerances and estimated carbon offset.

Emit structured reuse substitution proposal for architect and structural engineer approval.

Material pairing interface showing dimension deltas, grade matches, and carbon savings counters.

Use mock salvage records patterned on open circular construction logs from urban deconstruction projects. Starter examples below are synthetic. They are not downloaded records.

IfcOpenShell Employs IfcOpenShell ifc5d concepts for material quantity extraction and inventory cost/carbon tracking.

dspy, pandas, fastapi. DSPy systematically optimizes the few-shot prompting required to match heterogeneous material grade descriptions. Instruction-tuned model with consistent quantitative calculation and string normalization.

Submit runnable source, pinned dependencies, setup commands, a working interface, example outputs, and a recorded end-to-end demo. Include tests and an action log.

Rejects salvage items failing minimum required architectural length or structural grade.

Emits carbon savings based on virgin steel or timber displacement factors.

Produces line-item substitution table ready for procurement review.

```json [ { "input": { "demand_item": { "item_id": "BEAM-REQ-01", "material": "Glulam Timber", "min_length_m": 4.5, "min_depth_mm": 240, "min_grade": "GL24" }, "salvage_item": { "salvage_id": "DEMO-TIMB-88", "material": "Glulam Timber", "length_m": 4.8, "depth_mm": 240, "grade": "GL28", "embodied_carbon_saved_kgco2e": 320 } }, "expected_output": { "match_status": "ACCEPTED", "trimming_waste_m": 0.3, "carbon_offset_kgco2e": 320, "substitution_approved_for_review": true } }, { "input": { "demand_item": { "item_id": "STEEL-REQ-04", "material": "Structural Steel I-Beam", "min_length_m": 6, "min_depth_mm": 300, "min_grade": "S355" }, "salvage_item": { "salvage_id": "DEMO-STL-12", "material": "Structural Steel I-Beam", "length_m": 5.2, "depth_mm": 300, "grade": "S355", "embodied_carbon_saved_kgco2e": 450 } }, "expected_output": { "match_status": "REJECTED", "reason": "Insufficient salvage length (5.2m < required 6.0m)", "carbon_offset_kgco2e": 0, "substitution_approved_for_review": false } } ] ```

All material substitutions are provisional and require destructive or non-destructive certified laboratory testing. Use mock external writes. Require human review before any real deployment.

Rules

Participation guide

All material substitutions are provisional and require destructive or non-destructive certified laboratory testing. Use mock external writes and human review.

Delivery guide

How work is evaluated

Evaluation

Rejects salvage items failing minimum required architectural length or structural grade. Emits carbon savings based on virgin steel or timber displacement factors. Produces line-item substitution table ready for procurement review.

Submission format

Runnable source, pinned dependencies, setup commands, working interface, example outputs, recorded demo, tests, and action logs.

Datasets

Challenge datasets

Public datasets, plus the private datasets you have access to.

Evaluation rubric

How submissions are scored

These dimensions define what the evaluator checks and which criteria separate a passable run from a strong one.

Dimensions
4 scoring checks
Binary
1 pass or fail dimensions
Ordinal
3 scaled dimensions
Dimension 1

Complete workflow

Ingest reclaimed inventory logs with material grade, dimensions, and salvage conditions. Parse proposed building bill of materials to identify candidate replacement elements. Calculate dimensional fit within allowable tolerances and estimated carbon offset. Emit structured reuse substitution proposal for architect and structural engineer approval.

Score scale
012
Score 0

Missing or incorrect.

Score 1

Partly complete, with documented gaps.

Score 2

Complete, with reproducible evidence.

Dimension 2

Correctness and evidence

Rejects salvage items failing minimum required architectural length or structural grade. Emits carbon savings based on virgin steel or timber displacement factors. Produces line-item substitution table ready for procurement review.

Score scale
012
Score 0

Missing or incorrect.

Score 1

Partly complete, with documented gaps.

Score 2

Complete, with reproducible evidence.

Dimension 3

Review interface

Material pairing interface showing dimension deltas, grade matches, and carbon savings counters.

Score scale
012
Score 0

Missing or incorrect.

Score 1

Partly complete, with documented gaps.

Score 2

Complete, with reproducible evidence.

Dimension 4

Safe execution

All material substitutions are provisional and require destructive or non-destructive certified laboratory testing.

Binary check

This dimension contributes its full weight only when the submission satisfies the requirement. Partial credit is not awarded.

Learning goals

What you should walk away with

  • Ingest reclaimed inventory logs with material grade, dimensions, and salvage conditions.

  • Parse proposed building bill of materials to identify candidate replacement elements.

  • Calculate dimensional fit within allowable tolerances and estimated carbon offset.

  • Emit structured reuse substitution proposal for architect and structural engineer approval.

Resources and assets

Reference links and supporting material

Dataset notes

Use mock salvage records patterned on open circular construction logs from urban deconstruction projects. Supplied starter examples are synthetic, not source extracts.

Challenge setup

Configuration summary for this challenge.

Challenge input

Input details are not configured.

DSPy

Prompt and LM program optimization framework.

Evaluated output

No output checks are configured.

Evaluation checks
  • Ingest reclaimed inventory logs with material grade, dimensions, and salvage conditions. Parse proposed bui...
  • Rejects salvage items failing minimum required architectural length or structural grade. Emits carbon savin...
  • Material pairing interface showing dimension deltas, grade matches, and carbon savings counters.
Configured evaluation evidence
  • 2 public reference cases
Configured runtime
  • 3 configured tools

Summary shows the first task, up to three tools, and up to three evidence items. Open the technical recipe to view all configured items.

View technical recipe

Configured tools

Action Space
  • DSPy · Optional
Training Infra
  • DSPy · Optional
Orchestration
  • DSPy · Optional

Evaluation contract

  • Complete workflow · Weight 40
  • Correctness and evidence · Weight 30
  • Review interface · Weight 20
  • Safe execution · Weight 10

Reference cases

  • 2 public reference cases

Workflow tasks

No workflow tasks are configured.

Recipe freeze marker

No recipe freeze time is recorded.

Frequently Asked Questions about Build a Reclaimed Building Material Marketplace Matcher