Construction Technology Podcast

Josh Whisenant of Roger joins Luigi La Corte, Mike Powers, and Andrew Zukoski the day after Procore's Groundbreak conference in Orlando. The group recaps Procore's AI announcements, including the Magpie model and agent "starter packs," debates whether agents are really different from skills, and discusses why contractors should keep benefiting from foundation models that get better and cheaper eve...

Luigi La Corte, Mike Powers, and Andrew Zukoski dig into how far general-purpose AI models can go on construction work now that frontier labs are buying expert-labeled, proprietary data, and where project data, harnesses, and purpose-built UI still matter. They compare AI adoption across mid-market GCs, mechanical reps, and manufacturers, from enterprise ChatGPT and Claude licenses to shared skill...

Carl from Ramp joins Luigi La Corte, Mike Powers, and Andrew Zukoski to unpack how a horizontal financial operating system is being pulled deeper into construction. Ramp covers corporate cards and expense management, purchasing and accounts payable, treasury with JPMorgan, and a newly announced accounts receivable product—serving more than 80,000 businesses including over 15,000 construction and c...

Wissam Akra, founder and CEO of Tough Leaf, joins Luigi La Corte, Andrew Zukoski, and Victor Muchiri (sitting in for Mike Powers) to unpack how general contractors actually find certified subcontractors and prove compliance. Tough Leaf aggregates verified certifications from federal, state, and local agencies alongside qualification data on hundreds of thousands of subs, then plugs into BuildingCo...

Luigi, Mike, and Andrew unpack Autodesk University — keynote demos, AI assistants as tool-pickers inside systems of record, token pricing, and whether agents-on-workflows beat agent-first products. They debate fee compression in PM software, the $1 vs $99 contractor spend split, and whether you’d buy Autodesk stock after AU (or just buy Google).

Hammad Chaudhry (Pomerleau) joins Luigi, Mike, and Andrew on running innovation and digital construction at a multi-billion-dollar GC — when to slow down before you speed up, security vs adoption, BIM/VDC as table stakes, and how to justify tech spend to the C-suite.

Francesco Iorio (Augmenta) joins Luigi, Mike, and Andrew on LLMs vs spatial AI, why building-scale design breaks token-context workflows, BIM metadata and prefabrication, and what it takes to automate the guts of buildings — not just the aesthetics.

Spencer Thompson of Cardinal Civil Contracting joins Luigi, Mike, and Andrew. They dig into what makes site-development precon different from vertical work — dirt as the windshield of a job, geotech unknowns, and pricing risk as levers for owners rather than a blanket premium. Spencer also talks takeoffs, true production vs dirt counting, and why Cardinal is cautious about unleashing AI company-wi...

What if completing a construction takeoff became as simple as uploading a drawing and asking for what you need? In this episode, we speak with Elan, CEO and co-founder of Kamai, about using AI to make takeoffs faster and easier for contractors. Elon shares how his cybersecurity background in the Israeli military led him and his co-founder, Ben, into construction technology. We discuss why construc...

Kyle Bonde, Senior Estimator at Hensel Phelps, joins the Construction Technology Podcast to discuss what it takes for new technology to succeed inside a major general contractor. Kyle explains why adoption beats automation, how Hensel Phelps evaluates and implements new tools, and why software must fit an estimator’s existing workflow before it can create value at scale. The conversation covers AI...

What happens when AI stops assisting the estimator and starts doing the estimate? In this episode, we speak with Dmitry from Handoff about H1, an AI system that autonomously turns construction drawings into complete estimates. Users upload their plans and receive takeoffs, markups, scope reports, pricing, assumptions, and potential conflicts. Dmitry explains why Handoff is focused on smaller and g...

Construction still runs on phone calls, jobsite conversations, and quick decisions that rarely make it into the official project record. Karly Heffernan, co-founder of Hardline, joins Luigi La Corte, Mike Powers, and Andrew Zukoski to discuss how contractors can turn those conversations into structured project memory without changing how field teams work. They explore why field software often fail...

Can AI tools like Claude actually perform construction takeoffs? In this episode, Luigi, Andrew, and Mike test Fable/Claude against real construction projects with known ground truth. The results are mixed: AI is getting very strong at scope identification, especially across drawings and specs, but quantity takeoff is still harder to trust. The conversation gets into where AI is already useful, wh...

In this episode, Luigi, Mike and Andrew are joined by Elliot Christensen, Senior Vice President of Operations at Cleveland Construction. The conversation starts with Cleveland’s approach to technology adoption and why labor shortages are pushing contractors to think differently about efficiency, self-perform work, and repeatable scopes. Elliot shares how Cleveland is evaluating vertical integratio...

In this episode, Andrew, Mike and Luigi are joined by Micah, Head of Preconstruction at Knutson Construction, for a conversation on where preconstruction is headed and how AI may reshape the role of estimators, architects, engineers, and builders. The discussion starts with delegated design and delegated scoping. Micah breaks down how design responsibility is shifting across project teams, why tha...

In this episode, Luigi is joined by Andrew from Join and Mike from Build Vision for a roundtable on the future of construction technology, AI infrastructure, and SpaceX. The conversation starts with the rumored SpaceX IPO and the bull and bear cases for buying into one of the most unusual companies in the world. The group debates whether SpaceX is a defensible launch and Starlink business, a publi...

Here’s a cleaner version: In this episode, we break down Autodesk’s acquisition of MaintainX and what it signals about the future of construction technology. The conversation starts with Autodesk’s broader strategy: its move toward full lifecycle ownership, the role of acquisitions in expanding its platform, and how MaintainX could fit into its existing customer base. We also look at Autodesk’s bu...

This episode features Chris Reeder, Project Planning Technology Manager at Brasfield & Gorrie, on what construction software providers need to understand before building for the industry. The conversation covers data standardization, planning technology, technology adoption, and the tradeoffs between building software in-house versus working with vendors. Chris shares how contractors evaluate...

The conversation covers the topics of construction technology, change orders, pre-construction processes, and the impact of technology on the construction industry. It also delves into the challenges of design rework, the role of architects, and the integration of construction management software. The conversation delves into the unique value proposition of ClearStory in the construction industry,...

The conversation covers a range of topics related to AI in pre-construction, challenges with scope generation, data quality and standardization, and workflow integration and efficiency. The discussion delves into the Consigli connection, estimator training, internal system development, takeoff solutions, historical cost database, and the future of takeoff and workflow efficiency. Additionally, the...

The conversation covers the company background, targeting midsize contractors, understanding their needs, challenges with existing tools, positioning against competitors, sales and customer adoption, and technical challenges and overcoming obstacles. The key takeaways include the unique needs of midsize contractors and the importance of ease of use and collaboration. The conversation delves into t...

Episode summary In this episode we sit down with Josh to talk about why construction technology is so hard to get adopted on real projects, and what changed for him when he moved from selling a product to delivering value inside contractors' operations. We get into outcome-based pricing, the labor problem it addresses, and why a clear scope of work is worth more than most teams treat it as. Josh w...

The conversation delves into the challenges and dynamics of the AEC software industry, the role of venture capital in the AEC space, AI-enabled architectural projects, the future prospects of BIM 2.0 tools, expanding business scope in AEC, the shift in general contractor dynamics, and the impact of people and processes in construction. Takeaways AEC software industry faces challenges in revenue gr...

This episode covers Nomic's pivot to verticalized AI for construction, and the broader question of how to build useful AI products in AEC. The conversation works through two paths: training custom models, or harnessing foundational ones. We get into Rich Sutton's Bitter Lesson, why the harness around the model does most of the heavy lifting in construction use cases, how to benchmark the full harn...

The conversation covers the challenges faced by the construction industry and the impact of technology on addressing these challenges. It delves into the inspiration and backstory of Trayd, the complexities of construction back offices, the value proposition of Trayd, and the impact of automation on back office operations. Additionally, it explores the complexity of construction payroll, the value...