Bricks & Bytes

A VC fell asleep for 30+ minutes during a founder's pitch. The round stillclosed.This week on Bricks, Bucks & Bytes, we traded the VC horror stories founders never forget, debated whether the hottest AI startups are just "reselling tokens," and brought on three founders fresh off funding rounds: Guy Saxelby (Earlytrade, $25M total raised), Adrian Rhaese (EnvioTech, €1M pre-seed) and Ben Waters (LightTable, $22M Series A).Tune in to find out about:✅ Why Patrick calls Lovable, Cursor and Vercel "resellers of tokens" and what that means for their valuations✅ How Earlytrade automates construction payments, with 10% of revenue already running with zero humans✅ The streetlight startup saving cities 80% on energy while mapping how a whole city moves✅ Dustin's no-mercy pushback on what it actually takes to be a "platform for pre-construction"Listen now on Spotify and YouTube. #bricksandbytes #bricksbytes #bricksbucksandbytes #aec #construction#constructiontech #ai #vcChapters00:00 Intro01:10 VC Horror Stories Founders Never Share07:05 The Weirdest VC Behaviour We've Seen13:01 Why AI Costs Are Eating Your Margins19:15 Will AI Companies Ever IPO?25:49 How to Find Early Product-Market Fit33:24 Expanding Internationally: What Actually Works40:09 Where Construction Tech Innovation Happens45:48 The Growth Playbook for the Next 5 Years56:56 The Hardest Lessons of Entrepreneurship58:11 Why Timing Beats Everything in Business58:19 How Perception Shapes Professional Success59:10 Why Being Eccentric Is a Branding Advantage01:02:07 Where Tech Meets Construction01:04:09 AI That Actually Manages Construction Projects01:10:10 Why Pre-Construction Is Where the Money Is01:16:16 Mastering the Critical Path

"We have 2,000 agents going through your document, checking every single item in detail."This week we sat down with Brandon Smith and Raymond Zhao, co-founders of Structured AI, fresh off a $4.2M seed round they closed in just five days.Tune in to find out about:✅ How Brandon went from training an AI fighter jet at 17 to building construction AI after a single Reddit message✅ Why agentic AI finally cracks drawing review when traditional machine learning never could✅ The deterministic, no-confidence-score system with a full audit trail your team can sign off on✅ Where this goes next - an AI coworker that fixes errors straight back into your Revit model

"I currently haven't found a use case in which I haven't been able to build."That was Brett Adams on what Palantir Foundry can do in construction.This week on Bricks & Bytes we sat down with Dan Julien (Chief Revenue Officer) and Brett Adams (Forward Deployed Engineer and Head of Construction) of ForgeSight, the i4C born team implementing Palantir Foundry across the AEC industry, to cut through the rumours about what Palantir is actually doing in construction.Tune in to find out about:✅ Whether Palantir Foundry can really replace your ERP✅ What "forward deployed engineering" actually means on a job site✅ Whether Procore, Autodesk and Trimble survive a Palantir world✅ How a contractor rebuilt its entire operation on Foundry in roughly a year

Seven men carrying one 140kg steel bar, on the biggest infrastructure project in Britain. The founder of Laing O'Rourke saw it and concluded that in fifty years, nothing had changed.This week's Executive Briefing is about the man he hired to fix it. Chetan Kotur designed cars at Volvo, launched Polestar globally, then spent three and a half years looking at construction with outsider's eyes. At our private fireside in London this week, he shared his diagnosis on the record for the first time.In this briefing:The industry that innovates daily or dies, versus the industry that fears innovation might kill itWhy nobody in construction checks what competitors are doing (and what Polestar did instead)56% of construction injuries are musculoskeletal. No other industry still accepts thisHinkley Point C: how a precision rebar factory turned a month of work into a single shiftThe pattern across Europe: Laing O'Rourke's lab, Bouygues' Scale One, Vinci's hired field, and why testing grounds are multiplying as construction's innovation wave goes physicalFrom a Paris stage: investor Patric (Foundamental) on why tech aimed at 2% of construction's cost base was always going to disappointThe two questions that expose a weak tech vendor in five minutesA first look at our State of Construction Safety Tech report, landing next week: incidents consume 4 to 6% of project cost in an industry running 2 to 3% margins

A venture capitalist walks into a bar."I'll have what everyone else is having."Patrick told that joke about his own profession on this week's Bricks, Bucks & Bytes, and it set up the sharpest exchange of the episode: venture stopped backing hard problems and started buying momentum.We're joined by Alain Waha, CTO of Buro Happold, and Richard Fifita, CEO of Veyor, fresh off a $7.5M Series A, alongside Dustin DeVan.What we get into:→ Autodesk's $3.6 billion all cash acquisition of MaintainX, and why Dustin, who watched this strategy take shape from inside Autodesk, says it all leads back to the digital twin→ "Knowledge arbitrage": Alain's framework for what stays defensible when knowledge becomes computable→ Why construction robotics needs systems integrators more than it needs humanoids→ How Veyor went from backed up concrete trucks to managing deliveries at JFK, SFO and major data center projectsFull episode is live now on YouTube and Spotify.#bricksandbytes #bricksbytes #bricksbucksandbytes #aec #construction #constructiontech #ai #vcOur Sponsors:BreadCrumb- 50,000+ projects globally. All running safer, faster, with Breadcrumb. - breadcrumb.coAphex is the multiplayer planning platform where construction teams plan together, stay aligned, and deliver projects faster – check out aphex.coArchdesk - “The #1 Construction Management Software for Growing Companies - Manage your projects from Tender to Handover” check archdesk.comChapters00:00 Intro00:30 Introduction and Technical Challenges03:21 Live Streaming and Event Experiences06:13 Autodesk's Acquisition of MaintainX11:50 Data Ownership and Predictability in Construction16:23 Knowledge Arbitrage in Engineering and Robotics20:00 Exploring Knowledge Arbitrage in Robotics22:06 The Role of Systems Integration in Construction Robotics22:54 Challenges in Robotics for Construction Trades24:16 Collaborative Robots: The Future of Construction25:59 The Disconnect Between Innovation and AI in Construction27:30 Testing Software vs. Materials in Construction27:45 The Reluctance to Experiment in Construction Tech29:52 Capital Efficiency and Technology Adoption in Construction32:49 The Venture Capital Landscape and Its Challenges36:33 The Future of Venture Capital in Technology44:46 Innovative Event Planning in Construction Technology47:26 Branding and Customer Perception in Construction48:11 Disruption in Construction: Insights from Automotive Industry51:09 Bouygues' Innovation Lab: A New Era for Construction51:53 Introducing Richard: Veyor's Journey and Innovations56:59 Streamlining Material Management in Construction01:01:58 Challenges in Construction Scheduling and Delivery01:05:36 The Aussie Tech Scene in Austin, Texas

"AI won't help you if you're still using clunky software with a six-month learning curve." – Anita Venkiteswaran, E3 TechIn today's episode of Bricks and Bytes, we sat down with Anita, the driving force behind E3 Tech's AI-powered M&A strategy in construction, alongside two of her platform companies: Rob Metz (Sylvan) and Chris Weaver (Egan).Tune in to hear about:✓ Why 25,000+ specialty contractors represent a massive M&A opportunity✓ How AI is finally solving construction's 40-year productivity decline✓ What jobsite credibility really means for founders building construction tech✓ Why unified AI systems beat fragmented "point solutions" every timeAvailable now on Spotify and YouTube.#aec #construction #constructiontech #bricksandbytes #bricksbytes #ai #vcChapters00:00 Intro01:39 Introduction to E3's Model and AI in M&A07:41 Identifying Ideal Acquisition Targets10:34 The Role of Technology in Modern Construction13:45 The Entrepreneur in Residence Model16:35 The Impact of AI on Construction Efficiency19:52 Building Relationships with AI Startups22:29 The Future of AI in Construction31:59 Leveraging AI for Contract Management32:42 The Evolution of VDC and BIM in Construction34:14 Enhancing Processes with Robotics and AI35:38 Attracting Talent through Technology36:38 AI Amplifying Human Expertise38:35 Transitioning Businesses and Succession Planning40:12 Navigating Business Ownership Transitions42:42 The Necessity of Adapting to Change46:41 Lessons Learned from Technological Implementation48:18 The Future of AI in Construction53:44 The Importance of Unified AI Solutions55:31 Integrating AI with Emerging Technologies58:27 Opportunities for Collaboration in the Industry

"$75M in 13 months. a16z just led their Series A."We sat down with Niklas Lindgren, Co-Founder & CEO of Endra, fresh off their $50M Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz, taking total funding to $75M in 13 months.Endra is building the purpose-built workspace for MEP engineering, already partnering with AtkinsRéalis, Buro Happold, WSP, Hoare Lea, Ramboll and AFRY.Tune in to find out about:✅ Why a16z led at Series A instead of waiting for later traction✅ The Stripe vs PayPal analogy behind Endra's category play (and why they're not replacing Revit)✅ The honest answer to the billable-hours paradox✅ What this means for the next generation of MEP graduatesWatch now on Spotify and YouTube

"You could get 60 reviews of a pizza in six seconds, but finding a new contractor takes 12 months and spreadsheets."That's how Riggs Kubiak described the construction industry in 2011 when he started Honest Buildings as a marketplace to connect owners with contractors.It didn't work.The pivot? A project management platform that became so valuable, Procore acquired it.We sat down with Riggs to talk about what killed the original idea, what saved the company, and why the phase of entrepreneurship nobody prepares for is what comes after the acquisition. His new book "Earned" launches June 2nd. Buy it here.The real conversation:✓ Why dominating a small category beats chasing everyone's problems✓ The execution hell of building two-sided marketplaces✓ What nobody tells you about life post-exit✓ The founder moments that don't make it into LinkedIn postsWatch the full episode now on YouTube and Spotify.#bricksandbytes #constructiontech #entrepreneurship #founders #aecOur Sponsors:BreadCrumb- 50,000+ projects globally. All running safer, faster, with Breadcrumb. - breadcrumb.coAphex is the multiplayer planning platform where construction teams plan together, stay aligned, and deliver projects faster – check out aphex.coArchdesk - “The #1 Construction Management Software for Growing Companies - Manage your projects from Tender to Handover” check archdesk.comChapters00:00 Intro01:28 Introduction and Journey to Honest Buildings04:49 The Evolution of Honest Buildings11:10 Navigating the Pivot: Lessons Learned13:41 Sales Cycle Challenges in Construction Tech13:42 Sponsors16:44 Sales Cycle Challenges in Construction Tech28:45 Reflections on Key Mistakes and Difficult Times30:57 Acquisition by Procore: The Journey Ahead34:02 Closing the Gap in Construction Management35:38 The Importance of Negotiation in Acquisitions39:34 Navigating Post-Acquisition Roles42:00 The Entrepreneurial Residence Experience46:39 Founders Forum: Building Community48:45 Understanding Acquisition Motivations53:20 Reflections on the Integration Process56:13 The Journey of Entrepreneurship1:02:33 Life After Acquisition: The Next Chapter

Missed an episode of the Executive Briefing last month? This is your ten-minute catch-up.Four stories from the last four weeks, what each one means for your business, and which are worth going back to in full.Inside:The new kind of buyer circling construction, and why they want your firm, not your techThe market split the banks have started to price inThe contractor who killed his ERP, his dispatch system and his time cards, and rebuilt on one platformWhy AI got 280 times cheaper while everyone's bills went upNo longer form this week (I have been busy in France!! - more on that soon). Just the month that mattered, in plain English, for people who run construction businesses.Which of the four hit hardest? Tell us in the comments on the LinkedIn post.

"80% of the decks landing on her desk had AI on slide one."This week on Bricks & Bytes we sat down with Jennifer Davis, who recently joined Suffolk Technologies after five years as Managing Director of Techstars Boston, where she reviewed thousands of applications and ran 65+ companies through the program.She brought the kind of pattern recognition you only get from saying no a few thousand times.Tune in to find out about:✅ Why the bar has risen across pre-seed, seed, and Series A — and what VCs now want to see before they write a check✅ The co-founder mistake that kills more startups than bad ideas (and why 50/50 equity splits are a red flag)✅ Why "not all money is created equally" — and how founder-unfriendly terms signed early can derail an exit years later✅ What Jennifer is looking for as she takes the reins on Suffolk's Boost accelerator, and the founder profile she'd most want to back in 2027Listen on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube

This week in construction: the official verdict on HS2 landed, and it's worse than most people realise. Cost to complete is now £87.7-102.7bn. First services delayed to 2036. Britain is paying 15-20x the European rate per kilometre for high-speed rail.But the more interesting stories happened underneath it.Owen breaks down what every construction executive needs to know about three things colliding this week.One. The AI cost paradox. Per-token prices have dropped 280x in two years. So why are enterprise AI bills exploding? OpenAI just doubled its flagship rate card. Anthropic raised prices without touching the rate card at all. The pricing page is no longer telling you what your bill will look like. And Jean-Marc Shimizu, who runs open innovation at one of Japan's top five contractors, says the subsidy era is ending.Two. The construction robotics story almost nobody outside venture capital is reading. After sixty years as the last unautomated sector, the robots are finally shipping. Bedrock raised $270m in February. Crewline took $7m as a four-person team with a $26m order book waiting. Rebar tying robots are running at 4-6x human speed. Solar piling, reality capture, and a new category of self-verifying installation robots are all generating real revenue. Plus the corrective on humanoids that most executives haven't heard yet.Three. HS2 and what it actually means. Three reviews, twelve months, same five conclusions. And the uncomfortable question every leader needs to sit with: is your business built like HS2, or like the alternative?If you run a construction business, this is the briefing that will reshape how you read the next twelve months.Plus details on the in-person fireside conversation with Chetan Kotur, the ex-Polestar designer now leading the team rebuilding Laing O'Rourke from the inside. London, 3rd June, evening of Digital Construction Week. Senior exec spaces already filling.Show notes, references, and the link to sign up for the full newsletter and our Physical AI 2026 research are below:------1. Event: Re-Engineering The Main Contractor · Luma2. Physical AI and Robotics Report: https://bricks-bytes.com/downloads/physical-ai-robotics-2026/3. Newsletter: https://bricks-bytes.beehiiv.com/

"Mandating how many AI tokens your engineers burn isn't a productivity metric. It has nothing to do with outcomes."That's Dustin Devan, CEO of Ediphi and it's one of the sharpest takes on the AI spend debate we've had on the showThis week on Bricks, Bucks and Bytes we're joined by Cameron Page of ClearStory, processing $3.5B in change orders every month, and Sophia Millar of Sonnaball Instruments, catching weld defects in real time before they ever reach inspection.Tune in to find out about:✅ Why enterprise AI bills keep rising even as token costs fall✅ How ClearStory is replacing email-and-spreadsheet change order chaos for 7,500 companies✅ Why 1.3 million categorised change orders might be construction's most underrated dataset✅ How acoustic weld detection is transforming prefab quality control

"If you're not tinkering with AI today, it's going to be a problem for you in the future." This week on Bricks & Bytes we sat down with David Niewiadomski from Zero RFI — KP Reddy's new venture backed by General Catalyst that's rolling up owner reps, advisory, and building data firms under one roof. Tune in to find out:✅ Why standalone construction tech software is dying as a business model✅ What General Catalyst saw in Zero RFI and why services beat SaaS for industry impact✅ Why owners should never pay a subscription to access their own building data✅ Why owner rep firms under 50 people are the sweet spot for acquisition Watch now on Spotify and Youtube.

"Pre-construction has become less efficient than construction itself."That is the claim Dustin Devan made on this week's Bricks, Bucks & Bytes after returning from Advancing Pre-Con. Martin, Patric Hellermann and Dustin also dug into the proposed California wealth tax, Bentley's Q1 earnings, and why VCs keep funding the 51st AI takeoff company.Tune in to find out about:✅ Why 80% of project cost is locked in before design is even 30% done✅ How the California wealth tax proposal would actually value private companies✅ Patric's case for indexing into "directionally right" early-stage bets✅ Why takeoff is a feature, not a companyListen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.#aec #construction #constructiontech #bricksandbytes #bricksbucksandbytes #ai #vcOur Sponsors:BreadCrumb- 50,000+ projects globally. All running safer, faster, with Breadcrumb. - breadcrumb.coAphex is the multiplayer planning platform where construction teams plan together, stay aligned, and deliver projects faster – check out aphex.coArchdesk -  “The #1 Construction Management Software for Growing Companies - Manage your projects from Tender to Handover” check archdesk.comChapters00:00 Intro00:35 Introduction and Overview of Topics02:15 US Construction Spending Trends09:52 California Wealth Tax Proposal26:29 Advancing Pre-Construction Insights34:38 Building Cost Infrastructure and Pricing Engines40:30 The Role of Design in Construction Projects45:39 The Importance of Feasibility in Design50:46 The Impact of AI on Construction Estimation53:25 Navigating the Takeoff Tool Landscape57:02 Innovations in Construction Robotics 

A 350-person Canadian contractor just did what most of the industry would call insane. They put their entire business inside the same software platform that powers the CIA. They've killed their paper time cards, their dispatch system, their safety software — and now they're killing their ERP.This week, Owen unpacks the Cavanagh playbook with their head of digital strategy and asks the harder question: is this the future of construction software, or just an expensive bet on the wrong vendor? Plus: Procore just spent $11M acquiring an AI company in January. Are we watching the start of a platform war that ends with one operating system per contractor?Then: the 2026 recovery story just died. US inflation hit 3.8%. Construction input prices rose at a 12.6% annualised rate. Every fixed-price bid in the market is a bet on Middle East de-escalation. And data centres aren't saving construction — they're hiding how weak the rest of the market really is.Key resourcesCavanagh Construction and Palantir partnership case study Procore Technologies acquires Datagrid for agentic AI capabilities US April CPI releaseConstruction input price data, Q1 2026 Hill County, Texas data centre moratorium Gallup poll on data centre vs nuclear reactor opposition IEA report on AI data centre power demand growth US construction spending and nonresidential contraction data

"Companies are bought, not sold."That single line from Yves Frinault reframed the entire conversation on our first-ever Exited Founder Acquisition Roundtable.We sat down with four construction tech founders who collectively sold their companies for hundreds of millions:✅ Yves Frinault (Fieldwire → Hilti) ✅ Dustin DeVan (BuildingConnected → Autodesk, $275M cash + $40M stock) ✅ Mo Akbari Hochberg (HoloBuilder → FARO, ~$36M) ✅ Zach Scheel (Rhumbix → Autodesk, fresh off the deal)Tune in to find out:✅ Why Hilti told Fieldwire "we'll never acquire you" four years before acquiring them ✅ The one negotiation tactic Dustin says every founder should use against corp dev teams ✅ Why an acquisition is a "one-way door" once you walk in, and how to know you're ready ✅ The QSBS detail that decides how much of the exit you actually keepFull episode on Spotify and YouTube now.#aec #construction #constructiontech #bricksandbytes #bricksbytes #bricksbucksandbytes #ai #vct Our Sponsors:BreadCrumb- 50,000+ projects globally. All running safer, faster, with Breadcrumb. - breadcrumb.coAphex is the multiplayer planning platform where construction teams plan together, stay aligned, and deliver projects faster – check out aphex.coArchdesk - “The #1 Construction Management Software for Growing Companies - Manage your projects from Tender to Handover” check archdesk.comChapters00:00 Intro00:46 Introduction to the Acquisition Round Table03:25 Founders' Experiences and Lessons Learned 06:31 Understanding the Role Post-Acquisition 09:40 The Importance of Timing in Acquisitions 09:56 Sponsors 12:57 Fundamentals for Being an Attractive Acquisition Target 31:06 The Exit Journey: Building Value Before Acquisition 33:14 Business Fundamentals: Attracting Strategic Acquirers 36:04 Diligence and Documentation: Preparing for Acquisition 38:56 Revenue and Customer Love: Key Acquisition Drivers 41:13 Understanding ARR: Acquisition Thresholds and Market Dynamics 48:53 Negotiation Strategies: Preparing for the Table 54:46 Lessons from Exits: Growth as a Founder 01:00:45 Defining Success Beyond Numbers 01:02:42 Mindfulness in Leadership During Transitions 01:04:22 The Importance of a Strong Executive Team 01:05:20 The Shift in Perspective Post-Acquisition 01:06:11 Reflections on Founding and Structuring Companies 01:08:37 Creating Value Over Tax Strategy 01:11:21 The Reality of Startup Success Rates 01:11:54 Choosing the Right Company to Join 01:14:48 The Value of Collaboration and Shared Experiences

EXCLUSIVE: ProcurePro just closed an $11M round and we got the founder on the mic first."Control your risks, control your margins."That's the line Alastair Blenkin, CEO of ProcurePro, kept coming back to on the latest Bricks & Bytes — and it's the bet behind their fresh raise.Procurement is the most underinvested workflow in construction tech. By the time you're on site, you're just managing the risk you already locked in at buyout. ProcurePro has spent five years building the platform to fix that — and now has $130B+ of construction spend and one of the largest pricing data sets in the world flowing through it.Tune in to find out about:✅ Why procurement, not site management, is the real commercial lever on a project✅ How ProcurePro went from a COVID pivot to Series B in five years✅ What investors actually wanted to see between Series A and B✅ AI bid leveling, live copilots, and flipping the model on subcontractor pricingWatch now on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. #aec #construction #constructiontech #bricksandbytes #bricksbytes #ai #vc

The UK's official construction forecast for 2026 was just slashed from plus 1.7 per cent growth to a 2.5 per cent decline. Same week, Caterpillar reported 63 billion dollars worth of equipment already on order, up 79 per cent in twelve months. In this week's Executive Weekly Briefing, Owen walks through what the macro really says about your business, what the latest results from Caterpillar, Trimble, Bentley and Procore actually mean once you strip the jargon out, and the question every contractor needs to answer this week: where are you sitting on the line between the half of the industry that is shrinking and the half that is booming?Plus five fast takes from this week on Bricks and Bytes, including why banks are adopting AI faster than construction, what Nemetschek's 2.4 billion dollar HCSS deal really signals, and Palantir's quiet push into the construction industry.And for Construction Safety Week, the three numbers every executive needs to hear, the news that Turner Construction has just made its AI safety tool free to the entire industry, and a tease of the Bricks and Bytes Safety Tech Report dropping shortly.Episodes referenced this weekYves Padrines, CEO Nemetschek + Usman Shuja, CEO Bluebeam: the HCSS acquisitionChase Gilbert, CEO + Chris DeVito, Built Technologies: the AI documentation bottleneckMallory Brodie, CEO Bridgit: the workforce benchmark reportBrett Adams + Dan Julien, Forgesight: Palantir Foundry in construction (Coming soon)Key resourcesCPA Spring 2026 ForecastRICS UK Construction Monitor, Q1 2026Q1 2026 earnings releases: Caterpillar, Trimble, Bentley, ProcoreTurner Construction SafeT Coach announcementBLS 2024 construction fatality data

"41% of the construction workforce is retiring in 5 years. Half the people on the biggest jobsites have less than a year of experience. Nobody has a plan."That stat from Mallorie Brodie at Bridgit is the one we keep coming back to.This week on Bricks, Bucks & Bytes, We sat down with Mallorie to unpack the 2026 Construction Workforce Benchmark Report, then brought on Chase Gilbert and Chris DeVito from Built Technologies to talk agentic AI, payments, and what's actually slowing projects down right now.Tune in to find out about:✅ The "rookie ratio" — and why it's already at 50% on the biggest jobs✅ Why banks are buying AI faster than GCs✅ How Built is collapsing draw cycles from days to minutes✅ The new bottleneck no one's talking about — powerListen on Spotify and YouTube.#aec #bricksandbytes #bricksbytes #construction #bricksbucksandbytes #constructiontech #vc #aiOur Sponsors:BreadCrumb- 50,000+ projects globally. All running safer, faster, with Breadcrumb. - breadcrumb.coAphex is the multiplayer planning platform where construction teams plan together, stay aligned, and deliver projects faster – check out aphex.coArchdesk -  “The #1 Construction Management Software for Growing Companies - Manage your projects from Tender to Handover” check archdesk.comChapters00:00 Intro01:38 Introduction and Overview 07:08 Interview with Mallory Brodie 24:39 Insights on Workforce Planning and Industry Trends 26:16 Introduction to Roles in Construction Management 27:40 Navigating the AI Era in Construction 29:58 AI Adoption in Banking vs. Construction 32:51 Impact of AI on General Contractors 36:15 Building Trust with Financial Institutions 40:58 Current Market Conditions in Construction 47:15 Transforming Construction Processes with Technology 55:04 The Future of Construction Financing 

"Even if AI doesn't work, it's allowing us to reinvent construction."That's Alain Waha on why the data center build-out is the most important thing happening in our industry right now, even if you don't care about AI.Tune in to find out about:✅ What the Document Crunch, Speckle and A16Z deals actually signal✅ Why physical AI and world models matter for AEC, and when they don't✅ How composable robotics quietly solved the hardware problem✅ Why knowledge capital is the only durable bet your firm can makeWatch the full episode on YouTube and Spotify!#bricksandbytes #bricksbytes #bricksbucksandbytes #aec #construction #constructiontech #ai #vcChapters00:00 Intro00:22 Introduction and Context of Change02:28 The Role of AI in Construction05:15 World Models and Physical AI07:44 Cybersecurity Concerns in AI09:54 Investment Trends in the Built World12:43 The Demand for Data Centers15:50 Robotics and Automation in Construction18:55 Knowledge Transfer and Capital23:56 Future Predictions and Closing Thoughts

"Owners want buildings, not software."That one line from Andrew Zukoski (CEO, JOIN) reframes the entire AEC tech market.In B&B Fight Night 3, Andrew goes head to head with Clifton Harness (CEO, TestFit) on AI, architects, venture capital, and what the next five years look like.Tune in to find out about:✅ Why only 3 AEC companies have IPO'd in 15 years and what that means for founders raising VC✅ Whether builders or architects come out on top in an AI-driven AEC industry✅ The real test for separating AEC AI products from rappers✅ Why the next big AEC IPO might be a services firm, not a SaaS companyWatch now on YouTube and Spotify!#bricksandbytes #bricksbytes #bricksbucksandbytes #aec #construction #constructiontech #ai #vcOur Sponsors:BreadCrumb- 50,000+ projects globally. All running safer, faster, with Breadcrumb. - breadcrumb.coAphex is the multiplayer planning platform where construction teams plan together, stay aligned, and deliver projects faster – check out aphex.coArchdesk -  “The #1 Construction Management Software for Growing Companies - Manage your projects from Tender to Handover” check archdesk.comChapters00:00 Teaser00:58 Introduction to the AEC Octagon and Fight Night02:42 Debating AI: Industry-Specific vs. Foundational Models05:13 Evaluating AI Tools for Architecture and Construction08:23 The Future Role of Architects in the AEC Industry11:27 Architects as Civic Arbiters of the Built Environment14:15 The Impact of AI on Construction and Design16:33 Sponsors19:34 The Evolution of Architect Roles and Responsibilities22:01 The Future of Architecture in an AI-Driven World34:30 Evaluating Code Quality and Architectural Efficiency35:33 The Role of Venture Capital in Business Growth39:10 Navigating the Risks of Venture Funding43:30 AI's Impact on the AEC Industry48:42 Bootstrapping vs. Venture Funding: A Personal Perspective50:27 Predictions for the Future of Construction57:29 AI's Role in Accelerating Business Success

"HCSS fills the missing middle where plans become production."That's how Usman described the $2.4B Nemetschek + HCSS deal on this week's Bricks & Bytes.We sat down with Yves (CEO, Nemetschek Group) and Usman (Build Segment) to unpack the strategy behind one of the biggest construction tech deals of the year.Tune in to find out about:✅ Why Nemetschek structured this as a partnership with Thoma Bravo (28% rolled stake) instead of a clean buyout✅ How HCSS slots in alongside Bluebeam, GoCanvas, SiteDocs and Nevaris✅ The real prize — 40 years of proprietary heavy civil lifecycle data and what it means for vertical AI✅ Usman's blunt advice to founders right now (hint: not "PowerPoint or vibe-coded apps")

Two AI-backed private equity firms just confirmed the same thesis in the same week. They're not buying construction software. They're buying the firms that use it.This week: I sit down with the team behind Zero RFI (General Catalyst-backed) and a partner at E3 Tech (the Andreessen Horowitz JV) to unpack the rollup playbook coming for owner's reps and trade contractors. I cover the UK tier one that just put a humanoid robot on a live construction site for the price of a small van, and what the methodology behind that deployment actually teaches you. Plus a recap of April and a look at what's coming next week, including our episode with the CEO of Nemetschek on the HCSS deal.Three things you can action this week. No fluff.Links and resources mentioned in this episode:Bricks & Bytes Supply Chain & Procurement Report - https://bricks-bytes.com/downloads/procurement-report/Zacua Ventures Construction Robotics Report 2026 - https://zacuaventures.com/construction-robotics-report-2026/AEC Magazine on agentic BIM data wall - https://aecmag.com/ai/agentic-bims-missing-infrastructure/https://aecmag.com/ai/agentic-bims-missing-infrastructure/All3 / Mantis $25M raise - https://bricks-bytes.com/funding-ma/all3-25m-seed-construction-robotics/NABTU + Microsoft AI training partnership - https://news.microsoft.com/source/2026/04/21/nabtu-and-microsoft-expand-nationwide-initiative-to-strengthen-ai-training-and-career-pathways-across-the-skilled-trades/Daily Blueprint editions covered (27-30 April 2026) - https://bricks-bytes.com/daily-blueprint/Our newsletter - https://bricks-bytes.beehiiv.com/LinkedIn post for this episode (for comments/engagement) - [link coming

"AI is about to create the biggest divide humanity has ever seen."That's the warning Chinn, founder of dConstruct, dropped on Bricks & Bytes.He sold his startup to Autodesk. Built Singapore's Smart Nation. Now he's putting AI robots on construction sites that see every flaw in millimetres.Tune in to find out about:✅ Why perfect site data is bankrupting construction projects✅ The new AI currency that will split the industry in two✅ Why 90% of construction robots are a lie✅ The data move every construction leader has 10 years to makeWatch now on Spotify and YouTube

Nemetschek just dropped $2.4B on a software company nobody's heard of. This week on Bricks, Bucks & Bytes, Owen, Patric and Martin dug into the biggest AEC deal of the year, plus two robotics founders changing how we build. Tune in to find out about: ✅ Why HCSS is the smartest AEC acquisition of 2026✅ Why Kawazu ditched construction for oil and gas✅ Mesh Robotics on solving rebar, the ugliest problem in construction✅ Martin Fisher's rule: 80% data, 20% AI #aec #construction #constructiontech #bricksbucksandbytes #bricksandbytes #ai #vcOur Sponsors:BreadCrumb- 50,000+ projects globally. All running safer, faster, with Breadcrumb. - breadcrumb.coAphex is the multiplayer planning platform where construction teams plan together, stay aligned, and deliver projects faster – check out aphex.coArchdesk - “The #1 Construction Management Software for Growing Companies - Manage your projects from Tender to Handover” check archdesk.comChapters00:00 Intro00:56 Celebrating Milestones and Future Aspirations03:25 Insights from the Martin Fisher Event06:33 The HCSS Acquisition by Nemetschek12:09 Strategic Implications of Acquisitions in Construction Tech30:04 The Genius of Brad Jacobs30:40 Meditation and Success31:49 Exploring AI Tools and Credits35:44 The Future of Urban Mobility: Glideways45:01 Innovations in Nuclear Power50:14 Understanding Labor and Scaffold Costs52:36 The Evolution of Robotics in Construction54:29 Data-Driven Insights in Material Flow56:44 The Role of Transparency in Construction57:58 Scaling Robotics Solutions in Construction1:01:09 The Intersection of Robotics and Rebar1:05:31 Bridging the Gap from Lab to Market1:11:46 The Future of Assembly in Robotics

Most of you are spending the wrong 80% of your AI budget right now. And the man who said it has been at Stanford for 40 years.This week: we unpack Professor Martin Fischer's uncomfortable 80/20 reallocation and why building digital feedback loops has to come before the AI layer. We sit down with Suffolk Construction's CTO Jit Kee Chin and Speckle founder Dimitri Stefanescu on what happens when the most data-mature general contractor in the US decides the next bet isn't another point solution. We break down why Andreessen Horowitz — the firm behind Facebook, Airbnb and GitHub — has just publicly planted a flag in construction. And we cover our third Fight Night, where TestFit's Clifton Harness and Join's Andrew Zukoski disagree on whether AI compresses or fragments the industry.Three things you can action this week. No fluff.Links and resources mentioned in this episode:Martin Fischer & Bricks & Bytes - COMING SOONSuffolk Technologies' investment in Speckle - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcPDoOwU_pk&t=78sAndreessen Horowitz's public construction thesis - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzaqa52ccng&tBricks & Bytes Fight Night 3 — Clifton Harness vs Andrew Zukoski (full episode) - COMING SOON Bricks & Bytes Fight Night — Mike vs Luigi on AI estimating - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9eVyABO2AQBricks & Bytes Fight Night — KP vs Dustin on the future of construction software - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If0jJnX7tZYTilbury Douglas becomes first UK contractor to deploy a humanoid on site - https://www.tilburydouglas.co.uk/tilbury-douglas-becomes-first-contractor-to-launch-a-humanoid-robot-on-construction-site/Breadcrumb — digital safety, orientations and permits synced into Procore - https://breadcrumb.coOur newsletter — Beehiiv subscription page - https://bricks-bytes.beehiiv.com/LinkedIn post for this episode (for comments/engagement) https://www.linkedin.com/posts/owen-drury_a-wild-week-at-bricks-bytes-highlights-ugcPost-7454535708599332864-N61m?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAABXSR7cBUIyREyKntJC_BA6bnfeuPWgNUtA

"Architects might start feeling useless."That's Dimitrie Stefanescu, founder of Speckle, on this week's Bricks & Bytes — on why GCs moving upstream into design is triggering an existential crisis across AEC.Joined by Jit Kee Chin, CTO of Suffolk Construction and co-founder of Suffolk Technologies, who just led Suffolk's investment into Speckle.Tune in to find out about:✅ Why 3D data is the missing infrastructure layer for AI in construction✅ The real reason design-build is eating traditional architecture✅ The most insane thing a customer has built on top of Speckle (yes, you'll want to hear this one)✅ What actually triggered a $B GC to bet on an open-source startupWatch now on YouTube and Spotify!#aec #construction #constructiontech #bricksandbytes #bricksbytes #ai #vc

Every building you've ever been in was designed by software built in 1997.That's the headline a16z used to put the bat signal out to AEC founders — and Joe Schmidt got dragged for it on LinkedIn.But he's not a tourist. His grandfather invented the concrete pump.In today's episode of Bricks & Bytes, we had Joe Schmidt from Andreessen Horowitz and got into the three attack vectors for disrupting Revit, why the services layer is the hidden prize… and many more!Tune in to find out about:✅ The 3 ways startups are attacking Autodesk's "workflow monopoly" — and which one Joe would bet on today✅ Why replacing Revit in 5 years is unlikely (and why you don't need to)✅ The real "why now" for AEC AI — it's not just LLMs✅ Joe's advice to contractors and designers: adopt fast or get left behind

Allbirds just pivoted to AI and the stock jumped from $2 to $21 overnight.This week on Bricks, Bucks & Bytes, Mo (founder of Build Crew, backed by Vinod Khosla) joined us to break down what's actually happening in construction tech right now — and Nitin from Planera dropped in to launch their AI scheduling assistant, Manny.Tune in to find out about:✅ Why Allbirds' AI pivot looks like a 1999-style dotcom scam✅ Mo's unfiltered take on why knowledge graphs are the most overhyped term in AEC right now✅ Why Palantir's real construction customer isn't who you think it is✅ How Planera's Manny is codifying decades of scheduling expertise before the industry loses itWatch now on Spotify and YouTube. Link in the comments!#aec #construction #constructiontech #bricksandbytes #bricksbytes #bricksbucksandbytes #ai #vcOur Sponsors:BreadCrumb- 50,000+ projects globally. All running safer, faster, with Breadcrumb. - breadcrumb.coAphex is the multiplayer planning platform where construction teams plan together, stay aligned, and deliver projects faster – check out aphex.coArchdesk - “The #1 Construction Management Software for Growing Companies - Manage your projects from Tender to Handover” check archdesk.comChapters00:00 Intro01:00 Introduction to Mo's Transformation03:57 The Allbirds Pivot: From Sneakers to AI07:00 Technological Breakthroughs in Architectural Design09:50 AI in Construction: The Role of Domain Expertise12:51 BuildCrew: Mo's New Venture and Its Vision15:35 Knowledge Graphs: The Future of Construction Documentation25:11 Integrating Knowledge Graphs in Construction27:39 The Role of Technologists in Construction29:18 Palantir's Impact on Construction Technology31:09 The Future of ERP Systems34:45 Challenging Industry Norms with Optimism38:25 Nemechek's Acquisition of HCSS42:39 Planera's AI Scheduling Assistant53:27 Current Trends in Construction and AI

The business you build around it is. The AI you buy isn't the advantageThe man who built Facebook's computer vision team says reading a construction drawing is harder than what he was doing at Facebook. That line reframes the whole AI conversation in construction and it's just one of the threads in this week's briefing.In this episode:The procurement story we've been building. A number of the research findings that will make commercial construction executives uncomfortable in a productive way. Full report drops 24th April - sign up here.Shadow AI is your governance crisis. A senior leader at a major US general contractor describes his single biggest fear around AI... and it's not the technology. It's Bob in pre-con. Plus Maryrose Lyons on why your company data is walking out the door via your staff's phones, and nobody's written a policy about it.Data-readiness is the ten-year moat. Three different AI founders, three different domains — procurement, scheduling, drawings — all saying the same thing. The value doesn't sit in the AI. It sits in the connected data around it. Why the firms pulling ahead aren't buying better AI. They're preparing better businesses for it.The divergence moment. Opus 4.7 was released this week. But there's a model sitting next to it on the benchmark chart called Mythos, and it's significantly more capable than anything on the market. It's not available to you. It's not available to me. And it's the live, in-the-wild evidence that the AI world just split into two tiers. Why this matters for any construction business thinking about the next three years.If this briefing was useful, share it with someone in your leadership team who needs to hear it. Drop your take in the LinkedIn comments — I read every one.This week's sources include:Lubo Bourdev & Hamid, PrimePoint - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDdK18qzQwgMaryrose Lyons, AI Institute - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev6oPUWYgzANitin Bhandari, Planera - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTnsWQLN4aQBricks & Bytes procurement research report (drops 24 April). https://bricks-bytes.com/downloads/procurement-report/

PrimePoint just raised $10M to solve the one problem AI still can't crack in construction: drawings.Lubomir Bourdev built the first computer vision system at Facebook. Sold a neural net startup to Apple. Hamid was employee five at Trello. Now they're betting that drawings are the key to unlocking AI's full potential in construction.Tune in to find out about:✅ Why LLMs fundamentally can't handle technical drawings — it's an architecture issue, not a capability gap✅ How PrimePoint's Knowledge Graph connects drawings, specs, RFIs, submittals, and schedules✅ How AI does the first pass on constructability reviews, RFIs, and submittals — and why humans still make the call✅ Why early users are actually spending more time understanding their projects, not lessWatch the exclusive episode on Bricks & Bytes YouTube Channel now. Link in the comments below. #aec #construction #constructiontech #bricksandbytes #bricksbytes #ai #vcOur Sponsors:BreadCrumb- 50,000+ projects globally. All running safer, faster, with Breadcrumb. - breadcrumb.coAphex is the multiplayer planning platform where construction teams plan together, stay aligned, and deliver projects faster – check out aphex.coArchdesk - “The #1 Construction Management Software for Growing Companies - Manage your projects from Tender to Handover” check archdesk.com

"If you're a small firm saying you're too busy to think about AI — that's career suicide."Maryrose Lyons trains mid-sized architecture, engineering and construction firms across the UK and Ireland on AI — and she's seen exactly what separates the ones making progress from the ones going nowhere.Tune in to find out about:✅ Why firms between 50 and 500 staff are outpacing the big players — and what mid-market consultants can steal from their playbook✅ Why your staff are probably using free AI tools on their personal phones right now — and what that means for your client data✅ Why hiring AI champions almost always backfires — and what actually drives real change inside a consultancy✅ The data problem that will quietly kill your AI ambitions in 2026 before they even start

92% of construction projects overrun their budget. And the data now says the main reasons are inside your organisation, not outside it.This week: we tease findings from our upcoming supply chain report (the numbers will make you uncomfortable). We get an economy update from ABC's chief economist. We break down how one insurance company is cutting premiums for contractors who use construction technology, with 40-50% differences in claims data to back it up. And we unpack workforce benchmarks from 233 companies and 114,000 people that reveal what the top ENR firms are doing differently.Three things you can action this week. No fluff.Links and resources mentioned in this episode:Sign-up link for the Bricks & Bytes Supply Chain & Procurement Report (dropping 24th April) - https://bricks-bytes.com/downloads/procurement-report/Revizto "Bridging the Gap" 2026 Digital Design & Construction Report - https://revizto.com/resources/reports/bridging-the-gap-2026ENR article: "Data Centers, AI Drives Industry Momentum in First Quarter" (Anirban Basu Q1 forecast) - https://www.enr.com/articles/62803-data-centers-ai-drives-industry-momentum-in-first-quarterBridgit 2026 Construction Workforce Benchmark Report - https://gobridgit.com/press/constructions-labor-shortage-is-hiding-a-deeper-problem-new-bridgit-data-from-114000-workers-shows-what-it-is/Shepherd Insurance (shepherdinsurance.com) and Justin Levine's article "The Case for Autonomous Underwriting" - https://www.shepherdinsurance.com/blog/the-case-for-autonomous-underwritingOur newsletter — link to new Beehiiv subscription page - https://bricks-bytes.beehiiv.com/LinkedIn post for this episode (for comments/engagement) (coming shortly) - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/insurance-company-pay-you-use-procore-heres-how-can-benefit-drury-szv9e?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_series_entity%3BS1rWDPyISRqB5K4ooAtnzQ%3D%3D

"AI told them the idea was great. They built the whole thing. It was wrong."In this episode of Bricks, Bucks & Bytes, Owen, Martin and Dustin unpack why AI models are built to agree with you — and why that's genuinely dangerous in construction. They also tear apart the claim that 96% of projects overrun on budget (spoiler: it's not a design problem), then sit down with Justin Levine, CEO of Shepherd Insurance, fresh off a $42M Series B, to talk about what it actually looks like to automate commercial insurance from the ground up.Watch now to uncover:AI sycophancy, MIT's "delusional spiraling" research, and the real-world construction risksWhy budget overrun stats might be measuring the wrong thingShepherd's vision for fully autonomous underwriting — and how they're already running at 5x industry capacityThe plan to price a commercial insurance submission in real time, during a live broker meeting"By the time that meeting ends, we want that account to be fully priced and ready to go." — Justin Levine, CEO, Shepherd InsuranceWatch the full episode on Bricks, Bucks and Bytes YouTube Channel. Link in the comments. #aec #construction #constructiontech #bricksbucksandbytes #bricksbytes #ai #insurance #vcChapters00:00 Intro01:00 Delusions Spiraling: The Impact of AI on Perception 24:42 Budget Overruns in the AEC Industry: A Deep Dive 29:53 The Role of Technology in Construction: Enhancing or Hindering? 30:09 Understanding Budget Overruns in Construction 32:51 The Role of A16Z in Construction Tech 36:09 Shepherd's $42 Million Series B Funding 42:02 Autonomous Underwriting: A New Era in Insurance 49:26 The Future of Brokers in Construction Insurance 53:13 Self-Insurance and Risk Management in Construction 01:01:25 The Benefits of Autonomous Underwriting for Clients

Two major acquisitions landed in one week. Trimble bought Document Crunch. Autodesk closed on Rhumbix. And the message is the same: the platforms you already use are getting smarter, faster, and harder to leave.In this week's Executive Weekly Briefing, Owen unpacks what the consolidation wave means for your technology decisions, why UK construction input costs just hit a 41-month high, and a practical framework from a 31-year industry veteran that separates AI efficiency from AI risk mitigation, and why the returns are wildly different.Plus: a big announcement about our first ever live event with Professor Martin Fischer from Stanford University in London on April 21st. https://luma.com/o0rcei5vCovered this week:Trimble acquires Document Crunch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LApKTPQXFKQ&t=76sAutodesk closes Rumbix acquisition - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI7eD7f7aVY&t=147sThe Buildots/Genda productivity intelligence play ServiceTitan data: AI adoption doubles among contractorsUK input cost inflation hits highest level since 1992Carl McFarland on construction's Blockbuster moment - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-cO-6zxKdEThe efficiency vs. risk mitigation AI frameworkMIT research on AI sycophancy and delusional spiralingBricks & Bytes first live event: Professor Martin Fischer, London, April 21stNew episodes every week. Subscribe and follow Bricks & Bytes wherever you listen.Join the debate:

Four companies. One acquisition. One $852 billion valuation. Forty-five minutes turned into four days. This is the biggest episode we've ever recorded.Document Crunch just got acquired by Trimble. Josh told us live, before most of the industry knew.In this episode of Bricks, Bucks & Bytes, Owen, Patric, and Dustin cover the biggest week in construction tech in years.Trimble acquires Document Crunch — Josh and Mark join live to break it downOpenAI hits $852B — and Dustin explains why NVIDIA should be worth $10 trillionDustin's $275M Building Connected exit story — the grind nobody talks aboutCoral's $7.5M raise — guaranteeing heat pump rebates to the cent in under 60 secondsNeuron Factory — taking tender processes from 4 days to 45 minutes with AI"You can't vibe code trust. That's earned." — Josh, Document CrunchGo and watch the full episode on the Bricks & Bytes YouTube Channel nowOur Sponsors:BreadCrumb- 50,000+ projects globally. All running safer, faster, with Breadcrumb. - breadcrumb.coAphex is the multiplayer planning platform where construction teams plan together, stay aligned, and deliver projects faster – check out aphex.coArchdesk -  “The #1 Construction Management Software for Growing Companies - Manage your projects from Tender to Handover” check archdesk.comBuildVision -   streamlining the construction supply chain with a unified platform - www.buildvision.ioChapters00:00 Intro01:09 Introduction and Excitement for the Episode 03:46 OpenAI's Valuation and Market Comparisons06:30 Understanding Notional Value and Market Capitalization 09:36 Foundamental University Launch and Insights from Industry Leaders 12:18 Dustin Devan's Journey with Building Connected 18:19 Challenges and Resilience in Startups 20:22 Trimble and Document Crunch Acquisition Announcement 22:08 The Journey to Acquisition 25:19 Trimble's Perspective on the Partnership 28:10 Future Strategies and Innovations 29:44 Celebrating Milestones and Achievements 30:47 The Importance of Culture and Alignment 34:52 Building Trust in the Industry 37:37 Navigating the Competitive Landscape 41:33 The Role of Trust and Data in Construction 49:24 Vision for a Dispute-Free Industry 51:01 Industry Responsibility and Improvement 51:42 Innovations in Heat Pump Technology 54:35 Understanding the US Heat Pump Market 57:24 Future Opportunities in Energy Efficiency 1:00:35 Funding and Growth Strategies for Startups 1:03:18 The Role of Knowledge Graphs in Construction 1:08:25 Enhancing Project Management with AI 1:12:29 Challenges and Opportunities in AI Integration

Josh Levy built Document Crunch for 5 years.Trimble has 32 million projects on their platform. Tens of millions of documents. And they looked at the entire market and picked Document Crunch.That's not a small bet.We got both of them live on Bricks & Bytes this week. Josh broke down exactly how this happened, the moment the deal became a no brainer, and where he's taking this next. Mark didn't hold back either.If you're building in construction tech, investing in it, or just trying to understand where this industry is heading, this one is worth your full attention.Full video on the B&B YouTube now. Go watch it. Link in the comments below.#construction #constructiontech #bricksbucksandbytes #aec #bricksandbytes

12 years. $53M raised. One acquisition. Zach Scheel is talking about all of it.Zach Scheel, co-founder of Rhubmix, sat down with Owen the day after Autodesk officially closed its acquisition of the 12-year-old construction labor tracking platform. He didn't hold back.Tune in to find out about:✅ Why Autodesk acquired Rhubmix — and what gap in their product suite it fills✅ The financial metrics (110% NRR, 94% GRR) that made the deal happen✅ What a term sheet getting pulled post-signing actually feels like — and how they survived it✅ Why 10 years is probably a realistic median exit timeline for construction tech founders and investorsWatch now on Spotify and YouTube

"The biggest mistake a construction exec can make right now? Assuming the existing business model is going to stay the same."In today's episode of Bricks and Bytes, we had Carl McFarland from Big D Construction and we got to learn about why the industry is sitting in a Blockbuster moment, how Apple generates the entire annual net income of a $30 billion construction firm in under 48 hours, and why the executives paying the most attention to technology might still be focused on completely the wrong thing... and many more!Tune in to find out about:✅ Why the construction firms performing best right now are actually the ones most exposed to disruption - and what the Blockbuster comparison really means in 2025✅ What most construction CEOs are getting wrong about AI adoption - it's not about the tools they're picking, it's about the question they're not asking✅ Why Carl believes no single firm, no matter how large, has the capital or intellectual firepower to navigate this transformation alone - and what he thinks the answer actually looks like✅ The AI agent Big D built for project risk review that's delivering 10x the return of standard efficiency tools - a real use case, not a pitchWatch now on Spotify and YouTube

The world's largest asset manager just wrote a $100M cheque to train electricians. Google put up $50M. Microsoft named electrical talent as the single biggest challenge to building data centres. The firms selling the AI dream just discovered they can't deliver it without construction workers.This week on the Executive Briefing:Why data centre companies are paying $150K starting salaries for skilled trades, and what that means for every contractor drawing from the same labour pool. The real numbers on construction robotics — $1.36B in venture funding, 125% up year on year — and the four workflows where robots are actually working, not just demoing.The Iran oil shock is a second front, not the first. US construction input prices were already running at 12.6% annualised before a single missile was launched. Aaron Anderson's analysis shows 130,000 fewer permits being filed. We break down which sectors are pulling back and which are ploughing ahead regardless.The AI question nobody is asking: the difference between deterministic and probabilistic, why every AI tool you're being sold is fundamentally a guess, and how to know which of your workflows can tolerate that and which ones can't. Plus Anna Berger from Trayd on why 99.7% accuracy still isn't good enough for construction payroll.Quick hits: NEOM's Line is effectively dead, the UK government is abolishing retention payments, and a US jury just ruled social media platforms were deliberately engineered to be addictive.Join the debate:

Your construction back office admin hasn't taken a vacation in ten years. And it's your software's fault.In this episode of Bricks, Bucks & Bytes, Owen, Patric, Martin, and Dustin break down what four AI CEOs said at NVIDIA GTC and what it means for construction. Then Anna Berger joins fresh off raising $10M in three weeks to expose the chaos inside every specialty contractor's back office.AI token costs collapsed 99% — here's what that unlocksThe data center boom is creating a trades crisis — electricians are now the hottest hire in AmericaWhy AI will never run construction payrollHow Anna closed $10M with 40+ investor meetings in her first week"I just took my first vacation in ten years — thank you." That's the kind of message Anna Berger is getting from her customers.Watch the full episode now!Our Sponsors:Aphex is the multiplayer planning platform where construction teams plan together, stay aligned, and deliver projects faster – check out aphex.coArchdesk -  “The #1 Construction Management Software for Growing Companies - Manage your projects from Tender to Handover” check archdesk.comBuildVision -   streamlining the construction supply chain with a unified platform - www.buildvision.ioChapters00:00 Intro01:00 Introduction to NVIDIA GTC and AI CEOs 03:38 The Impact of AI on Cost and Accessibility 05:34 Specialization vs. Commoditization in AI Models 07:44 The Role of AI in Engineering and Construction 10:33 Deterministic Outcomes and Governance in AI 13:32 The Future of AI in Enterprises and Job Market Dynamics 23:59 The Role of Accuracy in Construction Projects 28:06 AI vs Human Judgment in Project Estimation 30:52 Evaluating AI Accuracy in Professional Contexts 33:45 The Future of Skilled Trades and Workforce Training 40:24 Economic Predictions and Market Interests 44:59 Quarterly Recap: Trends and Insights in Construction Tech 47:01 Real-Life Lessons from the Industry 51:43 Celebrating Success: Anna's Fundraising Journey 53:53 Understanding Trade: A Deep Dive into Construction Back Office Solutions 56:46 Future Plans: Scaling and Product Development 1:00:46 The Importance of Compliance in Payroll Management 1:03:28 Y Combinator's Role in Construction Tech

The cost of intelligence is heading to zero. Construction still hasn't figured out what to do with that.In today's episode of Bricks and Bytes, we had Matt Gough and we got to learn about why AI adoption in construction is solving the wrong problem, what a genuine industry moonshot could actually look like, and why the contracting model itself is blocking real transformation... and many more!Tune in to find out about:✅ Why 50 senior AEC leaders are all bullish on AI - but almost none of them are using it to change how the industry actually works✅ The "virtual vertical integration" argument - and whether AI makes what Katerra attempted possible this time✅ How misaligned incentives across the construction supply chain kill innovation before it gets started✅ What the Empire State Building can still teach us about project delivery in an AI-enabled world

"The number one cause of contractor bankruptcy is taking on work outside your niche."In today's episode of Bricks and Bytes, we had Matt Stevens Senior Lecturer at Western Sydney University and we got to learn about the financial patterns behind contractor failure, the metrics most firms never track, and why the construction industry is far more innovative than people give it credit for... and many more!Tune in to find out about:✅ The risk-reward sweet spot - where most contractors are positioned vs where they should be✅ Why 144 out of 150 contractors calculated their project ROI completely wrong✅ The five numbers every contracting business should be tracking (most track zero of them)✅ How top quartile contractors run 3 to 11 times more profitably than the restListen on Spotify and YouTube now. Link in the comments!#construction #bricksandbytes #aec #constructiontechOur Sponsors:Aphex is the multiplayer planning platform where construction teams plan together, stay aligned, and deliver projects faster – check out aphex.coArchdesk -  “The #1 Construction Management Software for Growing Companies - Manage your projects from Tender to Handover” check archdesk.comBuildVision -   streamlining the construction supply chain with a unified platform - www.buildvision.ioChapters00:00 Intro02:46 Introduction to Construction Firm Success04:37 Understanding Risk Reward Management06:07 The Importance of Speed in Construction12:49 Best Practices for Construction Efficiency22:53 Navigating the Risk Reward Curve26:54 Navigating Geopolitical Risks in Construction30:15 The Importance of Small Projects33:45 Understanding Contractor Bankruptcy Causes35:04 Key Metrics for Contracting Success42:52 Succession Planning and Knowledge Transfer48:59 Best Practices for Effective Meetings53:25 The Role of Accountability in Project Management55:59 Characteristics of High-Performing Contractors01:00:43 Niches of High-Profitability in Construction01:00:59 Innovation in the Construction Industry01:06:34 AI's Impact on Construction and Employee Evaluation

50 senior AEC leaders were interviewed about their AI strategies. Every one was bullish. Every one was optimising the same broken system. Not one was rethinking the operating model. That finding sat at the centre of everything that happened this week.This week on the Executive Briefing:Why "don't automate the past" is the most important phrase in construction AI right now, and why the Rule of Five might be the simplest AI policy you've never heard of.Why construction doesn't have a moonshot, why productivity isn't inspiring enough to rally the industry, and what that means for your AI strategy.The Great Split goes transatlantic. $25.2B in US data center starts in a single month. UK industrial construction up 19%. Residential still flat. The UK's largest AI data centre just got approved at £10B. Balfour Beatty hits 3.5% margin on nuclear and defence. And the government is fast-tracking data centres onto the same grid that's supposed to deliver 1.5 million homes.World models: a billion dollar bet on AI that understands physics. Who Yann LeCun is, what AMI Labs is building, and why construction should care even though you can't buy it yet.Three things to do this week. Several questions that are going to split the room. Best LinkedIn comment gets read out next week.Join the debate: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/construction-spending-billions-wrong-problem-owen-drury-02kbe

"Within six months, every company will call themselves a world model company just to raise money."That's the prediction coming out of AMI Labs — Yann LeCun's $1 billion AI research fund. We spoke about what world models actually are, why they matter for construction, and why the hype cycle is already loading.We also had Lena-Marie Pätzmann from Sitegeist on the show — a TU Munich spin-out building robots for concrete renovation. The use case: high pressure water lancing, deployed as a subcontractor, starting with parking garages. Their robot fits in a van. Their margins are strong. And the customers came to them.Tune in to find out about:✅ What world models are and why they're different from LLMs✅ How to evaluate construction software without getting burned by legacy tech stacks✅ Why Volkswagen just cut 50,000 jobs and what European energy costs have to do with it✅ How Sitegeist is building robotic concrete renovation from a university lab into a real construction business

"We built entire cities using PDFs and drawings. That's not a failure — that's a miracle. Now imagine what we build with the right tools."In today's episode of Bricks and Bytes, we had Alain Waha, CTO at BuroHappold Engineering, discussing AI transformation, the future of physical AI, and why 2026 already feels like three years have passed in nine weeks.Tune in to find out about:✅ Why construction being the least digitized industry is actually its biggest opportunity right now ✅ How AI is finally solving the Tower of Babel problem that's plagued AEC for decades ✅ Why firms need to choose — compete on cost or build a value brand — before it's too late ✅ Why foundational AI models for the physical world don't exist yet, and what it'll take to get thereCatch the full episode on Spotify and YouTube

A war in Iran is threatening global supply chains. A CTO at a 3,500-person engineering firm says construction just accidentally solved its oldest problem. And the knowledge crisis is actually two problems, not one.This week on the Executive Briefing:Why Noble Francis is telling construction CEOs to stop optimising for cost and start optimising for security of supply, and why one of our co-hosts thinks that advice will price you out of the market.Alain Waha, CTO at Buro Happold, on why large language models are construction's Google Translate moment, why cost-plus pricing is about to get squeezed, and why AI is not GPS (and what that means for the next generation of engineers).The difference between firms whose institutional knowledge compounds and firms whose knowledge evaporates every time someone retires. Plus why capturing knowledge is only half the problem.Quick hits: Turner's $29.2B year, Tutor Perini's best year in 130 years, Autodesk AECO up 22%, and Palantir's construction page going straight to a 404.Three things you can do this week. One question that's going to split the room. Best LinkedIn comment gets read out next week.Join the debate: ⁠

Everyone's losing their mind over Palantir entering construction. There's just one problem they've been here for years, and nobody noticed.In this episode of Bricks, Bucks & Bytes, Owen, Martin, and Dustin Devan cut through the LinkedIn noise, get into why global instability should be keeping construction CEOs up at night, and sit down with Tobias Klug founder of nuuEnergy who just raised €4.3M to rethink how heat pumps get installed across Germany.This week covers:Why Palantir's "arrival" in construction is more hype than reality and what it actually does (and doesn't do)The supply chain warning construction leaders keep ignoring until it's too lateHow Tobias and nuuEnergy are building local installation hubs that combine certified craft expertise with startup-speed technologyTurner Construction hits $29.2B revenue  a 40% jump in a single yearAutodesk's latest numbers and why their construction arm is growing faster than the rest of the businessQuote of the episode:"Palantir is SAP and Oracle 2.0  promises of everything under the umbrella, delivering unfathomable results.",  Dustin DevanWatch the full episode on Spotify and YouTube now. Our Sponsors:Aphex is the multiplayer planning platform where construction teams plan together, stay aligned, and deliver projects faster – check out aphex.coArchdesk -  “The #1 Construction Management Software for Growing Companies - Manage your projects from Tender to Handover” check archdesk.comBuildVision -   streamlining the construction supply chain with a unified platform - www.buildvision.ioChapters00:00 Intro01:15 Debunking Palantir's Construction Claims 11:16 Global Supply Chain Disruptions 21:22 The Impact of Wealth Tax Proposals 33:42 Meta Glasses and Privacy Concerns 41:14 Introduction to New Energy and Seed Funding 43:12 Heat Pump Technology and Market Positioning 49:40 Consumer Choices and Competitive Edge 50:32 Regulatory Challenges and Future of Heating Solutions51:48 Industry Insights and Company Performance

"Good contractors don't go out of business because of starvation. They go out of business because of indigestion."The construction economy has split in two. Data centers and infrastructure are booming. Residential, retail and office? Struggling. Globally.In today's episode of Bricks & Bytes, we had Kris Lengieza from Procore on the show and we got to learn about what their Market Intelligence data is really telling us about where the industry is heading right now.Tune in to find out about:✅ The bifurcation: US construction momentum up 21% but the architectural billing index is in contraction. More starts, fewer new designs. Wild. ✅ AI going from pilot to production. Turner and Skanska have deployed safety agents on real job sites. ✅ The vibe coding problem. Project engineers building apps over the weekend and CIOs losing sleep over where the data is going. ✅ 41% of the workforce retiring by 2031 and what that actually means for project delivery.Listen to the full episode on Spotify and YouTube

This is the Bricks & Bytes Executive Weekly Briefing. ~20 minutes. Every week. The only construction briefing built from real conversations with the people making the decisions.This week we're breaking down the split that's reshaping construction right now: the strategic economy versus the consumer economy, and why the gap between the two is accelerating.We'll walk you through: What Procore's new market data actually says about the bifurcation, Why "you can't vibe code trust" might be the most important line in construction tech right now, The ChatGPT contract disaster every exec needs to hear about, What Morgan Sindall's record results tell us about who's winning and why,The Red Robin vs Chili's story that perfectly captures the choice every contractor is facing.Plus two things you can do this week to make sure you're on the right side of the separation.Featuring insights from Kris Lengieza (Procore), Josh Levy (Document Crunch), and Michael Vardaro (construction attorney).Join the debate: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/23rd-27th-febthe-great-separation-why-same-market-producing-drury-iawoe/?trackingId=D69wZi2yQzCQiUHjiUwZrg%3D%3D

A viral report claims 2028 is the year AI destroys the global economy. Are we sleepwalking into a crisis nobody can stop?In this episode of Bricks, Bucks & Bytes, Owen, Patric, Martin and Dustin rip apart a fictional financial report from Citrini Research that has taken the internet by storm. Chapter by chapter, they debate whether AI will trigger an unstoppable economic death spiral or whether the doomsayers are missing the bigger picture entirely. The conversation then shifts to what is actually happening right now in construction, with fresh market intelligence from Procore and a deep dive into Autodesk's massive $200 million bet on a company called World Labs.Topics discussed:The "Intelligence Displacement Spiral" and why every company doing the smart thing could collectively wreck the economyWhy Patric believes a robot tax is the only way to keep society stable in an AI-driven worldProcore's latest data showing construction is splitting into two completely different economiesThe 400,000 worker shortage and 41% of the US construction workforce heading for retirement by 2031What Dustin learned running a Sales Kickoff and why buying software based on features is a mistakeAutodesk's $200 million investment in World Labs and why Patrick calls the term "world model" offensiveWhether vibe coders could ever vibe code a vibe coder (and what the answer tells us about AI's real limits)"If you truly want to live with AI, you need to start shifting from salary tax to robot tax. Then you actually have an ability to redistribute income and keep society stable." — PatricWatch the full episode on Youtube & Spotify.Chapters00:00 Intro01:30 The AI Crisis of 2028 07:26 The Intelligence Displacement Spiral 13:28 The Future of Software Development 19:31 The Impact of AI on Consumer Behavior 26:36 Skepticism Towards AI-Driven Services 34:08 The Fragility of the Mortgage Market 41:06 AI in Construction: Use Cases and Challenges 48:25 The Importance of Vision in Sales Leadership 53:37 Trimble's Acquisition Strategy and Market Positioning