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In this episode of Hard Hat Chat, Justin Smith (CEO of Contractor+) sits down with Gerritt Bake (CEO of Build PRO) to unpack one of the biggest questions contractors are asking right now: is AI actually helping on the jobsite, or is it just another overhyped buzzword?
Instead of talking theory, Justin and Gerritt break down how AI and automation are already being used in real construction workflows, from estimating and takeoffs to scheduling, paperwork, compliance, and resource planning. They explain where AI genuinely saves time and money, where it still falls short, and why human judgment remains critical on every project.
The conversation cuts through the noise around “AI replacing jobs” and reframes the discussion around something more practical: how smart contractors are using AI to reduce errors, improve accuracy, cut admin time, and run leaner, more predictable businesses without adding more office staff.
They also dive into the real-world challenges of AI adoption, including data quality issues, integration hurdles, training teams, and setting realistic expectations for ROI. Using a practical case study and step-by-step guidance, this episode gives contractors a clear, grounded roadmap for adopting AI without disrupting their existing operations.
Whether you’re a one-man shop or managing multiple crews, this episode helps you understand how AI fits into construction today, and how to use it as a tool to amplify your business, not replace the people who make it work.
🔧 In this episode, you’ll learn how to:
Instead of talking theory, Justin and Gerritt break down how AI and automation are already being used in real construction workflows, from estimating and takeoffs to scheduling, paperwork, compliance, and resource planning. They explain where AI genuinely saves time and money, where it still falls short, and why human judgment remains critical on every project.
The conversation cuts through the noise around “AI replacing jobs” and reframes the discussion around something more practical: how smart contractors are using AI to reduce errors, improve accuracy, cut admin time, and run leaner, more predictable businesses without adding more office staff.
They also dive into the real-world challenges of AI adoption, including data quality issues, integration hurdles, training teams, and setting realistic expectations for ROI. Using a practical case study and step-by-step guidance, this episode gives contractors a clear, grounded roadmap for adopting AI without disrupting their existing operations.
Whether you’re a one-man shop or managing multiple crews, this episode helps you understand how AI fits into construction today, and how to use it as a tool to amplify your business, not replace the people who make it work.
🔧 In this episode, you’ll learn how to:
- Use AI to speed up estimating and improve bid accuracy
- Reduce scheduling conflicts and project delays
- Cut paperwork and admin time without hiring more staff
- Avoid common mistakes when adopting AI tools
- Decide which workflows to automate first
- Ask the right questions before investing in AI technology
If you’ve been curious about AI but unsure where the hype ends and real value begins, this episode gives you a clear, contractor-first perspective on how automation is shaping the future of the jobsite, without replacing the tradespeople who power it.
Creators and Guests
What is Hard Hat Chat: No-BS Construction Discussion with Justin & Gerritt?
Hard Hat Chat is your backstage pass to the gritty and sometimes mind-blowing world of construction. Hosted by Justin Smith, CEO at Contractor Plus, and Gerritt Bake, CEO at American Contractor Network, this show is all about keeping it real—no corporate fluff, no sugarcoating. Tune in each week for straight talk on growing a contracting business, avoiding industry pitfalls, and sharing the occasional “holy sh*t, did that really happen?” job site story. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just getting your boots dirty, you’ll pick up hard-earned insights and a few good laughs along the way. Join us, throw on your hard hat, and let’s build something awesome.
Justin: Welcome everybody to today’s episode of Hard Hat Chat. I’m Justin Smith, CEO of Contractor+. I’m really excited — today we have Gerritt Bake, CEO of Build PRO, joining us. Gerritt, thanks for being here.
Gerritt: Thanks Justin. It’s great to be here. Excited to dig into this — AI on the jobsite is something I believe will change how contractors operate.
Justin: Absolutely. Let’s start simple. AI is a buzzword these days. But what does AI on the jobsite really mean — especially for estimating, scheduling, and paperwork?
Gerritt: At its core, for a contractor, it means using machine learning, computer vision, predictive analytics — tools that help convert drawings, plans, historical data, vendor pricing, labor history — into actionable, real-time decisions. For example, instead of manually measuring each wall, door, window on a blueprint, AI can parse those drawings and produce quantity takeoffs in minutes. That drastically reduces manual effort and human error.
Justin: Right. I’ve seen that happen. Actually there are industry write-ups on this. One recent post shows that AI estimating tools are reducing the time for takeoffs and delivering faster bids.
Gerritt: Exactly. According to the 2025 blog from Infrrd — companies using AI-driven estimating report higher bid-win rates and improved profitability. And it's not just theory — contractors are already seeing benefits.
Justin: That’s big. Because estimating has always been one of the biggest bottlenecks and risk points: wrong quantities, outdated cost data, material price swings, labor cost variance.
Gerritt: And AI helps tackle many of those. When AI takes your blueprints or BIM models, extracts material quantities automatically, compares with up-to-date supplier pricing — you get a cost estimate that’s far closer to reality, faster.
Justin: Let’s talk about scheduling and project management. Estimating is one thing — but schedule delays, resource conflicts, mis-coordination — those kill margins too.
Gerritt: Very true. AI can help there too. Through predictive scheduling tools, AI analyzes past project data, resource availability, weather forecasts, supply-chain risks, and builds optimized schedules. It can also identify potential bottlenecks before they surface.
Justin: I read a recent industry review that suggested AI-enabled scheduling can cut planning time and improve schedule accuracy, reducing delays significantly.
Gerritt: Absolutely. And on busy jobsites, when you have multiple trades — electric, plumbing, HVAC, framing — AI helps coordinate tasks, allocate crews, materials, equipment — reducing idle time and improving overall efficiency.
Justin: Another area I see is paperwork, compliance, documentation and admin tasks — historically hugely time consuming for contractors.
Gerritt: Right. AI also helps with document automation: from parsing contracts, RFIs, submittals, to compliance reports, change orders, drawing revisions. Instead of manually sifting through pages, AI tools can extract relevant clauses, track deadlines, highlight compliance or scope changes — saving hours of admin work and reducing risk of oversight.
Justin: That’s critical, especially for small and mid-size contractors who don’t have large back-office teams.
Gerritt: Yes. And it’s not just about speed. It’s about consistency, accuracy, and enabling contractors to scale without proportionally increasing admin staff.
Justin: So with all these benefits — estimating, scheduling, paperwork — AI sounds almost magical. But of course, there are limitations and caveats.
Gerritt: Definitely. First, AI works best when you have clean, structured data. If drawings are old paper PDFs, low resolution, or missing metadata — AI may misinterpret or miss items.
Justin: Also many projects have unique conditions — custom jobs, local codes, last-minute changes — which require human judgment, nuance, on-the-ground decision making. AI can suggest, but the final call still needs a human.
Gerritt: Agreed. Another challenge is integration. Your AI solution must sync with your existing workflow — ERP, project management tools, subcontractor coordination. Otherwise you end up with fragmented data and overhead without real gains.
Justin: Let’s talk risk and cost. There’s initial investment, training the team, data cleanup. For a small firm, that could be a barrier.
Gerritt: True — but many AI tools today are cloud-based, modular, scalable. Contractors can start small — maybe just estimating or scheduling — see real gains — before scaling.
Justin: Good point. So let’s get practical. For contractors listening — especially small or mid-sized firms — what’s a good first step to adopt AI on the jobsite?
Gerritt: I’d say start with digitizing your project data — plans, drawings, historical job data, material and labor cost records — in structured digital format. Then choose one workflow to pilot. Test on a small project. Measure time saved and accuracy improvements.
Justin: And once you see gains, expand to other workflows and integrate with ERP or project management tools. Over time, you build a data-driven backbone.
Gerritt: Exactly. And there’s evidence the payoff is real. AI and data analytics in construction can bring cost savings of 10 to 15 percent on projects, while reducing schedule deviations and engineering hours.
Justin: That’s compelling.
Gerritt: And adoption is growing fast. The global AI-in-construction market is expected to grow more than fivefold by 2032, showing serious commitment across the industry.
Justin: That’s a strong signal. So Gerritt, beyond cost and schedule savings, where else is AI helping jobsites today?
Gerritt: Resource allocation and waste reduction are big ones. AI helps order materials more precisely, right-size crews, and avoid over-ordering. Some platforms report up to 20 percent cost reduction and significant waste reduction.
Justin: That agility matters, especially when margins are tight.
Gerritt: It does. AI also improves schedule adherence and reduces rework by predicting delays and conflicts early. That lowers overall project risk.
Justin: And on safety and quality?
Gerritt: AI helps there too — from computer vision detecting safety risks to analytics flagging defects early. That reduces accidents, rework, and liability.
Justin: So AI touches many pain points — cost, time, safety, quality.
Gerritt: Yes, but only if data and processes are solid. AI augments — it doesn’t fix messy foundations.
Justin: Garbage in, garbage out.
Gerritt: Exactly. Contractors should also know that AI doesn’t require massive tech teams anymore. Many tools are lightweight and cloud-based, making incremental adoption realistic.
Justin: Let’s ground this with a real-world style example.
Gerritt: Imagine a mid-sized contractor in Texas doing commercial fit-outs. Estimating used to take days and had errors. They piloted AI estimating, cut turnaround time from days to hours, increased bid volume by 40 percent, and improved win rates. One project avoided material over-ordering, saving around 8 percent in material cost.
Gerritt: They then added AI scheduling, avoided a resource crunch, finished on time, and estimated overall savings of 12 to 15 percent. Admin automation cut overhead nearly in half.
Justin: That really shows how starting small pays off.
Gerritt: It does. That leads to a simple checklist for first-time AI adoption.
Gerritt: Digitize project data
Gerritt: Pick one high-impact pain point
Gerritt: Choose tools that integrate with your workflow
Gerritt: Run AI alongside human review initially
Gerritt: Measure KPIs like time saved and waste reduction
Gerritt: Collect crew feedback
Gerritt: Scale gradually
Justin: That makes adoption feel manageable.
Gerritt: It is. And contractors should ask smart questions before buying AI tools — about verification, overrides, integrations, data privacy, training, and realistic ROI.
Justin: That helps cut through the hype.
Gerritt: Exactly. Long term, AI becomes more powerful as your data grows — helping with forecasting, risk management, and scaling.
Justin: Before we wrap up — hype versus reality?
Gerritt: AI won’t replace humans and won’t work perfectly out of the box. Expect a learning curve and treat it as a long-term investment.
Justin: Final advice?
Gerritt: Start small, focus on data quality, integrate carefully, and use AI to augment human judgment.
Justin: Perfect. Thanks Gerritt for the deep and honest conversation.
Gerritt: Thank you Justin. Hope this helps contractors adopt AI realistically.
Justin: And thanks to all our listeners. Until next time!