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INDUSTRY INSIGHTS
The AI Parlor Trick - Why AI In Construction Tech Needs to Go Further

The Parlor Trick Problem

When we sat down with Mitch Cornelius, CTO of Fortis Construction, we expected to hear enthusiasm about the latest AI hitting the construction market. Instead, he offered a perspective that should make every construction tech CEO pause and reconsider their AI strategy.

"We've always kind of seen them as a little bit of a parlor trick," Mitch told me, comparing today's GPT implementations to a magician's opening act – flashy and attention-grabbing, but not the real magic.

This view from a technology leader at a $2.7 billion construction company should serve as both a warning and an opportunity for tech providers. While your AI-powered tool might demo well, contractors are already looking past the initial wow factor and asking a far more important question: "So what?"

The Critical "So What?" Question

This is the fundamental disconnect between what many AI solutions currently offer and what construction companies actually need. Information retrieval – finding documents, surfacing data, answering questions – is just the starting point, not the destination.

The problem is particularly acute because construction professionals are already overwhelmed.

At Fortis, before consolidating their tech stack, superintendents were juggling over ten different applications daily. Adding another tool that simply retrieves information more efficiently doesn't fundamentally change their work experience.

Beyond Information Retrieval

The next generation of construction AI needs to move beyond information retrieval to something far more valuable: enabling actions, decisions, and workflows.

When we asked Mitch about the technologies he's watching, he immediately focused on AI solutions that are thinking beyond the chatbot paradigm. While he couldn't name specific companies due to NDAs, he described startups working on:

• Connecting information flows across systems rather than just retrieving from them

• Creating new user experiences that fundamentally change how people work

• Moving beyond chat interfaces to more intuitive, construction-specific interactions

• Automating not just information finding but decision-making workflows

The Established Players' Dilemma

For established construction tech companies, there's a clear risk of focusing too narrowly on what Mitch calls "the race to create the next chatbot that asks your specifications questions."

"All of them are building that," he observes, "And it's like, this is great, but it's not really news for us. This isn't exciting. It's not as useful as you think it is."

The major platform providers – Autodesk, Procore, Trimble – are making incremental improvements to their offerings. But according to Mitch, they're moving from "80% of workflows to 85% or 88%," rather than fundamentally reimagining how construction professionals might work.

The Startup Opportunity

This gap between information retrieval and transformative workflow change creates a massive opportunity for startups willing to think differently. Mitch specifically mentioned his interest in companies like Trunk Tools and Data Grid – startups that are approaching construction problems from new angles.

What makes these companies different is that "they're not trying to monetize specifically just the chatbot type tools. They accept that that's not where their money's gonna come from, and they're looking at the next iteration."

The lesson for construction tech CEOs is clear: if you're building an AI feature that merely retrieves information more efficiently, you're solving yesterday's problem. The real opportunity lies in leveraging AI to fundamentally transform how construction work happens.

Looking Beyond the Horizon

When we asked Mitch about his timeline for these more transformative AI solutions, his answer was telling: "If you ask them, it's like next month every time. I don't think it's immediate. I don't think it's imminent. I think we have some runway in front of us."

This runway exists partly because of the complex relationship between industry expertise and computing power. As Mitch puts it:

For now, this expertise transfer is happening through early-stage startups. But Mitch believes the truly transformative changes will come when the innovations from the tech giants "trickle down" through industry-specific companies and into actual construction workflows.

The Path Forward

For construction tech operators, the message is clear: chatbots and information retrieval are just the beginning. To create lasting value, you need to be thinking about:

1. Workflow transformation: How does your AI solution fundamentally change how work happens, not just how information is found?
   

2. Integration depth: Does your solution connect systems and information flows in ways that eliminate work rather than just making existing work easier?
   

3. Decision support: Are you moving beyond information retrieval to actually helping users make better decisions faster?
   

4. User experience innovation: Are you stuck in a chat interface paradigm, or are you reimagining how construction professionals interact with technology?
   

5. Value measurement: Can you demonstrate impact beyond the "wow factor" of retrieving information quickly?
   

The companies that will prevail in construction AI aren't the ones building the slickest chatbots. They're the ones looking past the parlor trick to the real magic – transforming how construction works at a fundamental level. As Mitch puts it:

The question for construction tech CEOs is simple: Will you be the one making that connection?

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