Start Here
If you're a GC, PM, estimator, or running the office and wondering whether this AI stuff is worth looking at—or just another distraction—this page covers the basics.
What AI Actually Is
When people talk about AI right now, they usually mean tools like ChatGPT or Claude. You type something in, it reads what you wrote, and it types back something that sounds like a person wrote it.
Think of it like a new guy in the office who's good at writing but doesn't know your project, your subs, or your owner. He works fast and doesn't complain, but you're going to check his work before it goes out.
What It's Good For
Writing. Emails, letters to owners, responses to subs, meeting notes. You give it the details, it puts together a draft. You clean it up and send it. This is where it saves the most time right now.
Finding things in documents. Upload a spec book or contract and ask it questions. "What's the LD provision?" or "What does it say about substitutions?" Beats scrolling through 400 pages.
Paperwork that runs itself. You can set things up so the computer handles what you'd normally do by hand—pulling invoices from email, renaming files, organizing them in folders, flagging when insurance certs are about to expire, compiling daily reports. It takes some time to set up, but once it's running, you don't think about it again.
Explaining stuff. Don't understand something in the specs? Not sure what a term means? You can ask in plain English and get a straight answer.
What It's Not Good For
Math. Don't let it do your numbers. It'll give you an answer that looks right and isn't. Check everything yourself.
Knowing your job. It doesn't know your project, your history with the owner, or which sub is going to lowball and disappear. You still make the decisions.
Being right all the time. Sometimes it makes things up. Sounds confident doing it, too. That's why you check before anything goes out the door.
Takeoffs. There are AI tools that claim to do quantity takeoffs. They're not reliable enough yet for real work. We'll let you know when that changes.
Watch What You Put In
Before you paste anything into ChatGPT or Claude, think about where it's going. These tools send your data to their servers.
Don't put in bid numbers, client financials, or anything you wouldn't want a competitor to see. General stuff—drafting an email, asking how something works—that's fine.
There are ways to run AI on your own computer where nothing leaves your office. We cover that here too.
If you're not sure, check with whoever handles your IT before uploading anything sensitive.
How to Get Started
Free. Go to chat.openai.com or claude.ai and make an account. Try asking it to write an email or explain something. See what it does. Costs nothing.
$20/month. ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro. Faster, smarter versions. Worth it if you end up using it every day.
What you might already have. If you're on Microsoft 365, there's Copilot ($30/user/month) that puts AI right in Word, Excel, and Outlook. Google Workspace has Gemini. Check whatever you're using for file storage or team messaging—Dropbox, OneDrive, Slack, Teams—a lot of them have added AI features to plans you might already be paying for.
Finding Your Way Around
The site is set up by what you're trying to do:
Guides — How to do specific things, start to finish
Tools — Reviews of AI software, what they cost, what's good and bad
Automation — Setting up systems that handle things automatically
Security — Keeping your data where it belongs
Start with whatever's causing you the most headaches.
Questions? Contact form's at the bottom.