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.

A VP at a multi-billion-dollar US contractor told me this week that our industry is in its Blockbuster Video moment. Peak profitability, record volumes, and completely blind to what's coming. After everything I heard this week, I'm struggling to argue with him.

In this briefing: UK construction activity collapses (starts down 31%, awards down 43%). Procore/Datagrid Q4 Earnings and bets the company on agentic AI. Autodesk drops $200M on spatial intelligence. A major UK contractor is designing bridges in 40 minutes instead of 4 months. 3D printed buildings hit an exponential curve. And Anthropic's AI safety chief quits to study poetry.

Plus: three things you can do this week to start paddling before the wave breaks.

Prefer to read? You can read the full thing at:

Turner Construction was paying for specialist AI software. Then they ditched it for ChatGPT and it did 85% of the job. The founder they left behind says he's not even surprised.

In this episode of Bricks, Bucks & Bytes, Owen, Patric, and Martin are joined by Luigi La Corte, CEO of Provision, for an unfiltered conversation about what AI is really doing to construction software and who's about to get left behind.

Plus, two founder call-ins you don't want to miss: Bertrand from Billdr reveals that 75% of SMB general contractors are still running their business on Excel in 2026, and Jodok walks us through how he secured a $1.2 billion debt facility to green Europe's homes.

Here's what we get into:

• Why contract review software is being commoditized to zero — and which tools are next

• Turner Construction ditching specialist AI software for OpenAI's "good enough" enterprise package

• Luigi's bold claim that AGI is already here (and why he's running it from his couch via Telegram for $60/month)

• Patric's multi-lens take on AI: "excited as a consumer, terrified as a citizen"

• The Anthropic safety chief quitting to study poetry and why that should concern everyone

• Billdr's pivot from a $40M marketplace to vertical SaaS, and the brute-force sales motion that's actually working

• How Jodok went from a $5M lending facility to $1.2 billion in under three years

"The technological swell is here. Most leaders are just swimming, enjoying the sun, making money, business as usual. A few are paddling hard towards the swell. It feels like a lot of effort with no results, but when the wave breaks, the ones paddling will separate from everyone else at a pace no one else could catch."

If you're in construction and not paying attention to AI right now, this episode will tell you exactly why you should be. Watch the full episode on YouTube. Link in the comments!

Chapters

00:00 Intro

00:52 Introduction to Luigi La Corte and Industry Insights

03:30 AI in Construction: Scope Agent and Its Impact

06:27 Navigating Contract Review Tools in the AI Era

09:20 The Future of AI: Perspectives and Predictions

12:20 Diverse Sentiments on AI: Consumer vs. Societal Impact

14:37 AGI: Is It Already Here?

22:19 The Future of AI and Productivity

24:11 Concerns About AGI and Its Implications

25:26 The Impact of AI on Human Experience

26:37 Recursive Self-Improvement and Its Risks

27:48 Billdr's Journey and Market Positioning

37:55 The Demand for All-in-One Solutions in Construction Tech

40:01 The Evolution of General Contractors and Their Needs

41:22 The Future of Administrative Tasks in Construction

42:35 Addressing the Missing Middle in Construction Companies

44:15 Financing the Energy Transition: ClueWorth's Approach

46:48 Scaling Operations in a Fragmented Market

54:06 Navigating Complexity in Energy Installations

58:04 Revenue Models and Future Growth Strategies

78% of trade contractors are already using AI.

Yeah, you read that right. The industry everyone calls "slow to adopt tech" is actually out front leading the way.

In today's episode of Bricks & Bytes, we had Colin Piper, CMO of BuildOps, and we got to learn about what it actually takes to market in construction tech, why no one was building software for the trades until now, and what 600 trade contractors revealed about AI adoption in their businesses... and many more!

Tune in to find out about:

✅ How BuildOps became a unicorn by solving a problem everyone else ignored building software specifically for MEP trade contractors

✅ The real reason trade contractors aren't adopting AI faster (spoiler: it's not fear, it's training)

✅ Why some trade contractors are now hiring data scientists and operating like mini software companies

✅ The marketing playbook behind scaling a construction tech startup from brand awareness all the way through to closed deals

Whether you're in the trades, selling to the trades, or just trying to understand where construction tech is actually heading this one's worth your time.

🎧 Watch now on YouTube! Link in the comments!

Our Sponsors:

Aphex is the multiplayer planning platform where construction teams plan together, stay aligned, and deliver projects faster – check out aphex.co

Archdesk - “The #1 Construction Management Software for Growing Companies - Manage your projects from Tender to Handover” check archdesk.com

BuildVision - streamlining the construction supply chain with a unified platform - www.buildvision.io

Chapters

00:00 Intro

01:36 Introduction to BuildOps and Colin's Background

04:49 Marketing Strategies in AEC Industry

07:31 Understanding Demand Generation

10:48 Account-Based Marketing Tactics

13:46 Overview of BuildOps and Its Market

16:35 Top of Funnel Awareness Strategies

19:37 Effective Channels for Targeting Trade Contractors

22:29 Influencer Marketing in B2B

34:41 Content Strategies for Trade Contractors

37:28 The Importance of Testing in Marketing

40:37 Campaign Development and Execution

43:32 The Role of Offline Marketing Channels

45:40 Structuring Marketing Teams for Success

47:32 Building an Effective Marketing Tech Stack

50:36 Insights from the BuildOps AI Report

56:39 Marketing Strategies for Trade Contractors

59:28 The Future of AI in Construction