The ConTech Exec

Robert Zimmerman

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The ConTech Exec is real talk on construction tech and AI. We break down what actually works on the jobsite—software, hardware, workflows, and tools that boost productivity. No hype or jargon. Just straight conversations with construction execs and project pros sharing field-tested lessons, wins, and screwups that help you build smarter.

1d ago

Sh*t Rolls Downhill. That's Your Whole Bid Process.

Owner hires an architect. Architect draws something beautiful. GC bids it out with two weeks and zero contact with the person who drew it. The trades get three days and a set of drawings with the RFIs still baked in. Then everybody acts surprised when the change orders start. Viyas Sundaram, CEO of STACK Construction Technologies, calls it what it is on this episode. His words: "Stuff rolls downhill in that configuration." (He cleaned it up for us. Then he didn't.) Viyas started as free labor on his immigrant parents' dream home, ran GoCanvas through its sale to Bluebeam's parent company, and took over STACK in March. His argument is that the funnel doesn't just dump risk on the trades, it throws away the most valuable knowledge on the project: how the thing actually got built. Robert's scrubber story, where an architect walked him into a room with concrete on all six sides and pointed, is the whole problem in one anecdote. Also in this one: Why Viyas says the trades are "in the business of getting shit done," not bidding, and why nobody became a carpenter for their Excel skillsThe speed-versus-accuracy fight in AI takeoffs: big contractors carry buffer to absorb an 80% answer; the three-person shop on thin margins can't"Construction is the art of layering on top of imperfections," and why the trades run out of layers firstWhy an "AI" sticker on the box impresses nobody in the fieldData ownership: STACK's stance that your own project history should train your estimates, not public data, unless you opt inRobert's pushback on "value engineering" (there's no such thing; call it cost engineering)Viyas's take on where it all ends: when the job site feeds back to the drawings, "there is no pre when it's a loop"If you've ever been handed a bid package with a question you already knew the answer to, this one's for you. STACK: stackct.com. Viyas Sundaram is on LinkedIn.
Sep 7

AI Blueprints And As Built Mysteries

Construction AI is moving from hype to real operational leverage, and Raymond Zhao thinks the biggest unlock is not replacing engineers, but giving them a smarter assistant that catches problems before they become RFIs, change orders, and field delays. Raymond, co-founder of Structured AI, joins Robert to explain how agentic AI reviews drawings, detects cross-disciplinary inconsistencies, and flags code issues inside complex Revit and BIM workflows—without taking over professional liability. They discuss why Raymond left architecture, how Structured AI is improving construction quality control, why AI adoption depends on change management, and what it means to treat a building set like an intelligent asset you can actually ask questions of. This episode is essential listening for anyone interested in architecture, engineering, construction, AI adoption, and the future of infrastructure. Raymond Zhao is the co-founder of Structured AI, a construction AI company helping engineers and builders detect issues faster, reduce review burden, and improve drawing QA.
Sep 6

Human Genome to Pipefitting?

Construction fabrication is still riddled with a costly lie: the model is not the workflow. David Basiji explains why the real bottleneck is getting from BIM and CAD into the shop and then through every cut, bend, weld, and handoff without losing time, accuracy, or visibility. Robert and David trace the unlikely path that led David from bioengineering and the Human Genome Project into construction tech, then into PipeServer - a platform built to connect design tools, fabrication equipment, and the field. Along the way, they expose why “paper to PDF” is not digitization, why exact lengths can be the wrong answer in fabrication, and why the smallest workflow mistake can ripple into massive delays. Discover: Why fab shops need a live system, not static cut lists and spreadsheetsHow PipeServer moves data from Revit, AutoCAD, Tekla Structures, and SDS2 into machines and shop workflowsWhy field fit, bend stretch, and fabrication sequence details have to be handled intelligentlyHow cloud-connected tracking prevents down-rev files, duplicate cuts, and security headachesWhy AI is not the right tool for deterministic shop workflows, but is powerful for analyzing bottlenecks and productivity data David also breaks down how PipeServer expands beyond a single pipe cutter brand to support the entire fab shop, from manual tools to automated machines, and why the biggest opportunities may be with mid-market and smaller shops that have been underserved by legacy software. If you care about prefab, BIM, production efficiency, or the future of construction data flow, this conversation is essential listening. David Basiji is at PypeServer, where he helps build software that connects design, fabrication, and field execution. He brings deep technical experience from bioengineering, machine development, and building scalable products. Perfect for contractors, fab shop leaders, VDC teams, and construction tech buyers who are tired of process chaos and want a clearer, faster path from model to field.
Sep 2

Paving on Main - Last Notes from Cavtera

We close out the three-part series with Joe and Ryan from Cavtera, and this is the one that actually answers the question the first two episodes set up. Turns out the code you build inside Palantir Foundry belongs to you — Joe compares it to Microsoft Word, nobody thinks Word owns your essay. So who's really steering a company's tech? Not IT, not finance — the guys actually paving Main Street. We get into why Thomas Cavanagh Construction Limited named their whole operating system after Tom himself (there's a story here involving a Volkswagen, a sandwich, and a highway shoulder that's worth the price of admission alone), and why a schedule that only lives in a binder never poured a yard of concrete. I leave you with the real question: are you willing to define your own business, honestly? That's the price of admission before any of this works.
Aug 25

End Tech Debt

Part two with the Cavtera guys, Joe Patrois and Ryan Quesnel. Last week we cleared up the vocabulary — what Palantir Foundry actually is, what an ontology is (the nouns and verbs of your business, nothing fancier than that). This week we get into the bruises. Joe and Ryan tell the origin story: two project management guys at Thomas Cavanagh Construction sitting in a boardroom, griping, until one of them said "nobody's coming to save us." So they saved themselves. Spreadsheets first. SharePoint and Power BI next. And every new tool they bolted on fixed one thing and loosened something else — like fixing a leak on iron pipe. Tighten this joint, spring a leak two fittings down. That's tech debt, and most contractors are drowning in it without ever calling it by name. Then Palantir showed up at their shop for a boot camp, and they spent the next stretch of their careers building what became TOM — Total Operations Management — the operating system that now runs Cavanagh and became the product Cavtera sells today. We also get into the stuff that actually kills software rollouts: forgotten passwords, phone screens zoomed to twelve thousand percent, and the difference between tracking productivity and tracking progress (hint: they are not the same thing, and your budget is neither one). Plus my pitch on why you should stop counting grains of sand and start tracking your downtime instead. If you missed Part 1, go back and watch it first. Part 3 drops next week. Real People, Real Work, Real Talk.
Aug 16

Opening the Palantir Black Box - Cavtera

The conversation delves into the concept of Palantir Foundry and its impact on construction technology. It explores the challenges of legacy technology, change management, and the role of AI in modernizing construction operations. The conversation delves into the challenges and opportunities in the construction industry, focusing on the adoption of technology, the impact of AI, and the need for seamless integration of digital tools with physical operations. The discussion emphasizes the importance of understanding the true ontology of the construction business and the need for a holistic approach to technology adoption. Takeaways Palantir Foundry is an ecosystem that allows businesses to organize and assimilate all their data, enabling the creation of custom applications and solutions.Change management is a critical aspect of implementing new technology, and the process involves untangling legacy systems and processes to build tools around the best way to work. Technology adoption in the construction industry presents challenges and opportunities.Understanding the true ontology of the construction business is crucial for successful technology integration. Chapters 00:00 Tackling Change Management and Solutions Engineering45:22 Understanding Ontology and System Elements
Aug 9

We Didn't Transform. We Just Digitized.

Before he was Field COO for public sector at Procore, AJ Waters was an engineer whose actual job on a project was moving RFIs out of his company's spreadsheet and into the owner's spreadsheet, then carrying the answer back. His words: "I was the API between the two systems." He says that's still the reality on almost every job site. This week we get into public sector construction, where every dollar spent on software is a dollar a taxpayer thinks should've gone to a project. Owners maturing off spreadsheets. Data centers as infrastructure, and the Nebraska power plant that had no customer until one showed up. And AJ's bigger argument — that construction spent twenty-five years digitizing paper and called it transformation. Plus the Empire State Building, built in under a year with everybody working out of the same building. Which last time I checked is not how we do it anymore. New episode every week.
Aug 3

Be First To Be Third

Steve Jones started studying BIM in 2005, back when five people would give you ten definitions of it. Twenty years later he's still doing the same job: finding out what contractors, owners, and designers are actually doing, and what's actually working. His verdict on two decades of construction tech promises is not what you'd expect. The vendors weren't the problem. The industry doesn't want to be reinvented — it wants to be better in about 10,000 specific ways. What got underestimated was how hard organizational change is when every project is a temporary organization stitched together from firms with different contracts, incentives, and digital maturity. We cover the Procore study on expertise, the change order research showing only 7% of GCs rate themselves very effective at managing T&M work, why 38% of projects run over schedule while only low-20s run over cost, and what separates owners who think tech means software from owners who think tech means better information. Steve Jones is Senior Director, Industry Insights Research at Dodge Construction Network. Free research at construction.com. #ConstructionTech #ConstructionManagement #ProjectControls #ConstructionIndustry #Preconstruction

The ConTech Exec is real talk on construction tech and AI. We break down what actually works on the jobsite—software, hardware, workflows, and tools that boost productivity. No hype or jargon. Just straight conversations with construction execs and project pros sharing field-tested lessons, wins, and screwups that help you build smarter.

Creator

Robert Zimmerman
Years Active

2026
Episodes

77
Rating

Explicit
Copyright

© 2026 Robert Zimmerman
Show Website

The ConTech Exec