TL:DR

The concrete industry has seen its share of "revolutionary" technologies over the decades. Most contractors I talk to have developed a healthy skepticism about the next big thing. After all, concrete is concrete. You batch it, pour it, finish it, cure it. The fundamentals haven't changed much since the Romans figured out pozzolanic reactions.

When the conversation turns to artificial intelligence, I understand the eye rolls. Another technology solution looking for a construction problem to solve. But here's what I've learned from 30 years at the intersection of construction and technology: AI isn't coming for your finishing crews. It's not going to replace the guy who can read a slab and know exactly when to start troweling. What AI is actually doing today is something far more interesting. It's handling the operational grind that keeps contractors from focusing on what actually builds their businesses.

The Real Problem Nobody Talks AboutThe Real Problem Nobody Talks About

I've spent considerable time with contractors across the AEC industry, and the story is remarkably consistent. The owners who built successful concrete operations did it through craft knowledge, relationship building, and an ability to solve problems on the fly. They can walk a jobsite and see things others miss. They can negotiate with a GC and know exactly where the real money is in a project. They understand their crews in ways that translate directly to productivity.

What they didn't sign up for is spending evenings reconciling job costs, weekends catching up on paperwork, and Monday mornings digging through submittals. Yet that's exactly where most of their non-field time goes.

The concrete business has always required this dual existence: the craft side and the business side. For decades, successful contractors managed both through sheer force of will and sixty-hour weeks. The problem is that the business side keeps getting heavier. More compliance requirements. More documentation demands from GCs. More sophisticated estimating expectations. More data to track, analyze, and report.

This is where AI actually matters, and it has nothing to do with robots placing slabs.

What AI Does Well (And What It Doesn't)What AI Does Well (And What It Doesn't)

Let me be direct about what AI can and cannot do. It cannot replicate the judgment of an experienced concrete superintendent who knows that today's humidity and temperature combination means adjusting the mix design. It cannot build the relationship with a ready-mix supplier that gets you priority scheduling during the busy season. It cannot mentor a young finisher into becoming a craftsman.

These are human capabilities rooted in experience, intuition, and relationship — exactly the intangibles that separate good concrete contractors from great ones.

What AI can do is handle the operational tasks that consume time without creating value. Consider estimating. An experienced estimator brings judgment about productivity rates, site conditions, and crew capabilities that no software can replicate . But that same estimator might spend hours performing takeoffs, organizing subcontractor quotes, and formatting proposals. AI tools can now compress those hours into minutes, freeing the estimator to focus on the judgment calls that actually determine whether you win profitable work.

The same pattern applies across operations. Job costing requires human judgment to understand why a particular pour went over budget — was it the crew, the conditions, or a scope change nobody documented? But compiling the data, flagging variances, and generating reports? That's mechanical work that AI handles efficiently.

Project documentation tells a similar story. Understanding what a submittal actually means for your concrete work requires experience. Organizing, tracking, and managing the documentation workflow does not.

The Creativity AI Actually EnablesThe Creativity AI Actually Enables

When I talk about AI enabling human creativity, contractors sometimes look at me sideways. Creativity sounds like something for architects, not concrete guys.

But creativity in construction isn't about artistic expression. It's about problem-solving, innovation, and building something that didn't exist before. Every concrete contractor exercises creativity when they figure out how to sequence a complicated pour, when they develop a better finishing technique, or when they find ways to improve margins on a competitive bid.

The constraint on that creativity has always been time. When you're buried in operational tasks, you're in reactive mode. You're solving today's problems, not building tomorrow's business.

I've watched this shift happen with contractors who successfully adopt AI tools for their operational grind. ‘They don't become technology companies. They become more effective versions of what they already were, operators who can now spend time on strategic decisions, relationship building, and craft development.`

One concrete contractor I know used to spend his Sunday evenings reviewing job costs and preparing for Monday planning meetings. Now he spends that time coaching his kids' soccer team. His business runs better because he's not burned out, and he's actually thinking more clearly about growth opportunities because he has mental space for strategic thinking.

That's what AI enabling creativity looks like in practice. It's not glamorous. It's not revolutionary. It's just removing the friction that keeps good operators from operating at their best.

The Customer Intimacy AdvantageThe Customer Intimacy Advantage

Here's something the technology industry doesn't understand about construction: this business runs on relationships. The GC who gives you first call on good projects does it because you've built trust over years. The owner who sole-sources their concrete work to you does it because you've delivered consistently and they know you'll solve problems when they arise.

AI won't build those relationships. But it might give you more time to maintain them.

The contractors who will thrive in an AI-enabled industry are the ones who use operational efficiency gains to double down on what makes them different, not the ones who chase the latest technology trend. If your competitive advantage is craft quality, AI helps you spend more time developing your crews. If it is customer relationships, AI helps you spend more time with customers. If it is problem-solving on complex projects, AI helps you focus on the problems that matter.

This is the opposite of what most technology vendors promise. They want to sell you transformation. What actually works is augmentation — using tools to become more of what you already are.

Getting Started Without Getting LostGetting Started Without Getting Lost

The practical question is how to adopt AI tools without getting distracted from running your business. The concrete industry is littered with contractors who chased technology trends and lost focus on fundamentals.

My suggestion is to start with your most time-consuming operational task that doesn't require field judgment. For most contractors, that's somewhere in the estimating, job costing, or documentation workflow. Pick one area, find a tool that addresses it specifically, and measure whether it actually saves time. If it does, capture that time for something valuable. If it doesn't, move on.

The goal isn't to become a technology-forward company. The goal is to remove operational friction so you can focus on the work that builds your business: craft development, relationship building, and the problem-solving that separates you from competitors.

Concrete has been around for two thousand years. The fundamentals aren't changing. What's changing is the operational overhead required to run a construction business, and AI offers a practical way to manage that overhead without adding headcount or burning out your key people.

The contractors who figure this out won't look like technology companies. They'll look like well-run concrete operations with time to focus on what matters. That's not revolutionary. It's just good business.

My Thoughts 💭My Thoughts 💭

A fantastic article explaining the challenges and triumphs that can come with using AI in construction. I agree with this article 100% maybe in another 5 or 10 years around robot can become that master craftsman but for now it’s all administrative processes that can be improved and hopefully bring productivity gains.