"If you're not tinkering with AI today, it's going to be a problem for you in the future."

This week on Bricks & Bytes we sat down with David Niewiadomski from Zero RFI — KP Reddy's new venture backed by General Catalyst that's rolling up owner reps, advisory, and building data firms under one roof.

Tune in to find out:

✅ Why standalone construction tech software is dying as a business model

✅ What General Catalyst saw in Zero RFI and why services beat SaaS for industry impact

✅ Why owners should never pay a subscription to access their own building data

✅ Why owner rep firms under 50 people are the sweet spot for acquisition

Watch now on Spotify and Youtube. 🎧

#aec #construction #constructiontech #bricksandbytes #bricksbytes #ai #vc

Our Sponsors:

BreadCrumb- 50,000+ projects globally. All running safer, faster, with Breadcrumb. - breadcrumb.co

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

Chapters

00:00 Teaser

00:47 Introduction to Zero RFI and Its Founders

03:22 The Role of AI in Construction Tech

06:27 Understanding Zero RFI's Unique Approach

09:21 The Importance of Data Integration

11:10 Sponsors

14:12 Acquisitions and Their Impact on Zero RFI

17:34 General Catalyst's Investment and Vision

20:24 Building Works and Its Evolution

23:26 The Future of Construction Technology

25:33 The Evolution of AI in Software Development

26:30 Leveraging Historical Data for Current Projects

29:15 Acquisition Strategies and Scaling Opportunities

32:27 The Future of Construction Firms in a Tech-Driven World

34:53 The Role of Owners in Project Management

36:41 Targeting the Orchestration Layer in Construction

38:51 Differentiating Zero RFI from Other Tech Players

40:29 Envisioning the Future of Zero RFI

41:18 Call to Action for Industry Professionals

"Pre-construction has become less efficient than construction itself."

That is the claim Dustin Devan made on this week's Bricks, Bucks & Bytes after returning from Advancing Pre-Con. Martin, Patric Hellermann and Dustin also dug into the proposed California wealth tax, Bentley's Q1 earnings, and why VCs keep funding the 51st AI takeoff company.

Tune in to find out about:

✅ Why 80% of project cost is locked in before design is even 30% done

✅ How the California wealth tax proposal would actually value private companies

✅ Patric's case for indexing into "directionally right" early-stage bets

✅ Why takeoff is a feature, not a company

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

#aec #construction #constructiontech #bricksandbytes #bricksbucksandbytes #ai #vc

Our Sponsors:

BreadCrumb- 50,000+ projects globally. All running safer, faster, with Breadcrumb. - breadcrumb.co

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

Chapters

00:00 Intro

00:35 Introduction and Overview of Topics

02:15 US Construction Spending Trends

09:52 California Wealth Tax Proposal

26:29 Advancing Pre-Construction Insights

34:38 Building Cost Infrastructure and Pricing Engines

40:30 The Role of Design in Construction Projects

45:39 The Importance of Feasibility in Design

50:46 The Impact of AI on Construction Estimation

53:25 Navigating the Takeoff Tool Landscape

57:02 Innovations in Construction Robotics

A 350-person Canadian contractor just did what most of the industry would call insane. They put their entire business inside the same software platform that powers the CIA. They've killed their paper time cards, their dispatch system, their safety software — and now they're killing their ERP.

This week, Owen unpacks the Cavanagh playbook with their head of digital strategy and asks the harder question: is this the future of construction software, or just an expensive bet on the wrong vendor? Plus: Procore just spent $11M acquiring an AI company in January. Are we watching the start of a platform war that ends with one operating system per contractor?

Then: the 2026 recovery story just died. US inflation hit 3.8%. Construction input prices rose at a 12.6% annualised rate. Every fixed-price bid in the market is a bet on Middle East de-escalation. And data centres aren't saving construction — they're hiding how weak the rest of the market really is.

Key resources

• Cavanagh Construction and Palantir partnership case study
• Procore Technologies acquires Datagrid for agentic AI capabilities
• US April CPI release
• Construction input price data, Q1 2026
• Hill County, Texas data centre moratorium
• Gallup poll on data centre vs nuclear reactor opposition
• IEA report on AI data centre power demand growth
• US construction spending and nonresidential contraction data