E09: Dr. Ibrahim Odeh, Columbia University

E09: Dr. Ibrahim Odeh, Columbia University

Ibrahim Odeh is the Chair of Construction Engineering and Management at Columbia University and founding director of GLCM, a program that has grown to 5,000 industry members globally and over a million learners on Coursera. He's spent the last academic year embedded with major AEC firms studying real-world generative AI adoption, with three white papers landing imminently. This is a conversation grounded in research. Ibrahim introduces a framework that cuts through a lot of the noise: the gap between theoretical benefit and observed benefit, what AI could do for your organisation versus what it's actually delivering today. Most companies, including the biggest GCs and engineering firms, are still firmly in the exploratory phase. Their CEOs will tell you that themselves. We get into Turner Construction's approach to enterprise AI rollout, including the SafetyCoach GPT they built and gave away free to the entire industry. We talk about the three pillars of digital transformation and why technology is the smallest part of that equation. Ibrahim also breaks down what the generational shift in the workforce actually means for construction companies. Gen Z are entering the industry as AI natives, not just digital natives, and the GCs winning the talent war are the ones creating cultures that give them the freedom to experiment. Get that wrong and they're gone within 18 months. We close on a note that should give the industry pause. Ibrahim has started to notice a pattern: polished AI-generated content everywhere, but when you get people in a room and take the screen away, the understanding isn't there. We're producing more, reading less, and retaining even less. For an industry that runs on expertise built over decades, that's worth taking seriously.

E08: Cibby Pulikkaseril, Founder of Zabidou

Cibby Pulikkaseril is bringing laser vision tech to construction manufacturing through his new company Zabidou. He's taking laboratory-grade sensing and delivering it at 1/10th the cost and 10 times faster to install and commission by building a cheaper, fit-for-purpose sensor stack that's good enough — and using AI to build way more efficiently while stripping out all the platform bloat, cloud fees, and licensing fees. We talk about how he's targeting precast concrete plants, why construction manufacturing can't be outsourced (everything's too heavy), what makes dirty industrial environments different from clean rooms, and why he's deliberately designing with low cost components that do the minimum job needed. Plus we get into the Innovator's Dilemma playbook he's using to disrupt from the bottom, why he's manufacturing everything in Australia up to a thousand units a year, and his vision for robotic vision becoming the "sentience of a factory" — making decisions about what's happening in manufacturing and what to do about it. Good chat about practical automation in heavy industry, the global opportunity in precast and construction materials, and where quality control technology is actually heading.

E07: Doug Vincent, CEO @ Mastt, AI assisted Project Management Software

Doug Vincent - Mastt Doug Vincent is co-founder and CEO of Mastt, a construction project management platform focused on cost tracking and financial controls. They've got customers managing billions in projects across 10 countries. Doug's been deploying AI in the product for a while now, so we talked about what that actually looks like in practice: * AI agents read through contracts, invoices, and progress claims (even 500-page documents) and auto-populate the cost tracker * Takes work that used to require 30 minutes to an hour down to about 15 seconds * The AI reviews payments against contract terms and flags non-compliance issues that project managers typically miss * Users can QA the data as it comes in until they trust it enough to run in the background We got into how Mastt started. Doug was working on a big government portfolio, drowning in thousands of spreadsheets that all had different formats. Told his boss "enough of this madness" and built software to roll up project finances automatically. That first client is still a customer today. Other stuff we covered: * Why they run a freemium model in an industry that's traditionally enterprise sales-led * His advice to founders: avoid innovation budgets and transformation teams, focus on core workflows with real customers who'll actually pay * 30% of their business is outside Australia, all organic growth—no paid ads * Where he sees this going: AI project team members you interact with via email like another human Doug's also coaching other construction tech founders and thinks Australia leads the world on construction tech adoption because we've got less labour and need software to move things forward. Find Mastt at mastt.com (two T's). Doug's on LinkedIn as Vincent Doug.

E06: Noel Brady, COO @ ProjectMark, the CRM for Construction

Noel Brady - ProjectMark Noel Brady is co-founder and COO of ProjectMark, a construction-specific CRM. He spent 10 years as a project manager across Irish, UK, and US markets, most recently with Tishman Construction on a $2 billion project in downtown San Francisco. The company started because Noel kept seeing contractors lose work despite being qualified. "Death by a thousand cuts" - messy BD processes, uncoordinated proposals, disjointed procurement. He and his co-founders knew these companies could deliver on site, but they were getting knocked out in the selection process. The bigger problem: 47% of construction workers are aging out over the next few years. Knowledge lives in people's heads, and if that transfer doesn't happen, the industry's in trouble. You can't just pick up the phone and call the guy who built a similar project down the street anymore - you need that information centralized and searchable. Why companies choose ProjectMark: * Built specifically for construction workflows, terminology, and processes * Deep integration with Vista (biggest ERP in the market) to pull project history, financials, team data * Uses that historical data to help pick the right opportunities, not just the biggest ones * 90% of their product roadmap comes from customer feedback The "Moneyball" approach: ProjectMark doesn't automatically tell you to chase every billion-dollar opportunity. That project might kill your business. Instead, it might recommend five $10M projects where you've worked with the client before, your backlog is lower, and you have the right team available to actually win and deliver. We talked about pre-construction, why construction companies get weeks not months to prove software value, and how their dev team 3X'd productivity using tools like Cursor. Noel's clear that you can't vibe code an enterprise CRM - you can build the shell, but not something that services thousands of businesses. Trimble Corporate Ventures is on their cap table. The goal is to be the next Procore, but in a different space - CRM as the hub with spokes coming off it for resource planning, financials, proposals, and AI-powered business insights. Find ProjectMark at projectmark.com. Noel's on LinkedIn.

E05: Inside Trimble Ventures: How Corporate VCs Are Reshaping Construction Tech

In this episode of Wired & Hammered, we explore corporate venture capital with Eliot Jones, Principal at Trimble Ventures. As part of the global technology leader's investment arm, Eliot shares insights on how established corporations are partnering with emerging construction tech companies to drive industry innovation. Key topics covered: * Trimble's investment sweet spot: Why Series A startups are the focus * The shocking reality: Construction represents 14% of global GDP but gets only 1% of VC funding * How the Construction Startup Competition sources 500+ companies annually * Building two-sided partnerships between corporates and startups * The evolving role of CIOs in construction companies * Interoperability challenges vs. data protection in the AI era * Why getting construction workers back to the field (not the office) drives product development Whether you're a construction professional curious about emerging technologies, a startup founder looking to understand corporate partnerships, or simply interested in how innovation happens in traditional industries, this conversation offers valuable insights into the intersection of construction and venture capital.