Does anyone actually have time to answer the phone? Honestly, the biggest bottleneck for me lately hasn't been the actual work—it’s the constant phone ringing while I’m in the middle of a job or a takeoff. I’ve been looking into setting up an AI receptionist to just handle the initial calls and book appointments directly into my calendar so I can actually stay focused. Has anyone here tried this yet? Curious if it actually works for contractors or if it’s better to just keep doing it manually.

I’ve been taking time to really understand bidding beyond just estimating, and one thing stands out… Bidding isn’t just about the price. It’s about getting both your price and your terms right so the job actually makes sense for you. At the end of the day, you’re not just submitting numbers, you’re making an offer to take on a project in a way that should be profitable and sustainable. A lot of mistakes happen when we focus only on “how much” and ignore “under what conditions.” By the way, what part of bidding do you find most challenging right now: pricing, scope or terms?

A handful of AI use cases keep showing up that are actually useful. Here are 5 of my favourites: 1. Searching specs and contracts. Tools like NotebookLM let you load 20+ documents and get answers cited back to the exact page. Replaces the "I know it's in there somewhere" problem. 2. Meeting notes. Fireflies, Gemini and Copilot all transcribe and summarise calls automatically. The real win isn't the transcript, it's the action items pulled out without anyone having to write them up. 3. Contract review and risk flagging. Run a subcontract or master agreement through AI before you sign and get a list of red flags ranked by severity. 4. Scope gap analysis before bidding. Compare drawings, specs and your scope letter to find what's missing before pricing. 5. Emails, RFIs, professional communication. The brain dump to professional draft step. Brief AI on what needs saying and the context and you've got 80% of the email. Full breakdown in the video

I did a long overdue update to my course on construction project scheduling This covers everything from critical paths, short range planning and construction claims. I also added a few topics that I thought were missing from the previous version, like how to plan different trades like civil, mechanical, electrical, etc. Hope it helps!