AI for builders · Sydney

AI for builders: take the paperwork off the person running the job

In most building companies the admin lands on whoever is best at the building. Variations written up at night, supplier invoices checked against the order by hand, insurance certificates chased by text. I help builders turning over one to ten million take that load off, one small step at a time, using the systems you already run.

Start a conversation How it works

Where a builder’s week actually goes

Talk to any builder running a handful of jobs at once and the story is the same. The work on site is under control. The work around it is not: a variation agreed on site on Tuesday that is not written up until Friday, a progress claim that waits for someone to tally what was done, three supplier invoices for the same delivery, and a subcontractor whose insurance lapsed last month without anyone noticing.

None of it is hard. All of it is constant, and it falls on the most expensive people in the business, usually the owner or a site manager, at the end of a long day. That is exactly the kind of work AI is now good at: reading documents, matching them against each other, drafting the email, and putting a short list in front of a person to approve.

This is not about a new platform. You keep Buildxact, Procore, Xero, your spreadsheets and your shared drive. The job is to connect AI to what you already run, so the paperwork is drafted for you and your people check it instead of writing it.

What I’d take off your plate first

Usually Buildxact, Procore, CoConstruct or a spreadsheet for jobs, Xero or MYOB for money, Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace for everything else, and a lot of photos on phones. I connect AI to those, rather than asking you to replace them.

Variations, written up the day they happen

A site photo and a voice note become a priced variation in your template, sent to the client for approval once someone has read it. No more Friday-night catch-up, and fewer variations quietly given away.

Progress claims

Each claim drafted from the schedule, the contract stages and what was signed off, with the supporting photos attached. The office checks it instead of assembling it.

Supplier invoices matched to orders

Every bill read, matched to its purchase order and job, and coded before it reaches Xero. Price creep, duplicates and short deliveries flagged, with the query email drafted.

Subcontractor compliance

Insurance certificates, licences and SWMS read when they arrive, expiry dates tracked, and a reminder drafted a month before anything lapses, not after.

Tenders and quotes

Tender documents read and summarised, the scope compared against your past jobs, and a first draft of the submission and inclusions list in your format, so an estimator starts from eighty per cent.

Site diaries and client updates

Daily notes, photos and messages turned into a tidy site diary and a weekly client update that sounds like you, without anyone sitting down to write either.

And the admin every office has

The same work turns up in every building company: email, spreadsheets, documents, and a Microsoft or Google setup that grew without a plan.

Invoicing and accounts payable

Supplier bills read, coded and matched to the order or the job before they reach Xero or MYOB. Mismatches drafted into an email for someone to approve. Overdue invoices chased politely, on a schedule.

Email that answers itself, nearly

The inbox triaged each morning, routine replies drafted in your tone, attachments filed to the right folder, and a short list of what actually needs you today.

Spreadsheets you stop rebuilding

The weekly report that someone copies and pastes together every Monday, produced before you arrive, with a sentence on why the number moved.

Documents and slides

Proposals, letters, reports and board slides drafted from your own templates and your own past work, so the first draft is eighty per cent there rather than a blank page.

Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, set up properly

Shared drives that make sense, permissions that match who you are now, and AI connected to mail, calendar and files the same way for everyone instead of five people doing it five ways.

Project and job tracking

Status updates written from what actually happened in email and the job system, tasks pulled out of meeting notes, and a morning brief per person of what is due.

How it works: audit, roadmap, implementation, training, support

Sold one step at a time. Each step is quoted before it starts, stands on its own, and you decide after each one whether to take the next. Most businesses your size go from the audit to a working, trained setup in three to six months.

Audit

Two weeks, fixed price. A map of every system you run, a ten-minute staff survey, a few five-minute screen recordings of the work that eats the week, and short conversations with the people who run the business. It costs your team minutes, not hours.
Roadmap

A ninety-day plan written from what the audit found: which processes first, ranked by admin removed against cost and risk, which AI plan and accounts your team should be on, and a two-page policy on what may go in. Every item has its own price.
Implementation

I build the first one or two automations inside your own Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, connected to the systems you already run. AI drafts, a person approves anything that leaves the building, and it runs beside the manual way until you trust it.
Training

Your team learns on their own work, not on demos. One standard setup for everyone, a short session per group, and one-to-one time with the two or three people who will carry it once I step back.
Support

A light monthly retainer: one call, a one-page summary, fixes, and the next routine your team worked out promoted into something the business runs. I read the AI news so your people do not have to.

Use AI without handing over your clients’ data

A builder’s files are full of things that should stay put: client contracts and addresses, pricing you would rather competitors never saw, and supplier rates you negotiated. None of it needs to leave your own accounts for AI to be useful.

The work happens inside your Microsoft or Google tenant on a business AI plan, with company accounts for every person who uses it. Nothing goes into a free chatbot, and anything that goes out to a client or a supplier waits for a person to say yes.

The basics, every time

Company accounts on a business AI plan, never personal logins. Business plans do not train on your data.
AI connected to your own Microsoft or Google tenant, so files stay where they already live and access is revoked in one place.
A two-page policy your team can actually remember: which accounts, what may go in, what never does.
Everything I build lives in your accounts and is logged. I work from a staff login, not the master key.

Where most start

A typical first project: supplier invoices matched to purchase orders

Most audits in building land on the same quick win. Every supplier bill is read, matched to its order and job, and coded for Xero, with mismatches drafted into an email for the office to send. It runs alongside the manual check for a fortnight until you trust it, then the manual check stops. From there, variations and progress claims are usually next.

Where I work

Based in the Sutherland Shire. In person across these areas, remote everywhere else in Australia.

Sutherland Shire

Cronulla, Miranda, Caringbah, Sutherland, Gymea and around.

Southern Highlands

Bowral, Mittagong, Moss Vale, Exeter, Robertson and around.

St George

Hurstville, Kogarah, Rockdale, Sans Souci, Bexley and around.

Eastern Suburbs

Bondi Junction, Double Bay, Paddington, Woollahra, Randwick and around.

Frequently asked questions

We use Buildxact (or Procore, or spreadsheets). Do we need to change?

No. The point is to connect AI to what you already run. If your job system has a way in, I use it. If it does not, I start from exports and switch to a proper connection later, so a slow vendor never holds the project up.

My site managers are not computer people. Will they use it?

They do not need to. Most of what I build asks a site manager for a photo or a thirty-second voice note, which they already send. The office sees the drafted result and checks it.

Can AI price a job for us?

It can do the reading, comparing and drafting that comes before pricing: summarising tender documents, pulling comparable past jobs, and listing inclusions and exclusions. The price stays with your estimator. I would not trust a model with your margin, and you should not either.

Is this worth it for a builder our size?

If you run more than a few jobs at once and someone senior is doing admin at night, almost certainly. The audit will tell you honestly, and if the answer is that a better spreadsheet would do, I will say so.

How much of my team’s time does this take?

Minutes, by design. Ten for the survey, ten for an optional screen recording, an hour with the key people. Whoever runs operations spends two or three hours across the first fortnight.

Do we have to commit to the whole thing?

No. Every step is quoted on its own and you decide after each one. Plenty of businesses take the audit and one project, and stop there until they see it working.

Are you tied to a particular AI vendor?

No. I lead with Claude because I think it is the strongest all-rounder for business work today, and I work just as happily with Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT or Gemini if that is what your team already uses. Everything is built so the model is one part you can swap.

Questions builders ask me

Do I need an AI policy for my small business?

Yes. If your team uses AI at work, and most already do, you need a short written policy. Two pages is enough: which accounts to use, what may and may not go in, who checks AI output before it leaves the building, and who to ask.

Free or paid ChatGPT and Claude: what’s the difference for a business?

For a business, the difference that matters is control, not smarter answers: business plans keep your data out of training by default, put the accounts under company management, and let an admin decide which systems AI can connect to. Free and personal plans do none of that.

How do I start my day with AI?

Give it a short briefing document about your job and open every day with the same request: read my briefing, then show me today from my calendar and inbox. Close the loop with a short daily note, and within a few weeks the assistant knows your work.

What is an AI connector, and why does it matter?

A connector links an AI assistant to a system you already use, such as your email, calendar or shared drive, so it can find and read things itself. It matters because without one you are the connector: copying text in and pasting answers out.

Running a building company and doing the admin at night?

Tell me what you run, how many people, and what eats the most time. I will tell you honestly whether an audit is worth it.

Tell me about your business

Tell me what you're dealing with

Three lines is plenty. I reply personally, usually within a day, and the first call is free.