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Case Study: AI Innovation Roadmap for a Mountain-West General Contractor

•Nicholas Wilson
Case Study: AI Innovation Roadmap for a Mountain-West General Contractor

TL;DR

A regional GC partnered with Bait Shop to map a 24-month innovation roadmap that connects core construction systems, standardizes workflows, and builds a lightweight governance model. Targets include up to ~10% faster project timelines, ~15% lower admin costs, ~95% forecast accuracy, ~50% less manual reporting time, and +20% client NPS (dependent on adoption and data quality).

The Client

A Mountain-West commercial general contractor with self-perform capabilities in concrete and a portfolio spanning healthcare, higher-ed, industrial, and private commercial projects. Operating teams include estimating, preconstruction, project management, field operations, safety, HR, accounting/finance, and business development.

The Challenge

  • Data silos across construction management, ERP, CRM, scheduling, and estimating tools
  • Manual, error-prone workflows that slow forecasts, pay apps, and reporting
  • Adoption friction (training gaps, duplicative processes, unclear ownership)

Objectives

  1. Establish a sequenced innovation roadmap that integrates systems and reduces manual effort
  2. Stand up a lightweight governance model (steering cadence, product champions, standards)
  3. Deliver near-term wins that build trust while laying the foundation for analytics and AI

Discovery & Current-State Mapping

Leadership interviews and system reviews across Technology, Pre-Con, Operations, Safety, HR, Accounting/Finance, and BD. We documented process maps, pain points, and under-used features in:

  • Construction Management Platform (project controls, financials, RFIs/submittals, safety docs)
  • ERP (job cost, AP/AR, payroll)
  • CRM (pursuits/pipeline)
  • Estimating Platform (takeoffs & bid)
  • Scheduling Tool, PDF/Markup Tool, Materials/Pay App Tools
  • Analytics stack (dashboards & reporting)

North Star & KPI Targets

  • Timeline: up to ~10% faster on comparable scopes (≤24 months)
  • Admin cost: up to ~15% lower (≤36 months)
  • Forecast accuracy: ~95% (≤24 months)
  • Manual reporting time: ~50% reduction (≤12 months)
  • Client NPS: +20 points (≤24 months)
    All targets subject to data quality and adoption.

Operating Model (Lightweight, Durable)

  • Steering cadence to set priorities and unblock
  • Product champions per system; ownership of standards/templates
  • Enablement: role-based training plan, quick-reference playbooks, office-hours

Roadmap (Phased)

Phase 1 (Months 1–6): Foundations

  • Data audit & cleansing; standard naming/metadata
  • Baseline integrations among CM Platform ↔ ERP ↔ CRM
  • Standard templates for submittals, RFIs, pay apps, safety docs
  • HR workflows centralized (reviews, onboarding, benefits)

Phase 2 (Months 7–12): Automation & Dashboards

  • Workflow automation (approvals, alerts, handoffs)
  • OCR-assisted invoice processing connected to commitments
  • Estimating platform adoption and handoff into project financials
  • First wave of governed dashboards (schedule health, SV/CPI, labor productivity, safety, AP velocity, pipeline)

Phase 3 (Months 13–24): Advanced Analytics & AI

  • Predictive cost/schedule risk flags; bid/pricing optimization pilots
  • External-facing client status portal (scope, schedule, pay apps, safety highlights)
  • Continuous improvement loop (quarterly KPI reviews; retire low-value reports)

Solution Highlights

  • Integration blueprint with clear data flows and test gates
  • Governed dashboards to avoid “spreadsheet sprawl” and conflicting truths
  • Workflow automation to kill swivel-chair work between systems
  • People-first enablement (champions, training cadence, adoption incentives)

Risks & Guardrails

  • Change resistance → champions + quick wins + recognition
  • Integration complexity → stage rollouts; vendor-assisted configs; sandbox tests
  • Data quality/security → stewardship roles, periodic audits, standards, backups, hardening, incident response

Early Wins (Near-Term)

  • HR in one place (onboarding/reviews/benefits) with measurable cycle-time gains
  • Safety document hub in the CM platform (field-first access; fewer compliance misses)
  • AP OCR → commitments to reduce touch time and exceptions
  • Estimating→project financials handoff to eliminate reentry

Expected Impact (Targets)

  • Timeline: up to ~10% faster
  • Admin cost: up to ~15% lower
  • Forecast accuracy: ~95%
  • Manual reporting time: ~50% lower
  • NPS: +20 points
    Validated via baseline → pilot → scale reviews.

What Bait Shop Delivered

  • Strategic blueprint (why now, goals, sequencing)
  • Operational roadmap (milestones, owners, success criteria)
  • KPI framework & dashboard specs
  • Governance design (steering cadence, champions, standards)
  • Innovation tracks (analytics/AI pilots; client portal concept)

Next Steps

  1. Seat the steering group and confirm the Phase-1 backlog
  2. Enroll champions and launch role-based training
  3. Execute Phase-1 integrations + data standards, then demo the first quick wins