Most construction mistakes don’t happen in the field.
They happen upstream — long before anyone picks up a tool.

In this episode of The ConTech Exec Podcast, Robert Zimmerman sits down with Christopher Mouflard, founder of Marked Up AI, to talk about a problem the industry has quietly normalized: incomplete drawings.

This isn’t a discussion about software features or faster workflows.
It’s a conversation about decision risk, governance breakdowns, and why responsibility keeps sliding to the least experienced person on the project.

We cover:

• Why rework has become “acceptable”

• How incomplete drawings create executive-level exposure

• What happens when teams are stretched thin and oversight disappears

• Why more tools don’t fix sequencing problems

• Where technology actually should be applied — and where it shouldn’t

If you’re accountable for outcomes, margin, and risk — this episode will feel uncomfortably familiar.

If you’re looking for tools, tactics, or implementation advice, this is not for you.

Most construction executives think their back office is “fine.”

It’s not.
It’s quietly bleeding money — and AI is only exposing the damage.

In this episode, I sit down with Rishi Srivastava, founder of Being Human, to talk about why accounts payable is where financial control starts breaking down long before anyone notices.

We cover:

• How redundant AP work compounds cash risk

• Why unstructured invoices and approvals destroy visibility

• Why AI doesn’t fix broken workflows — it exposes them

• Why governance failures show up in finance first

• And why chasing tools instead of control makes things worse.

This is not about automating invoices faster.
It’s about leaders losing control without realizing it.

If you’re responsible for cash flow, risk, or outcomes — this episode will feel uncomfortably familiar.

🎧 Listen if you own the decision.
🚫 Skip it if you’re looking for tools or tactics.

Connect with Rishi:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rishi-srivastava-automation/

Website: https://beiinghuman.com/

It’s 2026. Trillions are being poured into data centers, power grids, and infrastructure.
AI is everywhere.
But somehow, we’re still 30% less productive than we were in 1990.

The problem isn’t labor. It’s not technology.
It’s the system.

In this kickoff episode, I sit down with Todd Zabelle, founder of Strategic Project Solutions and the Project Production Institute, to unpack the truth behind construction’s productivity flatline — and why we’ve been managing projects with 1916 playbooks in a 2026 world.

We cover:
🔹 The 3 eras of project delivery — from Taylorism to today
🔹 Why “working harder” kills flow
🔹 The real cost of WIP (work in process)
🔹 Bottlenecks, variability, and how to control them
🔹 Why AI can’t fix chaos — it just measures it faster

Construction isn’t broken. It’s mismanaged.

👉 Follow the series: The Flow Problem | Part 2: The Hidden Factory on Every Jobsite drops next month.

🎙️ Hosted by Robert Zimmerman, ConTech Exec.

Check Out

PPI - Project Production Institute: https://projectproduction.org

SPS - Strategic Project Solutions: https://www.strategicprojectsolutions.com/index.html

#ConTechExec #FlowProblem #ToddZabelle #Construction #Leadership #AI #ProjectProduction

Most construction CRMs don’t fail because of software.
They fail because they weren’t built for construction.

In this episode of The ConTech Exec Podcast, host Robert Zimmerman sits down with Tom Deane, Co-Founder & CEO of Project Mark, to break down why traditional CRMs like Salesforce struggle in the construction industry—and what a construction-specific CRM should actually do.

We cover:

• Why generic CRMs fail contractors, GCs, and subcontractors

• How construction CRM software should handle preconstruction, operations, and closeout data

• The role of business development, relationship management, and project data

• How AI fits into construction CRMs (and where it doesn’t)

• Why culture, process, and accountability matter more than tools

• How to get visibility into backlog, forecasting, and revenue without Excel

If you’re a:

• General contractor

• Specialty contractor

• Construction executive

• Preconstruction or BD leader

…and your CRM lives in spreadsheets, silos, or nobody actually uses it—this episode will hit home.

Key takeaway:
Construction technology should support how builders work—not force them to work like sales reps.

AI is everywhere.
But are we actually thinking about what it’s doing—or just letting it run?

In this episode of The ConTech Exec Podcast, I’m joined by Alex Issakova, a former Silicon Valley AI insider and the voice behind The Long Signal.

We dig into the parts of AI nobody wants to talk about:

• Why large language models don’t actually reason

• How bad data creates confident, wrong answers

• The real environmental cost of AI (energy, water, data centers)

• Why AI mirrors our worst human behaviors

• And why “faster” isn’t always better—especially in construction and business

This isn’t anti-AI.
It’s pro-thinking.

If you’re an executive, builder, or operator trying to figure out where AI helps—and where it absolutely doesn’t—this episode is required listening.

🎙️ Listen now and decide where AI belongs in your business.

Patrick Murphy didn’t come back to construction quietly—he came back with fresh eyes, a stack of financials, and one big realization:

Estimating and Takeoffs were eating 50–60% of overhead.

In this episode of The ConTech Exec, Patrick breaks down how Togal.AI was built to solve that exact choke point.

We get into:

• Why takeoffs still look like they did 30 years ago—just with a mouse instead of a scale ruler
• How Togal trained millions of plans using 25 architects and engineers to label data with surgical precision
• Why mid-market contractors shouldn’t waste years trying to build AI workflows from scratch
• The real future: predictive assemblies, automated drywall takeoffs, and full plan sets generated from a prompt
• The danger of companies “pencil-whipping” data and expecting AI to magically fix it
• Why the firms who adopt AI will 10x output—and the ones who don’t will get left behind.

We also hit the bigger picture:

compute constraints,

data center pushback,

water and power fights,

workforce shortages,

and why AI is about to reshape every knowledge job in construction.

Listen in if you want the real story—not hype—on where AI is taking precon and what leaders should be prioritizing right now.

Want to be on the show or run your AI Readiness Score?

Email me r.zimmerman@contech-exec.com

To Contact Patrick:

Visit https://www.togal.ai/

or reach out on Linkedin

https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-e-murphy-79318832b/

Why does safety tech fail on the jobsite?

Because it’s built for the office, not the field. In this episode, Robert sits down with Gabe Guetta, CEO & Co-Founder of Salus, to unpack pencil-whipping culture, broken safety processes, field adoption challenges, and why construction needs tools that feel as easy as paper. If safety is supposed to protect people—not paperwork—this conversation will hit home for every contractor rethinking their tech stack.

Gabe Guetta – LinkedIn
• LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabeguetta (CEO & Co-Founder, SALUS)

Salus – Company Website
• Official website: https://www.salussafety.io – Safety management and digital field compliance platform built to streamline construction safety operations.

Your schedule isn’t behind — it’s been lying to you from day one.
In this ConTech Exec episode, Robert sits down with Alex Teplitxky of SmartPM to dismantle one of construction’s biggest myths: that our schedules are accurate, honest, or even interpretable without serious help.

SmartPM analyzes schedule data at a forensic level—revealing compression, risk, integrity issues, rework indicators, and the optimism bias that quietly destroys profit. If you’ve ever stared at a CPM update and thought, “This feels like creative writing,” this episode is for you.

• Why 88% of baseline schedules fail basic quality checks

• Why CPM isn’t the problem—our inputs are

• How SmartPM surfaces delay risk before it becomes expensive

• Why optimism bias is the most expensive drug in construction

• What executives should be asking when reviewing schedule health

• Why “bad data” is the real reason tech adoption failed for years

• How contractors can start fixing scheduling culture one metric at a time

• Groundbreak conference stories, AR safety demos, and the “pucker factor” at 300 feet

• Why incremental improvements matter more than moonshot claims

• The unicorn-fart test of schedule realism (yes, it came up)

This is a tactical, practical deep dive into the real-world messiness of schedules, data hygiene, project controls, and the future of digital construction.

SmartPM: https://smartpm.com
Alex on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexteplitxky/

Construction. Technology. Real talk—without the buzzwords.
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