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How We Use AI

How we use AI on your project

Calling the company AI-native does not mean handing a construction project over to AI. It means using AI with enough project context and construction experience behind it that the output actually improves how we deliver projects. Our context layer holds the drawings, the specifications, the schedule, the meetings and the open decisions for each project, and it carries the lessons learned from prior project experience. It reads a drawing set and finds the conflicts an experienced builder would look for, turns a week of meetings into prioritized action items, and flags what needs a decision and when. Experienced builders review the output and make the decisions.

On your job

Three things it does on a job today

In the owner meeting

When a design change comes up, the decision is made with the full picture.

We ask the record what the change does to the schedule and which open RFIs and submittals it touches, and the answer is on the table in the meeting, with its sources. The decision gets made while there is still time to act on it.

  • For
  • Owner
  • Design team
Decision · Owner meeting 12Sample project

Move the bar to the east wall?

Schedule
The bar top stone selection drives the millwork install and is needed by 21 November. Moving the bar restarts it.
Open items it touches
RFI 142, the ceiling layout, still open. Millwork submittal, held for the stone.
Needed by
Friday 23 October, to hold the opening date.

From the schedule update, the RFI log and the submittal logRead out by the project lead

Every week

A Friday briefing for each person on the job.

One for you, one for the design team and one for each trade: what you need to know this week and what we need from you, by when. The project lead reads each one before it goes out.

  • For
  • Owner
  • Design team
  • Trades
Your project this weekFriday
  1. 2Decisions that are yours this week
  2. 1RFI that puts the schedule at risk
  3. 0Submittals waiting on you
  4. Under reviewPayment application 4
  5. 61 daysTo substantial completion

Any day

Ask a question. The answer comes from your project’s own record.

Owners, consultants and subcontractors can ask where the job stands. Every answer shows its sources, and when the record is silent it says so. Anything that affects a decision, a builder confirms.

  • For
  • Owner
  • Consultants
  • Subcontractors
Ask about your projectSample project

Has the landlord approved the storefront?

Nothing in this job’s records says that. The storefront drawings went to the landlord for review, and no response is logged.

SourceSubmittal log · Meeting notes · Correspondence

From the project record, with sourcesCheck the sources, or ask us

What is behind it

A context layer for the company, and the context for each job

The context layer has two halves. One is how we build: our methods, our checklists and the lessons from prior experience, kept once for the whole company. The other is the active project: the drawings, the specifications, the schedule, the meeting record and the open decisions. The assistant reads both.

This is what makes it more than paying for a tool or giving everyone a license to an LLM. A general AI tool knows nothing about your project or how we build. Our system incorporates context that delivers value to our clients.

What stays with people

Augmentation, not automation

What a person always does is the judgment: pricing, commitments, and anything that is sent to you. Experienced builders review the output against the project information and decide what needs to happen next.

An answer from the system is an interpretation of the record. It is not the record, an approval or a decision. Formal decisions are recorded in the project platform, by a person.

The tools

What we run the company on

  • MiloMacDougall Builders’ custom AI agent and context layer
  • ConstructableProject management, built to work with AI
  • NotionCompany management
  • HardlineCalls recorded and transcribed, so phone calls become project context
  • ClaudeThe model Milo runs on
  • Microsoft ProjectOur scheduling software

Examples

What this looks like in the work

IllustrativeBoth examples run on a sample project: the situation, what the system drafted and what the person decided.

Example 01

The schedule look-ahead

The situation
The light fixtures are now due on Tuesday of week 3. The install was planned for Friday of week 2.
What the system drafted
The look-ahead with RFI 142 and the late delivery added, the three activities behind the fixtures pushed out, and a hot list of who owns what.
What the person decided
The superintendent approved the two additions, held the date changes and asked the electrician to expedite or ship a partial order.
Look-ahead · KitchenSample project

Read from the master schedule, the RFI log and the procurement logEvery date change waits for the superintendent

Example 02

A specialty trade playlist

We keep a playbook for each specialty trade, built with prior experience on similar projects: what went wrong, what to check and when. It travels with the subcontract from the first drawing to closeout, as a guide and a roadmap, so the same mistake does not happen twice.

Specialty trade playbook · Metal framing and drywallSample
  • 00 Metal framing and drywall playbook.md
  • Scope and subcontract.md
  • Exclusions to look out for.md
  • Durations and lead times.md
  • Local jurisdiction code.md
  • Industry standards (ASTM, ANSI, UL).md
  • Drawing gaps.md
  • Change orders.md
  • Quality checklist.md

Metal framing and drywall / Drawing gaps.md

Drawing gaps

From prior experience on similar projects

  1. Architectural and structural drawings disagree

    One set shows metal stud framing where the other shows wood, and the two disagree on whether plywood sheathing is required at the wall.

    Shows up
    Bid, or at the framing submittal
    Resolved by
    The architect and the structural engineer
    At bid
    A bid question, priced to the more stringent condition until it is answered
  2. Wall tags with no wall type

    Tags on the floor plan point to partition types that are not in the partition schedule, so the stud gauge, the board layers and the rating are unknown.

    Shows up
    Bid, and again at layout
    Resolved by
    The architect
    At bid
    A bid question, with any unanswered tags qualified
  3. Partitions not dimensioned from a control line

    Walls are dimensioned to each other, or not at all, instead of to a gridline or control line, so the first day of layout turns into field decisions.

    Shows up
    Day one of layout
    Resolved by
    The architect, before layout starts
    At bid
    Checked at bid, with missing dimensions sent as questions before mobilization

One playbook for each specialty tradeUpdated at closeout

  1. 01Drawings receivedTarget scope gaps typically missed
  2. 02Scope developedGenerate scope from plans and previous project context
  3. 03Bid receivedExclusions read against the scope
  4. 04Contract awardedLead times and lessons written into the subcontract
  5. 05Submittal and pre-mobilizationPre-mobilization conference for smooth onboarding
  6. 06Construction and punch listQA/QC managed proactively
  7. 07CloseoutWhat we learned goes back into the playbook

Questions

AI on your project, asked plainly

Does this replace the people on my job?

No. It gives experienced builders the project context in front of them, so their time goes to the judgment the job needs.

How do you use AI on a project?

Our system reads the drawings, the specifications, the schedule, the meeting notes and our SOPs, alongside the lessons learned from prior project experience. Experienced builders review the output against the project documents and decide what to do with it. Owners, consultants and subcontractors get access to the same system, so they can ask questions of the project record and stay informed on the information that matters to them.

How is this different from using a chatbot?

A chatbot knows nothing about your project or how we build. Ours reads your job’s own records and our written methods before it answers, and says where each answer came from.

Start with a conversation

Let’s talk about your project

Tell us what you are planning, where the design stands and the date you are working toward. We will call to talk it through.

Let’s talk about your project