Top GC Harvey Cleary built a $2 billion moat. For years, their preconstruction strategy set them apart from every competitor. Here it is: a) Be the guide. Don't just build the building. Help owners make decisions. Connect them with the right engineers and consultants. Guide them through the process proactively. b) Overdeliver. Always look for opportunities to exceed expectations. (For instance, they built a custom closeout solution 10 years ago that a couple clients still use today.) c) Stay lean & mean. No estimating department. No procurement team. Everything runs through project managers. d) Stay on the cutting edge. They don't adopt every new technology that comes down the pike, but they know what's out there and they’re not afraid to test them out. This strategy created a competitive advantage that was nearly impossible to replicate. Until now. AI is the great equalizer. Smaller GCs can suddenly deliver client experiences that used to require the capital and resources of a major player. Value engineering options that took days can now be delivered in hours. (I’ve heard plenty of firsthand stories of GCs that lost pursuits specifically because of this.) And here's a vicious cycle of what's happening as a result: → GCs get better at precon → Clients get a better experience → Client expectations rise → The bar gets raised → Repeat. This feedback loop has always existed. But AI is accelerating it at a pace we've never seen before. The moats we've spent years building? They're eroding. Not because we're doing anything wrong. But because the speed at which competitors can catch up has fundamentally changed. Harvey Cleary understood this. They realized that staying on the cutting edge became impossible to do the old way. There's too much happening, too fast. So the question isn't whether AI will impact your competitive position. It's whether you're moving fast enough to maintain it. Note: I went through some of this at a Groundbreak session with Harvey Cleary’s Josh Young entitled “Beyond Preconstruction: Reinventing the GC in the Age of AI” but figured I’d relay some of it in case you weren’t able to make it out to Houston. We’re thinking of doing a webinar version of the chat, so keep an eye out! If you'd be interested in something like that, like this post or give me a shout.
it's amazing to see how quickly the landscape is changing.
Business Development Representative at Buildr
2wAI is the great equalizer! Love it! Please do a webinar version! 👏