In construction tech, selling is really consulting. How BIM software adoption, trust and AI are reshaping construction technology sales.

Construction has a complicated relationship with the word "sales." In an industry built around engineers, architects, and BIM managers, the salesperson is often the most misunderstood person in the room and yet adoption, trust, and whether good technology actually reaches the field depend on getting that role right.

In this episode, Andrea sits down with Gustave de Bardeci, a sales professional and APAC territory manager at Revizto who has spent his career on the commercial side of construction software, including formative years at Aconex. Gus moved from Argentina to Australia with no job, no network, and a language barrier, and rebuilt himself into a trusted advisor for some of the most technical buyers in the market.

Website: https://digitalconstructionpodcast.com/

Episodes: https://digitalconstructionpodcast.com/episodes

Episode notes: https://digitalconstructionpodcast.com/episode/construction-tech-sales-explained-with-gustavo-de-bardeci

Host: Andrea Ciaffi https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-ciaffi-548413113

Guest: Gustavo de Bardeci https://www.linkedin.com/in/gusdebardeci/

00:00 – Intro

02:10 – From Argentina to construction tech

06:30 – Overcoming the language barrier

08:30 – Advice for selling in a second language

10:25 – What a real week in sales looks like

14:00 – Perception vs reality of sales

16:15 – How much technical fluency you actually need

18:25 – Career progression and reputation

20:05 – Incentives that pull reps the wrong way

24:10 – What separates great products from noise

26:10 – Where construction software still gets it wrong

28:55 – How AI is changing sales

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Why open standards and structured data decide whether AI in construction delivers results or scales your mistakes. BIM, IFC and vendor lock-in.

AI is only as good as the data it's given, and construction has spent decades producing fragmented, ungoverned information.

In this episode, we sit down with Eric Bugeja, Chairperson of buildingSMART Australasia, board member at buildingSMART International, and founder of consulting and training firm Kephron. Eric traces his path from graduate mechanical engineer, to leading multidisciplinary BIM teams and shaping open standards for the global digital construction community.

The conversation covers why vendor lock-in is a business risk rather than an IT preference, why most IFC frustration comes from poor information requirements rather than the format itself, and where the next generation of open standards is heading: cloud-based, AI-capable, connected data instead of file transmission.

If you work in BIM, digital engineering, or project delivery, this one offers a clear mental model for preparing your data, your software choices, and your leadership for what's coming. The engineers who make the shift, Eric notes, never go back. This episode explains why.

Website: https://digitalconstructionpodcast.com

Episodes: https://digitalconstructionpodcast.com/episodes

Episode notes: https://digitalconstructionpodcast.com/episode/inside-buildingsmart-the-future-of-ifc-with-eric-bugeja

Host: Andrea Ciaffi https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-ciaffi-548413113

Guest: Eric Bugeja https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-bugeja/

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After 27 years in BIM, why the digital twin flopped while the common data environment quietly reshaped digital construction and AI workflows.

Every few years, the construction industry is told a new technology will change everything. Some do. Most don't. The harder skill isn't spotting the hype, it's knowing which shift is actually worth your time.

In this episode, Dhanjeet Sah, Studio BIM Manager at FK Architects, draws on 27 years across Nepal, Dubai, Singapore, and Australia to trace the industry's path from CAD to BIM to digital engineering, and now to AI. Having beta-tested Autodesk software since the early 2000s, he has watched these cycles up close. The conversation is less about tools and more about judgment: how to separate durable change from noise.

Website: https://digitalconstructionpodcast.com

Episodes: https://digitalconstructionpodcast.com/episodes

Episode notes: https://digitalconstructionpodcast.com/episode/the-most-overhyped-tech-in-bim-isnt-ai-with-dhanjeet-sah

Host: Andrea Ciaffi https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-ciaffi-548413113

Guest: Dhanjeet Sah https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhanjeet/

00:00 – Intro

00:01:40 – The best career advice he's received

00:04:05 – From CAD in the '90s to BIM today

00:08:30 – Habits from the CAD era that still matter

00:12:15 – BIM technician vs BIM mentor

00:15:30 – Working across four countries

00:20:05 – Beta testing software with Autodesk

00:26:30 – Overhyped vs underrated: digital twin and CDE

00:31:00 – Where AI really sits in the hype cycle

00:36:15 – What AI replaces and what stays human

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Five AI predictions for construction: why the point-solution app store dies, agentic automation takes over, and per-seat pricing ends.

Website: https://www.digitalconstructionpodcast.com

Episodes: https://www.digitalconstructionpodcast.com/episodes

Episode notes: https://www.digitalconstructionpodcast.com/episode/5-bold-predictions-for-the-construction-industry-with-mirco-bianchini

Host: Andrea Ciaffi https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-ciaffi/

Guest: Mirco Bianchini https://www.linkedin.com/in/mirco-bianchini/

Most conversations about AI in construction stop at "it will make drawings faster." This one starts where the industry usually stops: the workflows, roles, and software models we have quietly accepted for years, and why they are about to be rearranged.

In this episode we sit down with Mirco Bianchini, Senior Product Manager at AECOM, an architect turned parametric design specialist who now works at the intersection of product, software, and the built environment.

The conversation is structured around five predictions for how agentic AI reshapes digital construction, and most of them push against the industry's defaults.

00:00 – Intro and best career advice

02:30 – Prediction 1: the app store dies

14:25 – Prediction 2: collaboration vs headcount

23:40 – Prediction 3: projects as graphs, not lists

32:25 – Prediction 4: the forward deployed engineer

41:25 – Prediction 5: the architectural flip

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Rework eats 5 to 10 percent of every construction budget. On a 100-million-dollar project, that is 5 to 10 million dollars of waste no one planned for, and most of it is not a modelling failure, it is a translation failure between the BIM model and the people building from it.

This conversation looks at what fills that gap. Caner Dolas, CEO and co-founder of Gamma AR, has spent the last six years building the augmented reality layer that sits between the model and the foreman, and his framing of the problem cuts past the usual demo-reel pitch around AR in construction.

Website: https://www.digitalconstructionpodcast.com

Episodes: https://www.digitalconstructionpodcast.com/episodes

Episode notes: https://www.digitalconstructionpodcast.com/episode/hy-ar-sells-itself-the-first-time-you-use-it-on-site-with-caner-dolas

Host: Andrea Ciaffi https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-ciaffi/

Guest: Caner Dolas https://www.linkedin.com/in/caner-dolas/

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In this conversation, Bryan Tay, Director at Pivodel, and Dean Sherwell, Manager Commercial Sales and Partnerships at TAFE Queensland, discuss how they spent the last twelve months building Australia's first nationally accredited Advanced Diploma of Digital Engineering.

The episode looks at why a recognised pathway has been missing, and what changes when one finally exists.

The discussion covers the hidden cost of fragmented learning across projects, the pillars of a competent digital engineer, and why vendor badges fall short of what organisations actually need.

Bryan and Dean explain why vocational education sits closer to industry than most engineering graduates assume, and how AI shifts the importance of digital engineering fundamentals rather than reducing them.

Website: https://www.digitalconstructionpodcast.com

Episodes: https://www.digitalconstructionpodcast.com/episodes

Episode notes: https://www.digitalconstructionpodcast.com/episode/inside-australias-first-accredited-digital-engineering-diploma-with-bryan-tay-from-pivodel

Host: Andrea Ciaffi https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-ciaffi/

Guest: Bryan Tay https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-tay-02097b88/

Guest: Dean Sherwell https://www.linkedin.com/in/deansherwell/

Pivodel

Home page https://www.pivodel.com/

Course Page https://www.pivodel.com/pivodel-advanced-diploma-of-digital-engineering

Course:

Tafe QLD Course Page https://tafeqld.edu.au/course/19/19466/advanced-diploma-of-digital-engineering#ways-to-study-section

EOI Page https://tafeqld.edu.au/employers/partnerships/pivodel

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Sophie Montenot, Global Digital Delivery Lead at Surbana Jurong, on BIM coordination, JV harmonisation, and digital engineering on Changi T5.

Website: https://www.digitalconstructionpodcast.com

Episodes: https://www.digitalconstructionpodcast.com/episodes

Episode notes: https://www.digitalconstructionpodcast.com/episode/how-i-lead-a-global-digital-team-at-surbana-jurong-with-sophie-montenot

Host: Andrea Ciaffi https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-ciaffi/

Guest: Sophie Montenot https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophie-montenot-0879639/

The hardest problems on a mega-project are rarely the ones the strategy slides anticipated. They show up in the gap between a digital plan and what a hundred engineers actually do at 9am on a Tuesday.

Sophie Montenot, Global Digital Delivery Lead at Surbana Jurong (SJ Group), has spent twenty years closing that gap. From the Singapore Sports Hub to Changi Airport Terminal 5, her career maps to the moments when digital construction stopped being theory and started being delivered. This conversation traces what she learned about deploying BIM at scale, harmonising joint ventures, and translating engineering problems into digital solutions that engineers actually use.

Sophie also reflects on what changes when you move from project delivery into a global digital role across an acquired group of firms, and on her work mentoring women into aviation and construction.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Website: https://www.digitalconstructionpodcast.com

Episodes: https://www.digitalconstructionpodcast.com/episodes

Episode notes: https://www.digitalconstructionpodcast.com/episode/35-years-in-digital-construction-with-john-benstead

Host: Andrea Ciaffi https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-ciaffi/

Guest: John Benstead https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbenstead/

John Benstead is the Digital Engineering Manager at School Infrastructure New South Wales, the government agency responsible for planning, delivering, and maintaining over 2,200 public schools serving more than 800,000 students. With a career spanning toolmaking in the UK, large-scale GIS implementation across nine European countries, BIM leadership on major Australian projects, and now five years on the client side of public infrastructure, John brings a perspective that is rare: someone who has seen digital engineering from every angle.

If you work in digital construction, public infrastructure, or are thinking about moving from the private to the public sector, this one is worth your time.

00:00:00 – Intro

00:01:50 – Best career advice: understand the problem first

00:04:45 – Career journey: toolmaking to digital engineering

00:08:35 – What working across 9 countries taught about standards

00:10:55 – The real lesson from the CAD to BIM transition

00:15:55 – School Infrastructure NSW: scale, mission, and complexity

00:24:10 – Public vs private sector: what actually changes

00:32:30 – Innovation agenda: standardisation, automation, integration

00:36:55 – How MMC and DFMA are reshaping school delivery

00:40:40 – AI, digital twins, and the future of digital delivery

00:49:05 – Career advice for professionals entering digital construction

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Website: https://www.digitalconstructionpodcast.com

Episodes: https://www.digitalconstructionpodcast.com/episodes

Episode notes: https://www.digitalconstructionpodcast.com/episode/pdf-is-not-dead-the-data-foundation-your-construction-AI-strategy-needs-with-shanoc-halliday

Host: Andrea Ciaffi  https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-ciaffi/

Guest: Shanoc Halliday  https://www.linkedin.com/in/captainbimcad/

Most construction firms have tools they are not fully using. Not because people are resistant to change, but because the software is deployed without a process built around it. The result is the same pattern everywhere: a few teams doing excellent work, and everyone else operating well below the tool's potential.

Shanoc Halliday is a Senior Enterprise Customer Success Manager at Bluebeam, working with large-scale engineering and construction organisations across the globe. His role sits at the intersection of technology and business outcomes, helping firms understand not just how to use their software, but how to align it to what they are actually trying to achieve. In this conversation, Shanoc shares what he sees across hundreds of client engagements: where adoption breaks down, what separates high-performing teams from the rest, and why foundations matter more than features.

If your team's digital tool adoption has plateaued, or you are wondering how to build the kind of clean data foundation that makes future AI integration possible, this is a conversation worth your time.

00:00:00 – Best career advice received

00:02:30 – What does a Customer Success Manager actually do?

00:07:25 – From BIM practitioner to CSM: the career transition

00:12:45 – Most common workflow challenges across clients

00:15:40 – How to help clients prioritise digital improvements

00:18:40 – Why Bluebeam remains relevant in a BIM-first world

00:23:40 – Using Bluebeam across the full project lifecycle

00:27:25 – Standardisation, culture, and driving digital adoption

00:32:40 – AI, clean data, and what's next for Bluebeam

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Website: https://www.digitalconstructionpodcast.com

Episodes: https://www.digitalconstructionpodcast.com/episodes

Episode notes: https://www.digitalconstructionpodcast.com/episode/how-deep-space-is-empowering-mid-sized-builders-with-startup-co-founder-luke-johnson

Host: Andrea Ciaffi  https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-ciaffi/

Guest: Luke Johnson https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukesjohnson/

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Most construction businesses have more software than they can manage. And yet meaningful digital change remains rare. The gap between deploying a tool and getting people to actually use it is wider than most teams expect, and the reasons are rarely about the technology itself.

Luke Johnson is co-founder of Deep Space, an all-in-one AI construction management platform built for mid-sized commercial builders. In this conversation, Luke draws on his path from BIM coordinator to software founder to explain why digital adoption in construction so consistently falls short, and what it takes to change that.

00:00:00 – Best career advice: don't fall in love with your creation

00:01:15 – From BIM professional to tech founder

00:03:30 – The founding problem: data silos and communication gaps

00:04:35 – What Deep Space is and why the mid-market is underserved

00:08:40 – Selling tech in construction: trust over features

00:11:10 – State of digital adoption across Tier 1 and mid-market

00:12:40 – Why leadership mandate drives adoption

00:14:15 – Implementation vs deployment: meet users where they are

00:19:55 – Helping clients uncover the real problem

00:20:45 – AI's real impact and what tech is overhyped

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