The ConTech Exec

Neil Shah, President & CEO of CFMA, joins Robert Zimmerman to make one thing clear: a CPA and a construction CPA are not the same thing. Retainage, WIP, certified payroll, union wage compliance across state lines — this is its own language. And most construction tech companies are building without it.

They get into AI's real role in the back office, why local market data can't just be transplanted from Texas to North Dakota, the workforce shortage hitting both the trades and the accounting profession, and what CFMA's 11,000 members and 45-year community actually bring to the table.

If you're in construction tech and you've never had a conversation with a construction financial professional — this is where that changes.

Kamran Azarbal, VP of Strategy at freshly funded Primepoint, joins Robert Zimmerman to talk about why construction's constructability review has been hijacked by drawing errors — and what AI-powered document analysis can actually do about it.

Kamran spent 12 years on the GC side at Turner and Webcor before teaming up with a co-founder who helped build Facebook's original computer vision and AI team. Together, they're building tools that catch spec conflicts, submittal discrepancies, and coordination gaps before they become field problems.

They get into the limits of LLMs on spatial reasoning, the institutional knowledge time bomb, why AI needs to pick the right construction problems (not all of them), and the danger of an AI that's too confident to be useful.

Real conversation.

Contact: [email protected] | primepoint.ai

Most construction companies are trying to solve problems with AI.

But they’re solving the wrong problem.

In this episode, KP Reddy explains why construction doesn’t have a tech gap

It has an execution gap.

From BIM to AI, the industry keeps repeating the same cycle:
New tools layered on top of broken workflows.

We get into:

• Why projects lack predictability
• How RFIs expose deeper system failures
• The reality of “value engineering”
• What AI should actually be doing in construction
• How Zero RFI is rethinking project delivery from the ground up

If you’ve ever wondered why your jobs feel like controlled chaos…
This episode will hit home.

Dillon Okner has built the same tool three times — at Apple, Tesla, and Enjoy Technology — before he finally turned it into a product.

That tool is SiteRise, and it's built around one idea: own your data from real estate phase through ribbon cutting, and don't let it live with the GC.

This episode covers retail construction's real pain points — HVAC RFIs, storefront coordination nightmares, TI dollar misallocation, and the compounding cost of a single missed opening day. We also get into data governance, the coercion economy, bid leveling, and why the best framer is always the best trim carpenter.

Texas drive time. 45 minutes. Worth every mile.

Pain is the mother of invention — and Peter Lasensky has the arbitration scars to prove it.

After losing $100,000 to a client who "couldn't remember" the work, Peter sat in his superintendent's truck, looked at his Nextel phone, and asked himself: what if we just documented it as it happened?

What started as a call-in voice log system in 2001 — with Turner Construction's San Diego Convention Center as the first customer — evolved into Note Vault (acquired by Bentley Systems in 2020) and now Command Post, a field-first documentation platform designed for the people actually building things.

In this episode, Robert and Peter dig into:

• Why foremen don't write things down (and what actually fixes it)
• The $15M Turner dispute settled by timestamped field notes
• How a $500K rework claim disappeared in one meeting
• Why the lowest bidder is construction's race to the bottom

Free for single users. Download Command Post Notes in the App Store.

If you're a construction technology founder trying to break into the market — or a construction executive drowning in vendor calls trying to find the right solution — this episode is built for you.

Robert Zimmerman sits down with Theo Yeung and Mohit Lohia from The Bullpen, a specialized sales development firm that bridges the gap between construction tech founders and the executives who need their products. With 20,000 dials a day across verticals, The Bullpen has a front-row seat to what's working — and what isn't — in today's ConTech go-to-market landscape.

In this episode:

• Why mid-market construction companies are the go-to-market sweet spot for ConTech founders
• The AI divide in construction: who's embracing it, who's still shaking hands and playing golf
• The critical difference between products that have AI and products that are built on AI — and why it matters in 2026
• Storytelling over statistics: why facts tell but stories sell in construction sales
• How The Bullpen qualifies, vets, and represents ConTech founders before they ever get to a meeting
• What construction executives should actually do when they get that cold call
• Scaling challenges: what happens when you catch the whale and have to deliver
• Why most founders build in a bubble — and how to break out of it before you burn your budget

Key Takeaway: "AI isn't going to take your job — but someone using AI will."

Whether you're a ConTech founder ready to go to market or a C-suite executive trying to cut through the noise and find tools that actually move the needle, this conversation delivers the unfiltered reality of what it takes to win in construction technology sales.

🎧 Subscribe to ConTech Exec wherever you listen to podcasts.

Construction technology, ConTech, construction podcast, go-to-market strategy, construction sales, AI in construction, construction tech founders, SaaS for construction, construction executives, The Bullpen, mid-market construction, construction innovation, proptech, construction software

Most construction companies are managing their single biggest cost center — labor — with the same tool they use to track lunch orders. And it's costing them far more than they realize.

In this episode of the ConTech Exec Podcast, Robert Zimmerman sits down with Anna Berger, Co-Founder of Trayd — an all-in-one back office operating system built exclusively for specialty contractors. Anna grew up watching her father run a construction business on razor-thin margins, stepped into his back office, and couldn't believe what she found: a $1.2 trillion industry still running payroll on paper timecards and Excel spreadsheets.

The result? Payroll admins trapped in a seven-day hamster wheel with no time to innovate, a single bad paycheck costing upwards of $960 to correct, and compliance exposure that can dwarf that figure many times over.

What you'll take away from this conversation:

• Why construction payroll is the most complex in any industry — and why tools like ADP and Paychex keep failing contractors
• The real cost of a single payroll error — and why 100% accuracy isn't a goal, it's the only option
• Why unstructured labor data is the single biggest obstacle blocking AI from delivering real value in construction
• How getting field workers genuinely bought into digital tools — not just compliant with them — is the key to clean data
• The compliance trap: how rising regulatory pressure on public works is raising the stakes for every specialty contractor

For C-suite leaders in construction, this episode connects two of the most critical operational realities you face: your data is only as good as the process that captures it, and your margins are only as good as your payroll.

🔗 Connect with Anna: linkedin.com/in/annajberger | buildtrayd.com

🎙️ Follow ConTech Exec on LinkedIn for executive-level insights on the construction company of the future.

Construction doesn’t have an AI problem.

It has a data problem.

In this episode, Robert Zimmerman and Landon Messal unpack why “data governance” is the missing foundation behind productivity, forecasting, and real operational control.

From overlapping project phases to inconsistent data in the field, the conversation exposes how the industry is building faster—but thinking slower.

Key takeaways:

• Why productivity in construction has stalled while other industries surged

• How poor data structure limits AI and decision-making
• The importance of measuring production (not just tracking spend)

• Why solving 80% of the problem beats chasing edge cases
• How to create simple feedback loops that actually improve performance

This episode is a reality check—and a roadmap—for construction leaders who want to move from reactive to predictive.

Connect with Landon Messal on LInkedin

Be sure to check out Sitemarker -

https://www.sitemarker.com/

Construction projects rarely follow the perfect linear process we imagine.

In reality, land development, design, permitting, and construction often overlap, creating incomplete plans, communication breakdowns, and costly rework.

In this episode of the CONTEC Exec Podcast, Robert Zimmerman sits down with Landon Messal from SiteMarker to unpack one of the biggest challenges in the construction industry: overlapping project phases and the lack of reliable field data.

They explore why projects often start before designs are complete, why incomplete plan sets are still being priced and built, and how poor communication leads to costly change orders.

They also discuss how AI, better data governance, and improved field data collection could transform how projects are built.

• Why construction phases increasingly overlap

• The hidden cost of incomplete plan sets

• Why communication failures create project losses

• Why only 4% of AEC data is organized and accessible

• How AI could reshape decision-making in construction

• The role of leadership and change management in adopting new technology

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Construction projects often break down in the final phase—and finish trades are the ones expected to save the schedule.

In this episode of the ConTech Exec Podcast, Robert Zimmerman sits down with Rocky Cherry, CEO of Cherry Coatings, to discuss what really happens at the end of a job when trade stacking, schedule compression, and workflow breakdown collide.

Rocky shares stories from the field, lessons from growing a national coatings contractor, and why culture and execution discipline matter more than most companies realize.

Topics include:

• Why finish trades absorb the pressure of schedule delays
• How technology is helping contractors document disruption and cost impacts
• The role of culture and servant leadership in scaling construction companies
• Why safety and planning actually improve production
• Preparing construction teams for the next wave of digital transformation

Rocky also shares an unforgettable story about retiring Derek Jeter at the final game in Old Yankee Stadium—and the leadership lesson it revealed about preparation and opportunity.

If you're a construction executive, contractor, or operations leader navigating workflow complexity, this conversation delivers practical insight into execution clarity in modern construction.