Freeing Our Teams to Be Builders, Thinkers, and Makers Again: Why We're Automating Away Administrative Burden
I got into construction because I love building things. Not filling out forms. Not chasing paperwork. Not tracking compliance spreadsheets. Building.
But somewhere along the way, construction became as much about administration as craft. Project managers spend hours on documentation instead of solving field problems. Superintendents fill out forms instead of mentoring apprentices. Estimators get buried in contractual clauses and risk transfer instead of refining scopes. We've buried our builders under administrative burden.
At Affect Group, we want to work towards being builders, thinkers and makers again, not administrators.
In order to bring us there we see great opportunity in the advent of AI adoption to leverage AI and technology to take on more of the administration.
In order to achieve this, we've recently established a technology committee to oversee a 36-month initiative with one clear mandate: automate administrative work so our teams can focus on what they do best, building exceptional projects and delivering outstanding client experiences.
This isn't about replacing people with AI. It's about freeing people from tasks that don't require human creativity, judgment, or expertise. It's about letting builders be builders again.
The Problem We're Solving
We recently asked our project managers to track their time for a week. The results were sobering:
- 30-40% of their time goes to administrative tasks that could be automated
- Setting up new projects from templates
- Chasing subcontractor compliance documentation
- Generating reports that pull from existing data
- Tracking things that systems should track automatically
- Following up on routine items that should trigger automatically
That's not project management. That's data entry and document shuffling.
Meanwhile, our field teams spend hours documenting work in ways that don't leverage technology, typing on tablets when they could speak naturally, manually updating trackers that should update themselves, hunting for information that should be instantly accessible.
The administrative burden doesn't just waste time, it degrades quality. When superintendents are overwhelmed with paperwork, site supervision suffers. When project managers are drowning in tracking spreadsheets, client communication suffers. When estimators are buried reviewing contract documents and contracts, bid quality suffers.
We can't scale this way. More importantly, we don't want to scale this way.
Our Guiding Principle
Every technology decision we're making starts with one question: "Does this free our people up to focus on building?"
If the answer is yes, we explore it. If the answer is no, if it's technology for technology's sake, we pass.
We're interested in giving our teams back the time and mental space to do what they're actually good at, which is solving complex construction challenges, building client relationships, mentoring the next generation, and delivering projects that make us proud.
What We're Building Over 36 Months
I'm going to share our strategic direction without revealing every competitive detail. Here's the thinking:
Automating Project Initialization
Projects currently require hours of manual setup, creating digital infrastructure, populating templates, and initializing tracking systems across multiple platforms. We're developing systems that handle this automatically. When a project is awarded, the entire digital foundation establishes itself. Project teams can focus on actual coordination instead of administrative setup.
Eliminating Documentation Burden
Construction requires dozens of standard documents for every project. We're building intelligence that generates first-pass versions automatically from initial inputs. Our teams review and refine rather than build from scratch. This isn't about lowering quality; it's about starting from 80% complete instead of zero and applying human expertise to the 20% that matters.
Making Institutional Knowledge Accessible
We've accumulated decades of expertise collectively as a team on how we handle specific situations, contract language that works, approaches that solve recurring problems. Currently, that knowledge lives in people's heads or scattered across SharePoint. We're making it instantly accessible. When someone encounters a challenge, they'll get immediate guidance based on our collective experience. New team members can access senior-level knowledge from day one.
Systematic Compliance Tracking
Insurance certificates, lien waivers, safety documentation, testing requirements, statutory compliance, these are necessary but shouldn't require human tracking. We're automating compliance monitoring, so nothing falls through cracks, and our teams aren't drowning in spreadsheets. The systems will track, alert, and in many cases, handle routine follow-up automatically.
Real-Time Visibility Without Manual Reporting
Leadership shouldn't need to request status updates that teams spend hours compiling. Our goal is to build dashboards that show real-time project status, flag issues proactively, and surface what needs attention without anyone manually generating reports. Project managers can manage projects instead of reporting on projects.
Capturing Knowledge Naturally
Field teams constantly gather critical information. We're implementing technology that lets them document work by speaking naturally instead of typing. This documentation flows into our knowledge systems automatically, becomes searchable, and informs future projects. The expertise doesn't walk out the door; it becomes institutional memory.
The Outcome We're After
By the end of this 36-month transformation, I envision an Affect Group where:
- Our project managers spend their days solving complex coordination challenges, building client relationships, and mentoring their teams, not chasing paperwork and updating trackers.
- Our superintendents focus on quality control, safety leadership, and field problem-solving, not administrative documentation that should happen automatically.
- Our estimators spend time refining scopes and building vendor and client relationships, not buried in contractual clauses that systems can review and provide guidance on how to handle and de-risk.
- Our field teams document their work naturally and access institutional knowledge instantly, without administrative friction slowing them down.
- Our clients experience seamless delivery because our teams have mental bandwidth for proactive communication and creative problem-solving, not just reactive crisis management.
And critically: our quality improves because people have time to focus on the work, not the paperwork.
Why This Matters for Quality and Client Experience
Here's what I have learned over years in this business: administrative burden isn't just inefficient; it directly impacts quality.
When project managers are overwhelmed with tracking spreadsheets, they miss early warning signs on projects. When superintendents are buried in documentation, they can't be present on the work face. When teams are stressed about administrative gaps, they're not thinking creatively about how to solve construction challenges.
The best project delivery happens when smart people have the mental space to think strategically, notice details, solve problems before they become crises, and build relationships with clients and trade partners.
Automation doesn't just save time; it creates the conditions for excellence. When routine tasks happen systematically, teams can focus on non-routine challenges that actually require human judgment.
That's how you raise quality. That's how you create outstanding client experiences. That's how you build a company culture where people can take pride in craft instead of drowning in admin.
The Human Element Is Central
I want to be explicitly clear: this initiative is about empowering people, not replacing them.
We're not reducing headcount. We're not deskilling positions. We're not turning project managers into button-pushers or field teams into data entry clerks.
We're doing the opposite: freeing skilled professionals to apply their expertise where it matters. A project manager freed from three hours of daily administrative work can spend that time preventing problems, building relationships, or mentoring younger staff. A superintendent who documents work in seconds instead of minutes has more time for quality walkthroughs and safety coaching.
Every conversation with our technology committee includes our operations team. We're not implementing systems developed in isolation, we're building tools that our people will actually use and that solve problems they actually face.
This is builders building tools and systems for builders.
Why Share This Publicly?
Some might wonder why I'm sharing our strategic technology direction. A few reasons:
First, by the time competitors recognize they need similar approaches and begin planning, we'll be well into execution. By the time they're executing, we'll have years of refinement.
Second, I believe our industry benefits when companies share strategic thinking. Construction has lagged other sectors in technology adoption. We need to accelerate together, not individually.
Third, this isn't really about the specific technology, it's about the philosophy. The companies that thrive in the next decade won't be those with the fanciest AI. They'll be those who figure out how to use any available technology to free their people to focus on what matters: building exceptional projects.
The philosophy is shareable. The specific implementation becomes our competitive advantage.
The Path Forward
We're working with our external IT provider on a 36-month implementation roadmap. We're starting with foundations, proving concepts, learning what works in construction's messy reality, and iterating based on real-world feedback from our teams.
This isn't a typical technology project where we pick a vendor solution and roll it out. We're building custom systems that work the way we work, that integrate with our existing platforms, that solve our specific challenges.
It's ambitious. It's expensive. It's the right investment.
Because at the end of this transformation, we won't just be more efficient, we'll be better builders. Our teams will have the time and mental space to focus on craft, quality, relationships, and problem-solving. Our clients will experience the difference in every interaction.
Looking Forward
I'm writing this in late 2025, and I believe we're at an inflection point. AI has finally matured to the point where it can handle construction's unstructured reality. The tools exist to systematically eliminate administrative burden. The question is which companies will act decisively, and which will wait.
At Affect Group, we're acting. We're investing now in the infrastructure that will define how we operate for the next decade. We're doing it thoughtfully, with governance, with our team's input, and with one clear North Star, freeing our builders to build.
The construction industry is built on craft, skill, and experience. Those will always be central. But they shouldn't be buried under administrative burden.
We're building the future where builders can be builders again.
