Day Two

• Identifying materials and equipment most vulnerable to pricing volatility to adjust design phasing and bring procurement earlier
• Minimizing risk when securing equipment and materials without complete designs: What contingencies and allowances need to be accounted for?
• Balancing tensions between locking in price certainty and restricting design decision-making with clients: How can you still maximize flexibility in design?

• Aligning expectations early to build trust and position projects for long-term success
• Establishing a cohesive and supportive culture that carries through the project lifecycle
• Enabling informed and timely decision-making through transparency from day one

• Combining tools and best practices to manage high volumes of documents across multiple stakeholders
• Coordinating all project partners to ensure price, scope and specifications are updated consistently when design changes occur
• Implementing detailed and accessible change logs to drive accountability

• Determining the level of detail required for an estimate depending on the type and stage of the project
• Utilizing resources available to accomplish tight timelines and finding ways to expedite the creation of validations
• Including visual aids to communicate to owners and clients to improve understanding of included costs

Case Study

• Understanding how Forma Bid is shaping the future of Building Connected through smarter bid management, improved collaboration, and greater visibility
• Discovering new capabilities to streamline workflows, surface key insights, and improve decision-making
• Learning how contractors can leverage these innovations to win more work and stay competitive

• Defining generalized, applicable parameters for classifying cost data across different projects and markets
• Integrating consistent data gathering practices into existing workflows to make data governance easier to implement
• Building a robust quality control process to ensure that data input consistently meets governance standards and practices

Case Study

• Implementing guardrails around uploading sensitive client information to protect intellectual property
• Navigating how to robustly train LLMs with redacted datasets to ensure quality of AI outputs
• Packaging complex AI capabilities into simple applications to increase usability for preconstruction end-users
• Determining whether to outsource AI expertise or hire an internal taskforce to align AI strategy with organizational capabilities and protect data sensitivity

•  Standardizing and streamlining estimating processes to ensure consistency across projects, teams, and offices
• Leveraging evolving cost models and CMAR collaboration to develop estimates alongside design using a 30-60-90 approach
• Balancing data-driven insights with real-world execution, grounded in a clear basis of estimate, to drive efficiency, accuracy, and confidence in delivery

• Reviewing the manual aspects of estimating that will be replaced by technology and tools: What capacity does this open up for enhanced human input?
• Understanding the level of estimating knowledge and expertise required in a digital workflow
• Promoting technological fluency at all levels of the organization to support estimating technology roll-out

• Bridging gaps between estimating, procurement, and operations workflows to facilitate understanding of where workflows typically break down and why
• Mapping the stages of transitioning information between the three departments seamlessly: What do you need to prepare the team for and prime early?
• Building structured touchpoints with procurement and operations teams into preconstruction schedules to ensure continuity and alignment

• Recognizing the tension between growing pipelines and shrinking estimating capacity
• Replacing headcount dependency with an AI-powered workflow redesign
• Leading on AI adoption as core infrastructure, not experimentation

• Strengthening clarity and trust by focusing on detailed inclusions so owners see exactly what’s priced without ambiguity
• Streamlining the pursuit workflow by using templates, defined roles, and lessons-learned loops so high-effort proposals stay manageable and consistent
• Ensuring technical accuracy by aligning estimating, operations, and design inputs early

• Understanding how fragmented contracts, late-stage scope additions, and multi-purpose facilities reshape estimating and procurement
• Exploring practical estimating approaches for navigating frequent addendums, evolving design maturity, and industrial-level detailing
• Learn how to align procurement, material staging, and field planning with staggered contractual releases

Industrial Case Study

• Automating sourcing and engagement of Trade partners
• Improving bid coverage without growing headcount
• Understanding where AI speeds up workflows and where human judgment is still imperative

• Defining warranty, installation and troubleshooting roles upfront when handling OFCI equipment
• Structuring contracts and fees to account for OFCI risk to safeguard contractor profitability
• Embedding collaboration with vendors and design teams earlier to ensure pre-purchased equipment aligns with architectural and engineering plans, and can be installed safely and effectively