Digital Builder Why AI Adoption Fails and How Construction Leaders Can Fix It
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Jan 6, 2026 
Dr. Sarah Buchner, the Founder and CEO of Trunk Tools, brings her unique perspective as a carpenter turned data scientist to discuss AI in construction. She dives into why AI adoption often fails and how to overcome resistance to change. Sarah highlights high-ROI areas for AI, especially in automating white-collar tasks like scheduling and approvals. She explains the role of executives in AI rollout and stresses the importance of vertical AI models tailored for construction. Her insights offer a roadmap for industry leaders to embrace AI effectively.
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Ultimatum Sparked Companywide Change
- Sarah Buchner forced company-wide AI use with a blunt ultimatum to overcome hesitation.
- The approach shifted staff from fearing job loss to embracing AI-driven workflows.
Adoptability, Not Tech Aversion
- Construction resists bad tech, not technology itself; adoptable UIs win.
- AI can remove manual data entry, making tools instantly valuable to field crews.
Automate Repetitive White-Collar Tasks
- Target repetitive, well-defined white-collar workflows first for high ROI (submittals, meeting minutes, scheduling).
- Prefer end-to-end autonomous agents for tasks where human behavior change is hard.