AI for specialty and finishing subcontractors. Get paid for the work you did.
AI can speed up takeoffs and bids, prepare submittals, track change orders and extra work until they're signed, organize punch lists and chase retainage at closeout. Modern Thesis helps owners of specialty and finishing subcontractors, such as drywall, painting, flooring, millwork and glazing, put that to work with the estimating and accounting tools they already use.
At a glance
- Who it's for: owners, presidents and operations leaders of specialty and finishing subcontractors: drywall and framing, painting, flooring, millwork and casework, glazing, tile and similar trades. Usually $10M+ in annual revenue and no CTO.
- What Modern Thesis does: AI strategy, change management, implementation and ongoing stewardship, from one team.
- How it starts: a strategic assessment that measures how the work moves today and ranks where AI pays first. See the assessment.
- Where: based in the Denver area, with an office at 11001 W 120th Ave, Ste 400, Broomfield, CO 80021. On site across the Denver metro and Colorado, and remote anywhere in the US.
- What it doesn't do: replace your estimating or project management software, give legal or engineering advice, or publish a rate card. Each engagement is priced to its scope after a first conversation.
What makes AI different for a specialty subcontractor?
Specialty subcontractors live downstream of everyone else. You bid from drawings the GC sends, submit product data for approval, work around other trades' delays and get paid on pay applications, with retainage held until the end. Margin is often lost in the paperwork: extra work done without a signed change order, a punch list that drags on, retainage that waits months after the work is done. AI helps track each of those until it's closed.
Where does AI help?
These are examples of what can be built, not past results:
- Do a first-pass takeoff from drawings for the estimator to check, and draft the bid with your standard inclusions and exclusions.
- Assemble submittal packages from product data sheets and the project specification.
- Turn field notes and photos of extra work into change order requests the same day, and track each one until it's signed.
- Organize punch list items by area and trade, and send completion photos to the GC.
- Track retainage on every job and prepare the closeout documents and requests to release it.
Why track change orders so closely?
Because unsigned extra work is often lost margin. Crews do the extra work to keep the job moving, and the paperwork follows weeks later, if at all. AI can turn the foreman's notes and photos into a change order request the same day, send it and keep reminding until it's approved. You can measure it: unbilled extras and days from work to approval.
What does Modern Thesis do here?
Modern Thesis covers four disciplines with one team. In strategy, Jim Coleman and the team map how bids, jobs and paperwork move through your company. In people, we work with estimators, project managers and foremen on training and incentives, so they use what gets built. In implementation, our AI specialists and Forward Deployed Engineers build the workflows and connect them to the software you already run. In stewardship, we stay to check accuracy and report the return against the baseline.
How does an engagement start?
Every engagement starts with a strategic assessment. We sit with the people who do the work, map how it moves through the company today, and measure a baseline on the workflows that matter most: estimator hours per bid, bid hit rate, unbilled extra work, days from extra work to signed change order and days to collect retainage. Then we rank the opportunities by return and define the first build. If AI won't pay for itself somewhere in your business, we'll tell you.
When is something else the better choice?
If your estimating software's takeoff tools work well for your trade, keep them and focus elsewhere. An outside team earns its cost when the work crosses several systems and has to keep running on every job. Our comparison of an AI agency and an AI partner covers when a one-off build is enough.
How Modern Thesis handles this
We put AI to work inside xFusion, the 70-person company Jim co-founded, and then for several of its clients. We start where the paperwork costs you the most, and we measure it. Ongoing stewardship has no set end date, and you own your data, accounts, code and documentation throughout.
Questions
How do subcontractors use AI?
Mostly for takeoffs, bids, submittals and the paperwork that gets them paid: change orders, pay applications and retainage. These tasks repeat on every job and take time from owners and project managers. The estimator and foreman keep the judgment.
Can AI do takeoffs for drywall or flooring?
It can do a first pass on clear drawings: areas, lengths and counts for review. Accuracy depends on the drawings, so an estimator should check every takeoff. The time saved shows up in bids per estimator per week.
Can AI help us collect retainage faster?
It can make sure nothing is forgotten. AI can track retainage by job, prepare the closeout documents GCs require and send requests on schedule. Collection still depends on the GC and the contract, but fewer missed steps mean less waiting.