Pre-Conference Day

Explore the Agenda

Pre-Conference Day

Tuesday, May 5, 2026

Day One

Wednesday, May 6, 2026

Day Two

Thursday, May 7, 2026

8:00 am Registration & Refreshments

8:30 am Leveraging AI through a Unified Platform to Accelerate Preconstruction

Paul Hedgepath

Principal Product Specialist, Procore Technologies

Tequoya Weiss

Senior Manager - Technical Marketing, Procore Technologies

Bruno Pasini

Enterprise Solution Specialist, Precon, Procore Technologies

Establishing Your Data North Star: Discovering why a connected project lifecycle and standardized data structures are essential prerequisites for a successful, scalable AI strategy
Operationalizing AI Agents: Learning how to deploy agentic AI to automate high-effort tasks to significantly increase team capacity without expanding headcount
Driving Workflow Consistency: Exploring how to integrate AI tools directly into your firm’s Standard Operating Procedures to maintain quality across all regional offices

10:00 am Breaking Ground: Networking Break

Series 1: Streamlining Collaborative Project Delivery Series 2 Data - Driven Preconstruction Series 3 Winning Work Series 4 Mitigating Risk in Construction

Series 1: Streamlining Collaborative Project Delivery

10:30 am Workshop A: Supporting & Educating Clients to Deliver Under Collaborative Delivery Models

Craig Arnold

Vice President, Special Projects & Director, Estimating, W.M. Jordan Co.

Sara Heppe

Principal, PF&A DESIGN

Communicating the enhanced preconstruction outcomes that can be realized under collaborative delivery models
Addressing the changes that need to be made to traditional workflows to engage project partners as early as possible
Educating clients on their role in streamlining collaboration and ensuring effective decision making throughout preconstruction

1:30 pm Workshop B: Mastering Co-ordination Meetings to Drive Constructable, Aligned Designs in Design- Assist Projects

Jon Reid

Director, Preconstruction, UrbanCore Construction LLC

Chris Barnhardt

Senior Preconstruction Manager, UrbanCore Construction LLC

Reviewing the case for early alignment: why most projects fail in preconstruction, the cost of siloed starts, and what "start-ready" actually means
Discovering a four-phase preconstruction process for a mid-market GC
Analyzing design coordination, then and now – how we got here, current best-practices and where the industry is headed
Using pull planning as the alignment tool — push-vs-pull, who needs to be in the room, and a live in-room exercise that makes it real.

4:00 pm Workshop C: Building the Right Team Early: Strategies for Strong Design-Build Partnerships

Manasi Pitkar

Preconstruction Executive, PENTA Building Group

Jose Felsmann

Preconstruction Executive, Southland Industries

Developing a proactive pre-RFP teaming approach to identify the right design partners, consultants, and trade partners based on capability, culture, and collaboration style
Strengthening communication and soft-skill practices to build trust, reduce friction, and align expectations across disciplines early in the pursuit
Establishing clear frameworks for early risk and scope discussions that support transparency, shared problem-solving, and a unified pursuit strategy
Using digital collaboration tools and preconstruction workflows to streamline coordination of design concepts, cost models, and scope development among early partners

Series 2 Data - Driven Preconstruction

10:30 am Workshop D: Connecting Data Across the Full Project Lifecycle to Leverage Actual Project Costs in Future Estimates

Amanda Go

Estimating Manager, The Boldt Company

Bradley Sprangers

Estimating, Preconstruction & Virtual Design Construction Manager, The Boldt Company

Identifying useful data to feedback into preconstruction databases from latter construction phases, including model-based production tracking and earned value management
Integrating preconstruction and completed project data in a way that clearly shows the evolution over time and forms a data tracking pipeline
Standardizing data classification to ease integration, ensuring VDC/BIM model attributes, 2D quantities, and construction-phase data speak the same language across the lifecycle
Building robust integrations to streamline connectivity across estimating, construction and sales data and avoid manual re-classification

1:30 pm Workshop E: Part 1: Using AI Reliably for Takeoffs & Bid Leveling

Tanmaya Kala

COO, MeltPlan

KANAV Hasija

CEO Founder, MeltPlan

Why generic AI models fail at preconstruction tasks
How MeltPlan built PlanGraph & BidG raph as a new representation layer for AI
Improving bid leveling accuracy using templates
Real examples + accuracy benchmarks

2:30 pm Workshop E: Part 2: Cleaning Legacy Data to Enhance Accuracy of Forecasting & Conceptual-Level Estimating

Ramy Khalef

Data Science Manager, Alberici Constructors Inc.

Steven Ludwig

Estimating Director, Alberici Constructors Inc.

Defining the term ‘clean data’ and delineating when data is ‘clean’ enough to be usable across projects
Extracting useful information from data that is not fully clean to prevent project delays
Assigning roles and responsibilities for cleaning data and resourcing to balance with active projects

4:00 pm Workshop F: Creating Dynamic Cost Models to Automate Data-Driven Estimating Across a Variety of Departments

Richard Scopelliti

VP of Preconstruction, Consigli Construction Company

Creating a standardized, reliable foundation for cost modeling
Calibrating your projects of different scopes, geographies, markets, size and timeframes
Embedding data governance and consistency across teams through clear coding structures and naming conventions
Automating cost-model development to quickly generate comparative benchmarks
Using your own data to reveal value-management opportunities and early risk identification

Series 3 Winning Work

10:30 am Series Break: Please Attend a Workshop in Series 1, 2 or 4

1:30 pm Workshop H: Laying the Groundwork with New Processes & Relationships to Successfully Enter New Markets

Ken Baumgartner

Director of Preconstruction, Choate Construction Co.

Identifying new market sectors that fit with your business’ expertise and capabilities, and can sustain company growth
Evaluating the common differences in bidding frameworks from one market to the next to inform new business development approaches, resourcing and bid structures
Finding ways to expedite establishing trusting relationships with new suppliers and trade contractors

3:30 pm Workshop I: Balancing Owner Expectations with Feasible Resourcing Investments to Streamline Project Pursuits

Alec Hoffman

Lead Estimator, Aldridge Electric Inc.

Providing transparency around the time, cost and effort of competitive preconstruction work against a backdrop of increasing client demands
Working with potential clients to identify essential bidform requirements and avoid unnecessary effort on non-essential requested items
Monitoring pursuit hours to enable smarter forecasting for future projects

Series 4 Mitigating Risk in Construction

10:30 am Workshop J: Developing Contract Language That Accurately & Responsibly Shares Risk & Reflects Agreements Made During Preconstruction

Jim Driscoll

Vice President, Industrial Strategy, Kadean Construction Co.

Engaging all parties in a productive discussion early to establish acceptable terms ahead of formalising contractual language
Leveraging risk registers to establish appropriate contractual contingencies and ensure all risk is accounted for
Sharing recent legal precedents and complications to inform future risk-sharing terms: What are the disclaimers that could add risk to your business?
Understanding where modified definitions can result in misinterpretation and how to get ahead of this upfront

1:30 pm Workshop K: Building a Robust Preconstruction Risk Assessment to Ensure Full Scope Coverage in Every Bid

Chris Conrad

Vice President - Preconstruction, Elford

Evaluating the best time to assess preconstruction risk: Before or during projects?
Creating a checklist of risk factors to account for across the preconstruction value chain and within contracts for use across different project type
Discussing the risk factors commonly missed and how you can create a feedback loop between teams to support organizational learning

3:30 pm Workshop L: Staying On Top of Real Time Price & Lead Time Changes in the Current Market to Maintain Accurate Budgets & Improve Client Trust

Ross Crawford

Estimating Principal, Messer Construction

Alec Carnes

Building Systems & Group Manager, Messer Construction

Benchmarking strategies to ensure up-to-date market projections on pricing are feeding into your business
Understanding exactly why and where cost has been impacted to be able to pass insight up the supply chain
Consolidating insight into a central database to enable effective knowledge-sharing across the business: How should teams reconcile conflicting information?

Day One

Day Two

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