Estimate the value AI assistants may bring to your portfolio.

Admin & paperwork savings = projects × field staff per site × admin hrs per person per week × 52 × admin reduction % × labour rate.

Rework avoidance = projects × avg. contract value × rework baseline % × rework reduction %.

Schedule delay avoided = projects × avg. contract value × delay-cost baseline % × delay reduction %.

Change orders captured = active contract value × change-order % × unbilled share × recovery %.

Faster billing & holdback = (active contract value ÷ duration) × (draw days sooner + 10% × holdback days sooner) ÷ 365 × cost of capital.

Safety & WSIB = active contract value × labour share × WSIB rate × 2.1 (direct + 1.1 indirect) × reduction %.

Estimating & bid time = estimators × bid hours per week × 52 × reduction % × rate.

Total estimated annual value = admin savings + rework avoidance + schedule delay avoided. Value per project = total ÷ active projects.

Default assumptions (typical published figures)
• Admin time: 5.5 h/week per team member, FMI's average time spent looking for project data [1]. Field staff per site (default 2) is your input.
• Labour rate: $56/hr = $42.25/hr Toronto-region median for general construction supervisors [4] + 32.5% burden, the midpoint of the commonly cited 25–40% construction range [5].
• Rework baseline: 5% of contract value, the average direct rework cost in CII-database research [3]; CII cites a 2–20% range on typical projects [2]. FMI attributes 48% of U.S. rework to poor project data and miscommunication [1].
• Delay-cost baseline: 1.8% of contract value = a 20% schedule overrun (McKinsey: large capital projects typically take 20% longer than planned [7]) × 9% general conditions (midpoint of the 6–12% typical for commercial jobs [8]). Time-related site overhead is only one part of delay cost; this excludes liquidated damages and financing.
• Change orders: changes adding 5–10% to contract value are typically expected [9]; we use 5%. Contractors surveyed report losing 32% of change-order revenue to unbilled, unpaid changes on average; U.S. firms reported 20%, Canadian firms 39% [10]. We use 20%.
• Billing: Ontario requires owners to pay a proper invoice within 28 days and holds back 10% of value supplied [11]. Cost of capital defaults to bank prime, 4.70% [12]; most contractor credit lines cost more.
• Safety: 2026 WSIB rate for non-residential building construction (G6) is $1.61 per $100 of payroll [13]. Premiums are used as a proxy for direct injury cost, plus OSHA Safety Pays' 1.1 indirect-cost ratio [14].
• Estimating: $38.46/hr Toronto median for construction estimators [15] + 32.5% burden [5]. Estimator count and bid hours are your inputs.
• Reductions (admin 30%, rework 10%, delay 5%, change-order recovery 10%, safety 5%, bid time 20%; draws 5 and holdback 15 days sooner): our assumptions, adjust to your experience. The 10% rework reduction is grounded in FMI's finding that about 48% of rework stems from poor project data and miscommunication [1], the issues AI assistants may help with; it assumes only about a fifth of that share is prevented. We found no independent construction-specific study for these. For reference, a controlled study of professional writing tasks measured 40% less time with an AI assistant [6]; field documentation may differ.
• Industry benchmarks are published ranges, not our data. Large-project figures may overstate typical commercial work.

Sources
1. FMI for PlanGrid, Construction Disconnected (2018)
2. Construction Industry Institute, A Guide to Construction Rework Reduction (RT-252, 2011)
3. Hwang, Thomas, Haas & Caldas, Measuring the Impact of Rework on Construction Cost Performance, ASCE J. Constr. Eng. Mgmt. (2009)
4. Job Bank (Government of Canada), General Construction Supervisor wages, Toronto Region
5. Miter, Labor burden in construction (25–40% range)
6. Noy & Zhang, Experimental evidence on the productivity effects of generative AI, Science (2023); MIT News summary
7. McKinsey, Optimizing performance in infrastructure project delivery (2017)
8. Ogletree, Hybrid cost-plus contracting with lump-sum general conditions (2018)
9. Serag, Change Orders and Productivity Loss Quantification Using Verifiable Site Data, UCF (2006)
10. Dodge Data & Analytics, Top Business Issues for Specialty Contractors (2022), via ENR
11. Ontario Construction Act, ss. 6.4 and 22
12. Canadian prime lending rate 4.70% (Oct 2026)
13. WSIB, 2026 premium rates
14. OSHA, Safety Pays: background of cost estimates
15. Job Bank, Construction Estimator wages, Toronto Region

AI assistants help draft daily logs and reports, look up documents, and flag possible coordination and safety issues for your team to review. Estimates only, not a guarantee or quote.