Hello Priscilla

 

If you’re using AI right now, you’re probably doing it for the same reason most contractors are. Something in your business feels frustrating, confusing, or messy, and you’re hoping this tool can help you clean it up.

Sometimes it does. Sometimes it makes things worse.
 
What I’ve noticed, watching owners use AI over the past few months, is a clear pattern.
 
When AI is helping you, you already understand the work.
When it creates more mess, it’s usually being used to replace thinking instead of supporting it.
 
I see owners ask AI to write SOPs for work they’ve never clearly observed. I see it used to “fix” scheduling issues that are really capacity problems. I see policies generated when expectations were never defined in the first place.
 
What comes out often looks impressive. It’s structured. It’s organized. It sounds professional.
 
It’s also disconnected from how the work actually happens.
 
Lean systems don’t start with documentation. They start with clarity. AI can’t create that clarity for you. What it can do is make the lack of it painfully obvious.
 
While I was thinking about writing this piece, I did what a lot of you probably do. I opened ChatGPT and asked, “What should I write about?”
 
It gave me a perfectly reasonable list of ideas. But that wasn’t the real question sitting with me.
 
The real question was one I keep hearing from owners lately:
Where does AI actually belong in the process?

Do you use it at the beginning to help you think?
In the middle to solve problems?
At the end to clean things up?
 
That distinction matters more than most people realize.
 
Where I see AI work well is after decisions are already made. When you’ve spent time in the field, watched the work happen, and identified where friction lives, AI can act like a junior analyst. It helps turn rough notes into clean drafts. It standardizes language across checklists. It surfaces inconsistencies between how work is supposed to happen and how it actually happens.
 
Used this way, AI speeds up the unglamorous parts of building systems without pretending to be the system itself.
Where things go sideways is when AI becomes a shortcut around ownership. Processes get created with no clear owner. Policies show up with no enforcement. Documentation piles up, but nothing changes on the jobsite. You feel productive, yet the business still feels tense.
 
That’s not a technology problem. It’s a sequence problem.
 
Lean work still requires you to observe first, decide second, and document third. AI belongs firmly in that third step.

One simple way to pressure-test your own use is to pause before you open the tool and ask yourself:
 
What decision have I already made?
 
If you don’t have a clear answer, AI won’t make it clearer. It will just give you more words to sort through.
 
Used with intention, AI can help you expose bottlenecks, tighten language, and get systems out of your head and onto paper. Used too early, it amplifies confusion and creates the illusion of progress.

In a longer article, I’ll walk through where AI fits in a lean process, where it doesn’t, and how contractors can use it to support clear systems instead of adding more noise.
 
Your Partner in Success,
Priscilla

Here's some NEWS you can use!

 🤝 Networking

  • International Builders’ Show 2026 (IBS 2026) brings builders, remodelers, and trades professionals together in Orlando for education, networking, and practical takeaways you can apply back home.
  • Not making it to IBS? Join the Home Builders and Remodelers of Maine for Builders, Business & Beer at Cowbell in Scarborough on Thursday, February 19 at 5:30 p.m.
  • JLC Live takes place March 26–28, 2026 in Providence, Rhode Island, with hands-on education and peer connection for residential construction professionals.
  • Learn more: iconJlcliveJLC LIVE Residential Construction Show | Providence, Rhode Island

📚 Education

  • Priscilla Hansen Mahoney is speaking at International Builders’ Show 2026 with the session “Profitable Processes: How Successful Builders Streamline, Delegate & Grow.”
  • The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is offering IBS education focused on practical AI applications for builders, including estimating, documentation, and operational efficiency.
  • ICYMI: Top Strategies for Protecting Your Business in 2026 is available as an NAHB Shop Talk replay for members.
  • Watch here: iconNahbLog in Required
  • AGC Maine is offering several comprehensive trainings to strengthen and develop your teams.

💡 Wisdom (AI + Lean Systems)

  • AI is most useful after work has been observed and decisions are made, not as a substitute for clarity or ownership.
  • If SOPs are not getting used, the issue is usually process design and decision flow, not documentation quality.
  • From the Blazing Trails blog: RACI for Contractors is a useful framework for clarifying who decides what before you document anything.
  • For time and decision flow, The R.E.A.D. Framework for Contractors pairs well with AI-supported documentation work.

👷 Support (Maine & New England)

  • SafetyWorks! offers no-cost safety training and resources that support consistent jobsite systems.
  • Maine contractors may be eligible for workforce development support through the Harold Alfond Workforce Development Program, including training tied to process improvement and documentation.
  • New England contractors can also explore state-level workforce and training grants that support operational improvement and employee development.
Priscilla Hansen Mahoney
Blazing Trails Coaching, LLC