"I got employee of the year in 2016 for introducing Excel as a project management tool for the construction department in my company."
That's the state of technology in the $300 billion store development industry.
In today's episode of Bricks & Bytes, we sat down with Genevieve Davis and Alim Uderbekov from Surfaice. These two met on a beach in California (yes, really) and decided to tackle one of the most analog industries out there with AI agents.
Here's what we covered:
✅ Why companies building hundreds of stores aren't using Procore (hint: it's expensive and they're retailers, not developers)
✅ The "McDonald's is a race car" analogy - why 40,000 cookie-cutter restaurants are actually the perfect use case for AI in construction
✅ How code is becoming a commodity and why that changes everything about vertical software
✅ Why AI won't take your job, but people who know how to use it will
Link in comments - give it a listen if you're in retail, store development, or just want to hear how two people turned a beach conversation into a company.
Our Sponsors:
Aphex is the multiplayer planning platform where construction teams plan together, stay aligned, and deliver projects faster – check out aphex.co
Archdesk - “The #1 Construction Management Software for Growing Companies - Manage your projects from Tender to Handover” check archdesk.com
BuildVision - streamlining the construction supply chain with a unified platform - www.buildvision.io
Chapters
00:00 Intro
03:46 Introduction to Surface and Founders' Backgrounds
06:48 The Vision Behind Surface and AI in Construction
09:41 The Meeting of Minds: Genevieve and Alim's Collaboration
12:45 Current Challenges in Store Development
15:30 AI's Role in Automating Construction Processes
18:32 Efficiency Gains and Time Savings with AI
21:44 The Future of Store Development and Human Touchpoints
24:30 Defensibility and Business Model of Surface
27:25 Funding and Future Plans for Surface
39:13 Investment Insights and Strategic Partnerships
41:31 Customer Engagement and Feedback
44:33 AI in Construction: Transforming Workflows
47:14 Navigating the Go-To-Market Strategy
54:20 Understanding Competition in the AI Space
59:25 Customization and Onboarding Process
01:03:07 Future of AI in Construction