71% Still Use Spreadsheets in 2025 - Smart Staffing Solution from Top 20 GCs
Bricks And Bytes
Why Replacing Excel Was Hard but Valuable
Kevin and Lauren discuss challenges of Excel reliance and the board-level pain of not knowing where people are.
71% of construction companies are still using Excel to manage thousands of employees—and it's costing them millions in lost projects.
In this episode of Bricks & Bytes, Owen and Martin sit down with Lauren Lake, co-founder of Bridgit, and Kevin Ferguson from AECO Product Marketing to uncover how two college students disrupted the construction workforce planning industry—and built a company that now serves half of the top 20 general contractors in North America.
In this episode:
Why 42% of contractors are turning down projects despite high demand (hint: it's not what you think)
The "crane hunting" strategy that led to a Harvard Business School case study
How Bridget went from $0 to $4M ARR in just 2 years by solving one simple problem
Why construction companies are now budgeting $100K+ for workforce planning software
The shocking reason employees are leaving construction jobs (and it's not the pay)
What happens when executives ask "where are our people?" and nobody knows the answer
The hidden cost of breaking up winning project teams after every job
How AI and experience tracking are revolutionizing team composition decisions
Why there's been ZERO research data on project team success since 1999
The global expansion playbook that worked across North America, Australia, and the UK
"Our goal was simple: we just need to replace Excel. And that's actually a really challenging goal." — Lauren Lake
Whether you're a contractor struggling with resource allocation, a tech founder looking for validation strategies, or simply curious about how construction's labor shortage is reshaping the industry—this episode reveals why workforce planning has become the most critical investment in construction technology.
Our Sponsor:
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
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Chapters
00:00 Intro
02:40 Introduction to Bridget and Its Founders
03:38 The Secret to Success in Workforce Planning
05:17 Identifying Pain Points in Workforce Planning
08:15 The Harvard Business School Case Study
12:08 Validating the Product with Early Customers
14:16 The Evolution of the Product
16:55 Challenges of Replacing Excel
18:12 The Importance of Visibility in Workforce Management
19:27 The State of Workforce Planning Report
20:39 Granular vs. Executive Workforce Management
22:35 Transforming Workforce Planning Meetings
24:41 Creating a New Category in Workforce Planning
26:56 Rapid Growth and Market Penetration
28:15 ROI in Workforce Planning Solutions
30:46 What Makes a Good Workforce Planning Software?
32:53 The Role of AI in Workforce Planning
34:39 Educating the Market on Workforce Planning
52:57 Insights from the 2025 Workforce Planning Report
57:08 Investment Trends in Workforce Planning
58:19 The Ongoing Reliance on Excel
1:02:04 Pricing Model for Bridget
1:04:53 Building a Strong Company Culture
1:07:44 Managing Contractors and Subcontractors
1:08:52 Closing Remarks and Future Engagements
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