Choosing Startup Speed Over Stability

Architecture firms forget every project the day it finishes.

The detail that caused an RFI goes back into the library unfixed, and turns up on the next job with the same problem attached.

In today’s episode of Bricks & Bytes, Ross Wagner from Pirros joined us to unpack why it keeps happening, and what an AI project hub actually changes.

What we learnt:

* Why firms forget every project the day it finishes, and how a bad detail carries its RFI onto the next job

* What Pirros does as an AI project hub, and how its AI agent Mira works alongside designers inside Revit

* Why quality review belongs in the model as well as the drawing set

* The shift in construction tech upstream into design, and the move from point tools towards connected platforms

* Lessons from PlanGrid on hiring, building an AEC sales team and go to market through community

Full episode live on Youtube and Spotify. Link in the comments!

#aec #construction #constructiontech #ai #bricksandbytes

Our Sponsors:

This episode is brought to you by our friends at Miter. If you haven’t heard of Miter, you’re missing out. Today, 2 of every 100 construction workers in the U.S. are paid through their AI-powered platform that connects payroll, HR, field operations, and job costing. And that number is growing fast. 

Miter is on a mission to defeat what they call “the Frankenstack”, the tangle of 1980s software, spreadsheets, and paper that every construction back office is familiar with. 

Learn why thousands of contractors are running everything from prevailing wage payroll to time tracking to per diems on Miter at miter.com (M I T E R .com)

https://www.miter.com/?utm_source=bricks-and-bytes&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=bb-sponsorship-q4-2026&utm_content=bb-podcast

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 

Chapters

0:00 Teaser

0:38 Intro: Ross Wagner, Head of Strategy at Pirros

1:05 Quickfire: are contractors taking control of design?

2:53 Why Ross joined Pirros after PlanGrid and Autodesk

4:06 How to stop knowledge leaving your firm

4:40 What is Pirros? The AI project hub for architects

5:30 Why AEC firms forget every project the day it finishes

7:38 Sponsors

10:43 The biggest problems inside architecture firms

12:20 Startup vs Autodesk: the “say no with pleasure” advice

14:46 Builders vs optimisers: architect and engineer co-founders

16:17 How to measure the ROI of AI in design

18:31 Why AI shouldn’t design construction details

20:15 Mira: an AI agent that works inside Revit

21:55 What a Head of Strategy actually does

22:51 How to know if your strategy is working

25:00 Competitive moat in the age of AI: why context beats code

27:12 How to hire great people (the “no jerks” rule)

28:44 Growing 5x and lessons from PlanGrid

29:56 What’s the end game: acquisition or IPO?

31:02 Construction tech trends: the shift upstream to design

31:57 Platforms vs point solutions

32:46 The three eras of AI: chat, copilot and coworker

33:46 Is AI drawing review enough? Drawings vs BIM models

36:53 How to build a construction tech sales team

37:50 Hiring your first salesperson

38:34 Advice for founders: start with the boring workflow

41:11 Doug Leone’s startup orchestra lesson

41:37 Go-to-market that works in AEC: community

42:43 Software fatigue and change management

44:06 Lessons from Autodesk vs startups

45:49 What’s next for Pirros: quality review and MCP