Sam Nadler (00:21):
Hey everyone and welcome to Built This Week, the podcast where we share what we’re building, how we’re building it, and what it means for the world of AI and startups. I’m Sam Nadler, co-founder here at Ryz Labs, and each week I’m joined by my friend and business partner, Jordan Metzner. This week we have a guest — Tristan Wilson, CEO of Edgevanta. Tristan, give us a quick intro before we jump into the docket.
Tristan Wilson (00:51):
Thanks for having me, guys. I’m Tristan Wilson, CEO and founder at Edgevanta. We build AI agents for civil estimating, helping construction estimators work faster and more accurately. I grew up in the road construction industry in Louisiana, later moved to Nashville, and started the company in 2022. Having lived those pain points firsthand, I wanted to create a tool that removes the manual drudgery of reading massive bid packages and lets teams make better, data-driven decisions.
Sam Nadler (01:41):
Perfect. We’ll dive deeper into Edgevanta in a bit, but first — quick reminder to like and subscribe! New episodes drop every Friday on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Today we’re covering what Jordan built this week, how Edgevanta is transforming construction with AI, and of course, the latest AI news making waves across tech.
Jordan Metzner (02:27):
Hey guys, how’s it going? Another exciting week in AI and beyond. Since Edgevanta focuses on construction, I decided to build a few AI construction games inspired by that world. The first one’s called Edgevanta Tycoon — think RollerCoaster Tycoon, but for bidding on and building projects. You bid, you build, you grow your company — and of course, you use Edgevanta agents to help you along the way.
Jordan Metzner (03:14):
Let’s try a project — a downtown parking lot with a $150K budget. The tool recommends a bid range between $120K and $150K, so I’ll go with $125K. Boom, unlocked an AI agent: the Bid Brief Summary Agent. As you complete projects, you can unlock more agents and equipment to scale your construction empire.
Jordan Metzner (04:27):
Next, I built another mini-game: a highway construction simulator. You crush rocks, heat the asphalt, pave the highway, and roll it out — all powered by Edgevanta. Not my best game ever, but pretty fun. Anyway, that’s my build for the week — Tristan, why don’t you tell us more about how Edgevanta actually works and who your users are?
Sam Nadler (05:36):
Yeah, and I’m curious too — construction feels like a super traditional industry. How has AI made such a big impact there?
Tristan Wilson (06:13):
Great question. Estimators deal with massive amounts of data — 1,200-page bid packages, specs, and drawings. Traditionally, they had to read every single page to extract what matters. It could take 4–6 hours per bid just to review the documents. Missing one tiny detail could cost millions — I once missed a subcontractor form and lost a $6.5M airport project because our bid was submitted 19 seconds late.
With Edgevanta, AI agents read and summarize everything in minutes. They highlight what’s important, flag inconsistencies, and free up teams to focus on strategic work — not data entry.
Tristan Wilson (10:06):
We use domain-trained AI agents — each one specializes in a specific task like parsing bid forms, identifying requirements, or generating summaries. For example, one of our customers used to spend two hours manually entering bid data into Excel. Now, they upload the PDFs, hit one button, and get a CSV ready in two minutes. That’s real-time saved — and it means estimators can focus on winning jobs, not copying numbers.
Tristan Wilson (11:59):
Beyond time savings, we also help clients win more bids and leave less money on the table. We scrape historical Department of Transportation pricing data, analyze trends, and predict market behavior. One of our customers reduced bid variance from 11% to 7%, adding $8 million back to their bottom line.
Jordan Metzner (13:29):
That’s awesome. And it seems like before this, teams had to choose which bids were even worth the effort, right?
Tristan Wilson (13:56):
Exactly. That’s where AI also helps with the “go/no-go” decision. Our customers — typically civil contractors — get flooded with bid packages. Edgevanta quickly reviews them, summarizes what’s relevant, and helps teams decide which projects to pursue. Even saving 30 minutes per package compounds across dozens per week.
Sam Nadler (15:43):
You mentioned earlier that AI isn’t replacing estimators, it’s empowering them. Are people in the industry receptive to that?
Tristan Wilson (16:27):
It’s a spectrum. Some are cautious, but most quickly realize AI is a tool, not a threat. It doesn’t replace human judgment — it removes the grunt work. Instead of spending hours manually typing 120 items, they can focus on strategy, pricing, and compliance. AI even catches inconsistencies that humans might miss, like conflicting project timelines hidden deep in bid docs.
And I always tell teams — this is the worst AI you’ll ever use, because it’s only going to keep getting better.
Sam Nadler (19:34):
Amazing. A perfect example of AI making real impact in the physical world.
Jordan Metzner (19:53):
Totally. And speaking of AI impact — let’s move into this week’s AI news. First up, Nvidia just invested $2 billion in Elon Musk’s xAI.
Sam Nadler (20:28):
Yeah, my initial reaction — interesting to see Nvidia so tightly intertwined with both OpenAI and now xAI. It raises the question: is this infrastructure buildout for the future, or a speculative bubble?
Jordan Metzner (21:25):
I’m leaning toward optimism. Jensen Huang doesn’t miss. If Nvidia gets the chance to invest in xAI, I’d do it too.
Tristan Wilson (21:34):
Same here. I like xAI’s “truth-seeking” philosophy — it’s a different approach. And honestly, betting against Elon hasn’t worked out for most people.
Jordan Metzner (22:09):
Next headline — OpenAI is reportedly planning $1 trillion in infrastructure spending. That’s a wild number. Even with $10–15 billion in annual revenue, that scale is unprecedented.
Sam Nadler (22:33):
It’s mind-blowing. But it shows how much confidence hyperscalers have in AI’s trajectory. We’ve never seen a trillion-dollar project before — it’s basically AI’s version of the moon landing.
Jordan Metzner (23:44):
Exactly. And despite market skepticism, I’m still all-in on Nvidia. Even at a $4.5 trillion valuation, it feels early.
Tristan Wilson (23:53):
Agreed. Honestly, I think AI is under-hyped. In construction, adoption is still early — maybe 15–20% of firms use AI enterprise-wide. But that’s changing fast. Executives are realizing tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok aren’t optional anymore.
Tristan Wilson (24:48):
I read recently that Ernst & Young rolled out Anthropic’s Claude AI to 470,000 employees. That’s the scale we’re talking about. Hundreds of millions in enterprise AI licenses — and that’s just the beginning.
Jordan Metzner (26:34):
That’s incredible. And hearing how AI is transforming industries like construction really brings it full circle.
Sam Nadler (26:55):
Yeah, totally. Tristan, thanks for joining us. It’s exciting to see how Edgevanta is using AI to modernize one of the world’s oldest industries — and we’re definitely still in the early days.
Jordan Metzner (27:16):
Couldn’t agree more. Thanks everyone for tuning in. Check us out at BuiltThisWeek.com, or on YouTube and Spotify. I’m Jordan, for Sam and Tristan — see you next week!
Tristan Wilson (27:40):
Thanks guys, really appreciate it.
