When you think of construction, what comes to mind? Steel beams, concrete, cranes… and maybe chaos.

But what about poor forecasting, design bottlenecks, and the occasional World War II bomb buried beneath the job site?

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In our latest episode, we sat down with Owen Drury, former quantity surveyor and co-host of the Bricks & Bytes podcast, for a raw and wide-ranging conversation on what’s holding construction back and how we might finally move forward.

“It’s a forever moving target.”

Owen cut his teeth in the UK construction industry, managing financial performance as a quantity surveyor- what Americans might call a hybrid of cost estimator, accountant, and project manager.

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And if there’s one thing he’s certain of, it’s this:

“You can do everything right and still get blindsided.”

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From incomplete designs passed downstream under pressure, to hidden surprises inside historic UK buildings, Owen says forecasting on construction projects often feels like guesswork with a dash of prayer.

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Even experienced builders are flying blind hoping the math will work out in the end.

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And it’s not just a UK problem. Across the Atlantic, builders face eerily similar challenges: rapid project timelines, rising costs, and legacy tools that can’t keep up.

The Bigger the Project, the Bigger the Risk

As data center giants and global tech companies demand faster builds (often in under 24 months), construction teams are feeling the squeeze. Owen points out that even the biggest players are scrambling to reduce timelines, and absorbing massive risk in the process.

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“Tech clients don’t care if it takes 24 months. They want it in 18. So now contractors are hiring internal software engineers just to keep up.”

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And yet, despite the pressure, builders are still expected to bid low, build fast, and absorb the unknown. It’s a broken incentive structure that rewards underbidding and punishes transparency, one that’s not sustainable, according to Owen.

So, What’s the Fix?

While Owen doesn’t believe there’s a silver bullet solution, he sees massive potential in a few key trends:

• AI and agentic workflows to automate time-consuming forecasting and reporting
• Consolidation of tech stacks to reduce software overload
• Modular construction and off-site manufacturing to standardize builds and reduce variability
• Pressure from tech clients to speed up innovation across the entire industry

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Whether it's mobile microfactories shipping flat-pack housing components or specialized robots handling repeatable tasks, Owen believes the future of construction hinges on systems, not just tools.

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“We’ll always need people on-site. But if we can manufacture better off-site, we can train low-skill labor, reduce errors, and build faster… with better margins.”

Why It Matters

For builders, developers, and even homeowners, the consequences of poor planning and outdated systems aren’t just cost overruns. They’re lost trust, eroded margins, and missed opportunities.

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And as Owen points out, it’s often the cheapest bid that wins the job but the most expensive experience that follows.

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As tools like Adaptive gain traction among forward-thinking builders and accountants, there’s hope for a future where margin erosion, change order chaos, and poor forecasting are the exception, not the rule.

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But until then?

We’ve got a lot of work to do.

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