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Key Construction, a leader in commercial and industrial building, wanted AI to do real work on the operational side of the business: proposals, reporting, vendor management, and the daily flow of project information. Working with GCM, the team built AI into those workflows and came out completing 18.75% more work, with measurable time savings across the board.
The Challenge
Key Construction set out to enhance efficiency and streamline operations across its projects. The aim was concrete: improve task completion, cut the time spent on repetitive processes, and give teams better tools for the document-heavy, communication-heavy work that fills a construction week.
What GCM Did
Key Construction and GCM started with a discovery phase to find where AI could deliver the most value across departments, prioritizing opportunities that were both high-impact and immediately actionable. From there, GCM built a structured, hands-on implementation plan tied to the company's real workflows and business priorities, then trained the team to put it to work.
The Results
Employees reported an average 18.75% increase in task completion after adopting AI, with some finishing 10 to 40% more work per day or week. Time savings tracked alongside it: more than 40% of employees saved at least 11 to 20% of their time, one in five saved over 40% on key activities, and the team averaged 14.4% time savings across AI-assisted tasks.
The strongest gains came in the document-heavy work that defines construction operations:
- Proposals and RFPs: AI streamlined document review and pulled key information quickly and accurately, cutting time on proposal assessments. A custom GPT built for fire station projects assists in drafting proposals with consistent structure
- Subcontractor and vendor management: AI compared subcontractor bids by extracting scope items, summarizing cost estimates, and flagging discrepancies, supporting faster decisions
- Contract drafting: AI generated contract drafts from selected proposals and templates, speeding the process while keeping drafts aligned with project requirements
- Project reporting: AI-powered workflows simplified weekly project reports, saving hours of manual effort each week and improving accuracy
- Project management and notes: AI turned meeting notes into action lists, priorities, follow-ups, and team briefings
AI quickly became part of the daily routine. Employees estimated their tasks would take about 9.4% longer without it, a sign of how naturally it had settled into the way the team works.
We've got people ChatGPTing the heck out of their daily tasks! GCM's training has helped us work smarter. From office staff to field staff, everyone has found ways to make their work faster and more efficient with AI. The enthusiasm has been incredible, and I'd say it was a wild success as I'd hoped!
Steven Wells, President, Dallas-Fort Worth Division at Key Construction
Key Construction's experience shows what happens when AI is aimed at the work that matters most. By building it into proposals, reporting, and project management, the company turned everyday tasks into faster, more reliable workflows and freed its people to focus on higher-value work.
