Formwork Labs

Construction Foundations 04: Project Team stakeholders In every construction project, three key stakeholders come together. These are: (1) The owner (also called the client); (2) The designers; and (3) The contractors While they share the goal of delivering the project, their incentives may differ, leading to potential friction. Understanding these roles and their motivations is essential for startups looking to sell into the construction industry. For example, while the owner is focused on keeping costs down, the contractor may aim to maximize revenue. If not managed carefully, these misalignments can lead to disputes or even litigation. Let’s take a closer look at the roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder. (1) Owners Owners (often referred to as the client) are the driving force behind the project. They commission and finance the construction, hire the team and set expectations for scope, timeline, and budget. Owners typically aim to maximize value while minimizing costs, making them highly sensitive to project overruns. (2) Design Team The design team, composed of architects and engineers, is responsible for translating the owner’s vision into reality through two key deliverables: · Drawings: These are detailed graphical representations of what the project will look like upon completion. · Specifications: These are written documents detailing the work and workmanship required for features displayed in the drawings. These deliverables are used by the contractors, who price and then build the project. (3) Contractors Contractors manage the physical construction of the project based on the design team’s plans and specifications. There are two primary categories of contractors: · General Contractors (GC) The GC oversees the entire project, ensuring it is delivered on time and within budget. They’re responsible for hiring and coordinating subcontractors, who carry out specialized work on different aspects of the build. · Subcontractors These are specialists in specific trades, such as carpentry, electrical work, or masonry. While the GC manages the overall project, subcontractors focus on their specific scope of work. Managing the coordination between dozens or even hundreds of subcontractors is one of the GC’s most challenging tasks, as they must ensure all parts of the project align with the design, budget, and schedule. By understanding the unique motivations of each stakeholder, startups can more effectively position their solution. If you want to learn more about how construction works - follow Formwork Labs on LinkedIn! (written by Bhragan - Last Week in ConTech)

Construction Foundations 03: Sectors of the construction industry Construction is commonly referred to as an industry of industries. The reason why is that it has multiple sectors which are varied and unique to each other. Take building a tunnel vs an apartment building. The process of building each is quite different, with differing methodologies, designs and regulatory needs such as zoning requirements or labor laws. These differences lead to specialization amongst project stakeholders with firms such as tending to service specific kinds of sectors. This is important for construction startups to understand as the sector your solution sells to can have a material impact on your bottom line. For example, office construction is in a slowdown due to remote work while data center construction is booming. Aligning your solution with designers and contractors operating in high-growth areas leads to more projects, and ultimately, more revenue. So what are the sectors of construction? We define construction as having four main sectors - Residential, Commercial, Industrial and Infrastructure. Let’s break them down below: Residential construction The residential sector focuses on the construction of buildings where people live. This includes single family homes, multi-family units and apartments. Commercial construction Commercial refers to places where we gather but don’t live. These are structures intended for business use like retail spaces, hotels or offices. Industrial construction This sector refers to the construction of facilities where goods or energy are produced, processed and distributed from. It includes factories, power plants and distribution centers. Infrastructure construction Finally we have infrastructure construction. This refers to building and maintaining structures which perform a critical public service such as roads, hospitals and airports. If you want to learn more about how construction works - follow Formwork Labs on LinkedIn! (Written by Bhragan - Last Week in ConTech)

Formwork Labs applications open November 7th, 2024!

Construction Foundations 02: Characteristics of the construction industry In this second post we will be breaking down the characteristics which are common across the construction sectors (infrastructure, industrial, commercial and residential). Here are some general characteristics which define the construction process: (1) Project based nature Each construction project (delivery of a structure/infrastructure e.g. a road) is a temporary and custom endeavor. They have defined start and end dates and each project is unique. They have their own requirements, are in different locations, have different teams / clients. It’s best to think of each construction project as a new prototype created to deliver a specific outcome. (2) Temporary and decentralized workspaces. Construction sites are temporary workplaces and change as the project progresses. In the design phase the work will be completed in the consultant's offices while during construction it occurs on site. Additionally decision making is decentralized. It can occur on site, at the client’s offices, on a Microsoft teams call or via email. Staying connected, up to date and having real time information is important for efficient decision making and delivery (3) Fragmented Structure The relationships within the construction team are highly fragmented. They feature a wide range of groups which each can have different incentives and risk tolerances. These groups can include the consultant, contractor, architect, owner, subcontractor and suppliers who all come together temporarily to deliver a project. (4) Constant uncertainty Construction is in a constant state of flux. It involves risk and unforeseen issues - weather delays, supply chain issues or budgetary changes each of which affect the schedule / program. When an issue occurs, it affects all of the tasks planned downstream of it and engineers need to solve the problems quickly. Effective risk management and planning is integral to mitigating the effects and minimizing cost and delays. In our next post we are going to be explaining each of the construction sectors. If you want to learn more about how construction works - follow Formwork Labs on LinkedIn! (written by Bhragan - Last Week in ConTech).

Construction Foundations 01: What is Construction? Construction is a complex and multifaceted industry which plays an important role in shaping our environment. It is integral to society and the functioning of the economy valued at over $13 trillion and constituting 7% of global gross output. This industry has complex and unique dynamics which make it difficult for those entering to understand. In this 101 LinkedIn series we will be demystifying what the construction industry is and what construction involves. The goal is to inspire more people to enter the industry by providing clear and unparalleled insight into construction leaning on the Formwork Labs network. As we kick it off, we must first ask, what is construction? Construction refers to the process of building or assembling infrastructure such as buildings, roads, bridges or other structures. It is important to think about construction as a PROCESS. It refers to the ‘how’ when we see infrastructure or structures. How was that built? Construction itself is a multifaceted industry often called an industry of industries. That is because there are many sectors within construction (e.g. industrial, infrastructure, commercial and residential) each with their own unique stakeholder relationships, regulatory requirements and methods of construction. For example, the process and method of building a residential home is very different to building a stadium. Sure, there are similarities as they both involve ‘construction’ but there are obvious differences in terms of the end client, the delivery mechanism and the stakeholders involved. In our next post we are going to be explaining the common characteristics of the construction industry across the sectors. If you want to learn more about how construction works - follow Formwork Labs on LinkedIn! (written by Bhragan - Last Week in ConTech)

Brick & Mortar Ventures is hosting a construction tech panel during #SFTechWeek on Tuesday, October 8th at 3pm at our office in Jackson Square. The panel will focus on the nuances of go-to-market in the #construction industry and will feature: Claire Wilson (Siteline): selling to construction trade contractors Kevin Albert (Canvas): business model changes in construction robotics Kevin Soohoo (Egnyte): leading GTM for a later stage tech company selling into the AEC industry Nitin Bhandari (Planera, Inc): repeat founder now selling into construction and will be moderated by our founder and managing director Darren Bechtel. Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/gVasMWsQ We look forward to hosting all who are interested in joining, starting, running or investing in construction tech startups! Thank you TECH WEEK by a16z for putting all of this together! See the full schedule at tech-week.com #aec #constructiontech #innovation #contech #constructiontechnology #robotics #planning #security #contentmanagement #scheduling #financials #constructionrobotics

Formwork Labs Demo Day is on Wednesday, May 15th, 2024. We will be kicking off the event with a welcome from Brick & Mortar Ventures’ Darren Bechtel and BuiltWorlds’ Matthew Gray followed by a State of Construction Tech fireside chat with Sidharth Haksar (Autodesk). Demo Day starts at 2pm (hybrid) with a networking mixer at the Brick & Mortar office in San Francisco at 4pm. Please register here for the events: https://lnkd.in/gwSS-uYY We look forward to showcasing: Flowlly MatBook Pivla Silo-In TerraScape AI Formwork Labs is powered by Brick & Mortar Ventures and BuiltWorlds. Feel free to reach out to Jack Forde or I if you have any questions! #construction #aec #constructiontechnology #constructiontech #innovation #technology #demoday #accelerator #venturecapital #startups

Buildpeer, from our inaugural Formwork Labs cohort, is hosting an event in Monterrey, Mexico! Join Brick & Mortar Ventures team members Kaustubh Pandya and Alice Leung for this event!

Thank you for the mention Matt Knight!

We are beyond excited to announce the Spring 2024 cohort for Formwork Labs! 🎉 🎉 🎉 Please join us in welcoming to the Formwork Labs family 🏗 : Flowlly: Roberto Cervantes Betancourt, Rahul Vaishnav MatBook: Harsh Badera, Shubham Sharma Pivla: Nigel Coelho Silo-In: Maria Vilshanski TerraScape AI: Medo Eldin, MSc., MA We are also excited to announce our cohort mentors! 💪 Thank you for volunteering to work with these startups throughout the upcoming program! Aaron Anderson (Swinerton) Briston Blair (Comfort Systems USA) Bernardo Gamboa (Buildtech Ventures LLC) Cameron W. (Balfour Beatty US) Cutler Knupp (Dysruptek | The Haskell Company) Ninad Athavale (Rivian) Ross Bosn (UFP Ventures | UFP Industries) Evan Reilly Dafna Kaplan (CASSETTE, Hamilton Ventures) Matthew Lickwar (Ynomia) Save the date for the Formwork Labs Spring 2024 Demo Day: Wednesday, May 15th virtually and in San Francisco. Formwork Labs is powered by Brick & Mortar Ventures and BuiltWorlds.