How Smart Companies Are Using AI to Outwork Their Competition

When people ask me what’s changing our industry the fastest, my answer surprises them.

It’s not tariffs. It’s not new materials. It’s not even acquisitions.

It’s Agentic AI. And most building materials leaders haven’t even heard of it yet.

WHAT IS IT, REALLY?

Think of regular AI as a smart calculator.

You ask it something, it gives you an answer.

Agentic AI is completely different.

It’s like hiring a new team member who can take on entire projects without supervision.

I asked my AI agent yesterday to:

• Research three door manufacturers in the Atlanta market
• Find their executive team members
• Create a comparison of their product lines
• Draft personalized outreach emails to each sales director

Then I walked away.

Two hours later, everything was done while I was in client meetings.

HOW OUR CLIENTS USE IT

• A retail store client is using it to answer their phones and act as a customer service agent, handling detailed questions about products, store events, and location info.
• A building materials dealer has it tracking orders and automatically helping them dispatch them to the right delivery routes.
• A salesman has his AI agent handling all his scheduling, follow-up emails, and even preparing meeting briefs before he walks into a client’s office.

Most importantly – nobody needs to babysit these processes anymore.

The limits on this technology… they almost DON’T exist.

The craziest part is… it is improving every single day.

SIMPLE STEPS TO START

1. Pick ONE repeatable task you hate doing
2. Be crystal clear about what “done” looks like
3. Give it 2-3 tries to get it right
4. Gradually expand what you trust it with

The building materials leaders who figure this out first will have an enormous advantage.

Their teams will focus on relationships and strategy while routine work happens automatically.

MY CHALLENGE TO YOU

What’s one specific, repeatable task in your building materials business that consumes too much of your day?

Drop it in the comments – I’ll tell you whether an AI agent could handle it yet.

Let’s build smarter,

Stefanie