The Albany Gazette - BuildOps Launches Projects, Giving Specialty Contractors Their Own AI-Native System to Run Construction Work

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESS Newswire / May 7, 2026 / BuildOps, the AI-native platform for commercial contractors, today launched Projects, the first system of its kind built for specialty trades to run multi-month construction work from kickoff to closeout. With Projects, the 1,500+ contractors who already run their service operations on BuildOps now have one platform for both service and construction, coordinated by the company's embedded AI, OpsAI.

Specialty contractors are the backbone of every major commercial construction project in the country. Yet the tools available to manage that work have always been designed for general contractors (GCs) - leaving specialty teams to bridge field and office with spreadsheets, email threads, and disconnected GC portals. Documentation, job history, and financial records live between multiple systems, so what crews capture on the jobsite rarely reaches the office in time to act on it. And when a GC closes out a job or switches platforms, the specialty contractor often loses access to its own data, along with the connection between field and office that drove the work in the first place.

Projects changes that. The system gives specialty contractors a single place to manage resource planning, field execution, document control, materials, subcontracts, and project financials - connecting the work in the field to the financial layer in real time, and integrating with existing ERPs.

The launch brings a redesigned suite of project workflows that have lived in disconnected tools until now: RFIs and submittals rebuilt for specialty trade workflows, advanced change order management, subcontract tracking, project-centric time tracking, and connected daily reports and field workflows. Labor hours, scope changes, commitments, and field updates all feed the same project record. New Lists functionality turns recurring checklists into repeatable SOPs, so process consistency no longer depends on which PM or crew is running the job. And in the mobile app, field crews can create tasks directly from drawing attachments - keeping punch lists, deficiency tracking, and closeout items moving without waiting on phone calls or spreadsheet updates.

"For the first time, a specialty contractor can run its entire business on one platform - with the financial layer connected directly to the field work that creates it," said Alok Chanani, Co-Founder and CEO of BuildOps. "Change orders, retainage, commitments - all of it lives in the same system as the daily report that drives it. OpsAI surfaces a margin slip the same week it happens, not three months later when the pay app comes back light. That's a fundamentally different way to run this business."

The launch arrives as commercial trades are absorbing more risk and responsibility than at any point in a generation. More than 500,000 skilled trade jobs sit unfilled across the U.S. Project complexity is rising. And 80% of commercial contractors say AI will be essential to their operations within three years.

BuildOps has spent the past year building for that gap. The company brought in executive leadership from Autodesk and Procore, including CMO Colin Piper and CPO Will Lehrmann, to accelerate its push into construction alongside service. Projects is the product of that investment. It was shaped directly by contractors who told BuildOps they needed their project financials, field documentation, and daily execution in the same place they already run service, not in a second system they don't own.

Projects in BuildOps is generally available today. To learn more, visit buildops.com/projects.

About BuildOps

BuildOps is the AI-native platform for commercial contractors. One system to run service, projects, and financials, from the first call to the final invoice. With intelligence built into every workflow, BuildOps gives commercial contractors the visibility, speed, and control to run their operations with confidence. The platform doesn't just track the work; it moves it forward. Founded in 2018 by a U.S. Army veteran, BuildOps exists to give mission-critical trades technology as strong and reliable as they are. Today, more than 1,500 leading companies across North America trust BuildOps, backed by Founders Fund, N47, Meritech Capital, and other top investors.

Media Contact:

Justin Mauldin
Salient PR
[email protected]
737.234.0936

SOURCE: BuildOps

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

(J.Torres--TAG)