Breakout Session

Stop Chasing Updates: Let AI Do the Busywork on Your Construction Projects

Thursday, Nov 5 | 10:20AM - 11:20AM

Details

For builders, two questions decide the job: are we on schedule, and are we on budget? Keeping both current usually means hours of manual updates, retyping a GC's schedule, chasing change documents, reconciling budgets. Two former construction professionals show how Smart Assist can carry that load: turning an outside schedule or a stack of documents into structured tasks and budget lines, flagging what's slipping or over budget before it hurts, and keeping the numbers honest, so your team spends time building, not updating spreadsheets.

Content Track

From Tools to Intelligence: Designing Systems to Conquer Complexity

User Level

Intermediate

Location

Flex A - Level 2

Speakers

Headshot of Shane Farley

Shane Farley

Sr. Commercial Solutions Engineer

Senior Commercial Solutions Engineer - Construction Specialist, 4.5 years with SMAR. Prior to SMAR, spent 3+ years in the commercial construction management space holding various project management roles. Primarily worked within mixed use / office & lab space but also worked on higher education. A majority of my experience includes occupied buildings and renovations.

Headshot of Anthony Arrienda

Anthony Arrienda

Commercial Solutions Engineer

Over a decade of construction industry experience — 4+ years in solution advising at Smartsheet and 8 years in the field in project management with an electrical subcontractor. Worked across mixed-use retail, healthcare, transportation, and large commercial building projects. Fun Fact: Back at the Washington State Convention Center for Engage two years running — the site of my last field project is now the site of my second Engage appearance.

Headshot of David Item

David Item

DWF Project Manager, SPW IWG

David Item is a Project Manager with DPR Construction, where he manages self-perform doors, frames, and hardware installation across the Northwest Region — work spanning single-door service calls to 500-door mega-projects. Frustrated by inconsistent tracking across dozens of concurrent jobs, David built a standardized Smartsheet system now managing $41M+ in contract value across 81 active projects, with adoption expanding to additional DPR regions nationwide. "We built this because I saw how you can really connect everything within Smartsheet and create structure where the tools are the same for every job, whether it's a 1-door project or a 500-door project." Before DPR, David spent five years as a Project Engineer at ISEC, Inc. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Construction Management from California State University, Chico.