054 - Building the Future: How AI is Reinventing Pre-Construction with Steve Dell’Orto, CEO, Concntric
Tue Nov 18 2025
What happens when a 26-year construction veteran decides to reinvent an entire industry?
In this episode of "Pitch, Build, Scale", host Chris Fanchi sits down with Steve Dell’Orto, Founder & CEO of Concntric, to explore how his company became the first AI-powered pre-construction platform, uniting data, workflows, and people into a single, intuitive system.
Steve shares what it means to “bear hug AI”, why simplicity is the hardest design challenge, and how the right UX can turn skeptics into advocates in one of the world’s most traditional industries.
From eliminating redundant workflows to building an agentic AI layer that helps teams do the work of ten people, this conversation reveals how Concntric is unlocking capacity and transforming how the built world gets built.
Chapters
00:00 Intro – Why Construction Needed a New Operating System
02:08 From Builder to Founder: Steve Dell’Orto’s Leap Into Tech
07:44 The Problem Hidden in Plain Sight
10:21 Building Concntric: From Stealth Mode to Scale
15:54 “Make Less Work, Not More” – The Simplicity Principle
17:42 How Concntric Is “Bear Hugging” AI
19:03 Agentic AI: The Future of Pre-Construction
25:14 Building Faster Through Human + AI Collaboration
26:40 The Moat: Domain Expertise as the True Differentiator
29:17 Hands-On Relationships in a High-Tech World
32:14 The Magic Wand Question – What’s Next for Concntric
34:26 Closing Thoughts and Where to Find Steve
Resources
🔗 Concntric – https://www.concntric.com
🔗 Connect with Steve Dell’Orto on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevedellorto
🔗 Big North Network – https://bignorthnetwork.com/managing-ai
📘 Learn More
Managing AI: Humans, Agents, and the Future of Work — out now from Chris Fanchi.
Learn more and order at https://bignorthnetwork.com/managing-ai
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What happens when a 26-year construction veteran decides to reinvent an entire industry? In this episode of "Pitch, Build, Scale", host Chris Fanchi sits down with Steve Dell’Orto, Founder & CEO of Concntric, to explore how his company became the first AI-powered pre-construction platform, uniting data, workflows, and people into a single, intuitive system. Steve shares what it means to “bear hug AI”, why simplicity is the hardest design challenge, and how the right UX can turn skeptics into advocates in one of the world’s most traditional industries. From eliminating redundant workflows to building an agentic AI layer that helps teams do the work of ten people, this conversation reveals how Concntric is unlocking capacity and transforming how the built world gets built. Chapters 00:00 Intro – Why Construction Needed a New Operating System 02:08 From Builder to Founder: Steve Dell’Orto’s Leap Into Tech 07:44 The Problem Hidden in Plain Sight 10:21 Building Concntric: From Stealth Mode to Scale 15:54 “Make Less Work, Not More” – The Simplicity Principle 17:42 How Concntric Is “Bear Hugging” AI 19:03 Agentic AI: The Future of Pre-Construction 25:14 Building Faster Through Human + AI Collaboration 26:40 The Moat: Domain Expertise as the True Differentiator 29:17 Hands-On Relationships in a High-Tech World 32:14 The Magic Wand Question – What’s Next for Concntric 34:26 Closing Thoughts and Where to Find Steve Resources 🔗 Concntric – https://www.concntric.com 🔗 Connect with Steve Dell’Orto on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevedellorto 🔗 Big North Network – https://bignorthnetwork.com/managing-ai 📘 Learn More Managing AI: Humans, Agents, and the Future of Work — out now from Chris Fanchi. Learn more and order at https://bignorthnetwork.com/managing-ai