Can New Technology Help The Construction Industry Stay Profitable?

Apr 4, 2023

In the eighth episode of Season 11 of the Propcast,
host Louisa Dickins is joined by Maria
Davidson, CEO & Founder of Kojo and Dan
Babcock, President at James Babcock Inc

Episode Highlights:
•  What was behind the creation of Kojo and the issues they
believed they could resolve
•  What Kojo stands for
•  Common questions clients of Kojo want to have answered
•  The reasons why Dan’s company became customers of Kojo and
the benefits they get from it
•   How Dan found introducing a new technology solution into
the business that had been running since the 50’s
•  The impact the increase in the cost of materials is having
on profitability
•  The different product changes that have occurred for Kojo
and their future plans
•  What drives the development of different products and their
roadmap
• Other products Kojo integrates with
• Trends Maria is seeing within the industry

Resources:
• LMRE Global Recruitment and
Search Consultancy
• LMRE
YouTube Interviews
• PropTech
Salary Report, LMRE 2022
• Procore
•
OpenSpace podcast

Key Takeaways:
 •  When we started Kojo back in 2018, the question that we
were really obsessed with was how could we make the built
environment faster, more efficient and less error prone to
build? – Maria
 •  In the last three years, with an extremely volatile
supply chain and volatile material prices, the difference between
being profitable and unprofitable can really come down to one
project going well or going badly.  – Maria
 • A big thing is pricing. We’ve seen huge savings. Because
back in the day, my purchaser would’ve taken an order and called
our favourite vendor and ordered the materials. Now we’re sending
it out if it’s a smaller order, to three to four vendors and I can
see on my dashboard the amount of savings between if we would’ve
just gone with the one vendor. – Dan
 • So we take baby steps on anything we do, because people in
construction are a little behind on, I’d say technology, but we
don’t want to be, not all of us. – Dan
 • We just had a customer who got an invoice for $12,000 that
should have been $120  because the unit of measurement was
off. And they said, that’s the kind of thing that we could have
just paid because we’re getting thousands of invoices a month, and
it’s impossible for us to know that each one is being meticulously
checked. – Maria

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins
Louisa
is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market
leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy
with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and
Asia-Pacific.
To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up
the Global podcast ‘The
Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built
environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE
LMRE is globally recognised for
leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent
management.
From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the
very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in
PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and
Strategic Consulting.
At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the
expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very
best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our
global network in the UK, Europe, North America and
Asia-Pacific.

Sponsors

Launch Your Own Podcast
A Podcast Company is
the leading podcast production and strategic content company for
brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and
entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy,
equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound
amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with
your perfect clients. Get in touch [email protected]