After five years I’m seeing early signs that AI is going to fundamentally change the building products industry.
Malcolm Gladwell coined the “Tipping Point” as the moment when something crosses a threshold and spreads exponentially. This $1T vertical that's a major driver of global GDP is approaching this very precipice.
Before AI in the building products industry, it took multiple conversations with an experienced professional and hours or days of consideration to get to a first product recommendation.
Today, it's a slow and painful process to even get a rough idea of what you're in for.
This first recommendation is the critical Tipping Point because that’s where the first preference is created for a $5k-$1M+ purchase.
AI today can make a good-enough configured building product recommendation fast. And do it with as little as a few clicks or as detailed as a full spec sheet or drawing.
In an industry losing highly experienced and knowledgeable pros, the pain of first recommendation will get worse as AI gets better.
One thing to note is that the product or variants might change during the 6-week to 18 month long project but landing that early preference is where the gold is.
Another factor that makes this AI recommendation the Tipping point is the “multi-stakeholder” dynamic of the building products industry.
Homeowners, designers, architects, contractors, dealers – if any of these stakeholders find a product that's a great fit for the job they can potentially swing the entire purchase.
This can happen with AI because none of these people want to talk to a salesperson first.
Your surface area for luck with AI is expanded. Even if you only win one stakeholder, you can win the entire deal.
Here are a few examples of how different stakeholders can use AI to get to configured product recommendations fast:
- A homeowner uploads a photo and instantly sees your configured door and matching transom on their actual home
- An architect inputs U-Value, glass type, and size specifications and immediately discovers your folding glass wall that meets every requirement
- A designer completes a brief quiz and receives a beautifully configured sink system with rationale for each product selection
Instant AI product recommendations and the multi-stakeholder dynamics of this industry are creating the tipping point by democratizing product configuration and recommendation at scale, 24/7, for every stakeholder.
The companies that seize this opportunity will determine the winners and losers of the Building Products industry.