AI in Distribution: What’s in It for the Contractor?
Last week I wrote about AI moving into distribution and asked a simple question:
What are we going to do with it?
This week, I want to look at it from the customer's side.
I've always been a hands-on operator. I like being close to the work (OK, on the jobsite) because that's where you really understand what matters, and what can go wrong.
I remember being on a hospital jobsite at 3:00 AM for a delivery.
Our team was navigating crowded delivery bays, elevators, patient hallways and security checkpoints, with a contractor project leader escorting us through the building. He was nervous. And for good reason.
We had one job:
Be there at 3:00 AM. Wheels up and gone by 7:00 AM. No exceptions.
If we showed up with the wrong material, missed something or weren't ready to execute, we weren't just having a bad day.
We could have cost our customer an entire day of work.
That experience reinforced something I've told my teams for years:
We need to think of ourselves as an extension of our customer's business.
I think that is what gets me excited about AI.
The opportunity isn't just to automate tasks or reduce labor.
Imagine AI helping a distributor catch an order error before it leaves the building. Identify inventory problems before the contractor knows there's a problem. Find the right material at the right location. Optimize the delivery. Keep the customer informed.
Now… Imagine the same thing on the contractor side.
Better estimating. Smarter procurement. More accurate schedules. Fewer administrative headaches. Better communication. Less time chasing information and more time getting the work done.
That’s the opportunity I see: Less time chasing information, fixing mistakes and managing the process, and more time getting the job done right. Not AI for the sake of AI.
AI helping good people execute better.
Because at the end of the day, the objective hasn't changed.
Get the contractor on the jobsite.
Get them what they need.
Get the work done accurately and efficiently.
Get them off the jobsite.
And get them paid.
I've spent enough time in the field to know how much has to go right to make that happen.
AI gives us a chance to make more of it go right.
And that opportunity exists on both sides of the relationship, for distributors and contractors.
That's where I think this gets really interesting.
