North Labs creates embedded AI systems that help industrial companies own their intelligence—not rent it from software vendors.
The current model is broken. Industrial companies generate enormous amounts of operational data, but the tools they use capture all the value. Your bid history, vendor performance, project outcomes—it all flows into systems that give you dashboards but keep the intelligence.
We believe companies should own their AI infrastructure the same way they own their equipment. Not as a subscription. As an asset that appreciates.
When you use most SaaS tools, your data trains their models. Your operational insights become their product advantage. We think that's backwards. The intelligence your operations generate should compound for you.
Dashboards don't change behavior. Tools people have to remember to check don't get checked. Real intelligence shows up where decisions happen—in email, in meetings, in the systems you already use.
Per-seat pricing and feature gates are designed to extract value, not create it. We align our success with yours. When you grow, we grow. When you save money, that's real money—not a line item we're trying to maximize.
AI without industry knowledge is just statistics. We build for industries we understand deeply—where we know the workflows, the pain points, the relationships, and the economics.
I started pulling wire when I was young.
My dad was an electrician. Summers and weekends, I was on job sites learning the simplest rule in construction: do it right or do it twice. No shortcuts. No hiding. If you cut corners, somebody pays for it later, and it is usually the person least able to afford the mistake.
I was raised in Minneapolis. The work ethic there is blunt. Show up. Do what you said you would do. Earn trust one job at a time. Later, life took me to Phoenix, where the heat will humble you and a job site will teach you quickly whether your plan is real or just words.
That is where I learned what construction actually is.
Not the sanitized version you see in software demos. The real thing. A missed spec that blows margin. A scope gap that turns into a fight. A schedule that slips because a detail got overlooked. The right subcontractor who can save a job and the wrong one who can sink it. Relationships that matter because you will see the same people on the next project, and the one after that.
Then I joined the military.
The military teaches you how to operate when things are messy. How to make decisions with incomplete information. How to build systems that still work when the environment does not cooperate. How to rely on a team, and how to earn that trust through consistency, not words. You learn that the people closest to the work usually know what is broken first. You learn to keep plans simple enough to survive reality.
That is why most construction software misses.
For years, this industry has been sold tools built by people who have never lived a job site. They build dashboards. They move data around. They add steps. But they do not eliminate risk, and they do not capture the knowledge that actually makes money.
I started North Labs because the people who build our physical world deserve better than another place for information to get lost. They deserve systems that reduce manual work, prevent mistakes, and protect margin. They deserve AI that fits construction as it is, not as a software company wishes it was.
AI should be embedded in operations. It should integrate with the systems you already use. It should automate the parts that drain your time and attention. It should learn from every project and turn hard-earned experience into repeatable company intelligence.
And it should be owned by the contractor, not rented from a vendor, and not shared with competitors.
This is not a Silicon Valley bet on construction tech.
This is a builder's answer to a builder's problem, from someone who grew up around the trade, served his country, and came back to build something that actually helps the people doing the work.
That is North Labs. That is Tradesmith. That is what we are building.
Whether you're a contractor looking to transform your operations or just want to talk shop—I'd like to hear from you.