How to Rebuild Your Construction Business Around AI with Jake Gosselin of Churchfront

Jake Gosselin built Churchfront into one of the most innovative AV firms in the country, all fueled by a 300,000 subscriber YouTube channel and a relentless drive to automate the work that used to drain his time. In this episode, he pulls back the curtain on the AI agents now running his business behind the scenes, including budgeting, procurement, and payroll. Jake also gets real about the security risks of connecting AI to your operations and the smart moves every owner should make first. This is the episode that will change how contractors think about AI inside their business. In this episode you will learn: The surprising path Jake took from YouTube creator to multi million dollar design build firm Exactly what Jake's AI agents are doing inside his business every day The bold claim Jake makes about AI and why he stands behind it The security playbook every business owner needs before connecting AI to their software The one task Jake says every owner should hand off to AI right now Learn more about Churchfront: churchfront.com --- 00:00 Podcast Intro 00:18 Meet Jake Gosselin 00:48 Church Front Origins 02:29 From YouTube to Turnkey 05:24 Team and Travel Model 08:08 Project Timelines 10:55 AV Budget Benchmarks 14:18 How Many Projects 15:47 AI Powered Operations 21:45 SOPs and Skill Files 25:02 Agents and Scheduling 30:31 Email Security Concerns 32:48 AI Phishing Beats 2FA 33:37 Permissions and Guardrails 35:42 Cowork Organizes Files 37:51 Job Costing With IDs 39:36 Automating Purchase Orders 41:31 Payroll Automation Workflow 44:53 Human Review and Scheduling 47:10 When AI Breaks Down 51:02 Costs and Training Teams 54:35 Advice for AI Beginners 58:48 Wrap Up and Thanks 01:01:03 Final Sign Off --- Welcome to Builder Stories, the podcast where builders, remodelers, and contractors share their personal and business journeys. Many small to mid-sized construction businesses are great at their trades but not always equally business savvy. Come learn from the stories of successful entrepreneurs who share how they got started, how they found success, and the lessons learned along the way. Meet Your Host, Eric Fortenberry Eric is a voice and leader in the construction industry delivering education and technology solutions that are helping thousands of businesses grow and scale. He is the Founder and CEO of JobTread Software, a construction estimating and project management platform that has helped thousands of builders and contractors sell and manage over $1 billion in construction jobs. Prior to JobTread, he successfully built two other businesses, one in software and one in construction. Eric’s goal for the Builder Stories Podcast is to contribute education to the industry by sharing success stories that can help construction leaders learn and develop their businesses. Learn more about Builder Stories: BuilderStories.com