As artificial intelligence continues to transform everyday activities, an arms race has begun in building technology AI services, and a site-focused startup called Trunk Tools is leading it.
In 2022 and 2023, Trunk Tools was a single-product company with a text-to-work interface that provided incentives for completing work on the critical path. In 2024, however, it expanded to a full AI platform that offered a chat-like interface that helped users solve site problems, from gathering basic information like schedules and documentation to the use of its large trained language models in terms of construction to reference files such as PDF and 3D Models.
Trunk Tools is also tackling programming and other building activities with its 25 different AI agents. Sarah Buchner, the founder of the company, which turned it into a construction platform, is not your typical tech executive, but a former Stanford-educated carpenter who started working in construction as a teenager in her native Austria . Buchner’s insight into what construction professionals need and how to adapt AI enhancements to their workflows has given Trunk Tools a step forward in the race to make the construction industry smarter and connected
“It’s a lot of people’s vision and dream to be more than just a one-time solution,” Buchner says. “I feel like we’re on a really good path. We’ve expanded rapidly because of technological advances in architecture and agentic AI, and now they’re in a place where we’re a platform.
“It’s really exciting,” he adds. “I’m very proud of the team.”
Funding round
Photo courtesy of Trunk Tools
Last year, Trunk Tools saw use by about half of the top 50 contractors ranked by ENR, Buchner reports, and secured a $20 million Series A funding round led by Redpoint Ventures, an investment which allowed the startup to triple its workforce and work to expand its platform, all with the goal of being the brain that interconnects previously separate construction activities.
“Ours [scheduling] The agent will automatically connect the work breakdown schedule with everything that is connected from the documentation, connect the open RFIs with blueprints, with the specifications, and then, on its own, see if there are any discrepancies… and he’ll actually tell you, “You’re not going.” to be able to put concrete next week,’” he says.
Erica Brescia, CEO of Redpoint Ventures, says Trunk Tool’s knowledge of construction was key to their investment.
“We’ve been looking at AI for construction in general for the better part of at least two years,” says Brescia. “When you have a market like this, which is so big, but there are so many step changes that need to happen in technology, you have to find the right team with the right combination of real industry knowledge and experience in matter and technology.
“In this case,” Brescia continues, Trunk Tools demonstrated that it had “the AI to create something that works from a technical perspective, but also fits the workflows and the way GCs and, finally subordinates and others work.”
Buchner and Trunk Tools have earned a reputation among contractors for making AI work for them.
“Sarah and her entire team have been a truly fantastic partner with us, helping us deliver value to our operations teams,” says Heidi DeBenedetti, COO of Gilbane Building Co., which partnered with Trunk Tools in your text AI agent. its document tracking agent, and has backed the company through venture capital.
“She and her team have been really outstanding from a collaboration perspective, really understanding the pain points, the trials and tribulations that our teams go through,” adds DeBenedetti. “I couldn’t be happier.”
