AI & Technology for the Built Environment

The AEC industry is about to change more in the next five years than it has in the last fifty. Most of us aren’t ready — but we can be.

Leverage is a biweekly newsletter about practically applying AI and technology to knowledge work, especially in the built environment. I write it as a practicing engineer and business owner, not a tech pundit — so everything here is grounded in what I’m actually building, testing, and using in my own consulting practice.

Give me a lever long enough… and I shall move the world. –Archimedes

What you’ll get

• Practical applications: hands-on walkthroughs of AI tools applied to real AEC workflows. Spec review, field reports, proposal writing — stuff I’m working on in real time

• Industry perspective: how AI and technology are reshaping our industry, what it means for your career and your firm, and what to pay attention to

• Starting points: approachable entry points if you're curious but haven't gone deep yet

Who am I?

I’m Matt Copeland, PE, RRC. I run a building envelope consulting firm (Copeland Building Envelope Consulting) and spend my days on the kind of work most AEC professionals would recognize: reviewing drawings, writing reports, chasing specs, managing projects. I also write Back of the Envelope, a newsletter for the building performance community with over 1,200 subscribers.

I started Leverage because the tools I’m using every day to run my practice are genuinely transformative, and almost nobody in our industry is talking about them.

Be well.

Matt