From Rapid Growth to a Documented, AI-Ready Operation
Sinclair Construction Management now runs its projects from a single operations manual, with defined ownership across 271 process steps and a clear AI and automation roadmap built around the Procore system it already owns.
CLIENT
Sinclair Construction Management is a New York City construction manager and general contractor led by a father-and-son ownership team, with more than 40 years of building experience behind the Sinclair name. The company delivers multi-story residential projects like condominiums. It now develops its own buildings as well. Annual volume had climbed from roughly $10M to $40M in a short span.
CHALLENGE
Sinclair’s growth had outpaced its processes. Projects moved forward on the experience of individual project managers and close involvement from ownership, while Procore, in place for about a year, had no standard templates or usage expectations. Leadership also kept hearing about AI and wanted to know what it could realistically do for a construction manager of its size.
RESULTS
Ascent mapped Sinclair’s operations from project award through closeout and delivered a 79-page operations manual that the owners adopted as their operating standard, along with a four-tier AI and automation roadmap. The Sinclair team began using its new process maps in proposals to developers and that documentation helped the team win a large new project before the engagement wrapped.
If a new client asked how your team runs a job, what would you show them?
The Ascent Difference
Sinclair quadrupled its volume on the experience of a few seasoned project managers and two hands-on owners. We turned that experience into a documented operating system, with a practical plan for where AI fits.
Growth that outran the process
Sinclair’s owners built a company that earned the trust of New York developers and enough work to quadruple its annual volume within a few years of opening. Ownership stayed close to the projects and the team’s direct communication let them move quickly on multi-story residential work, where Sinclair subcontracts the trades and focuses on coordination and project leadership.
As volume climbed, more of each job depended on how individual project managers ran it and Procore was only partly built into day-to-day work. Leadership was aiming for nine-figure annual volume and wanted processes that would carry the company there without pulling the owners into more decisions.
Sinclair also came to us with a question many contractors are asking: what can AI do for us? The owners needed a clear picture of where those tools fit next to Procore and where AI ends and simple automation begins.
Where Ascent went to work
Ascent started onsite at Sinclair’s Manhattan office and agreed on a findings report and plan with the owners before mapping the full project lifecycle:
- Onsite Discovery and Current-State Analysis
- Process Mapping From Award Through Closeout
- Roles and Responsibilities
- Standard Procore Project Setup
- AI and Automation Education
- Field-Ready Checklists and Tools
Final Deliverable: A Documented Operating Manual With a Four-Tier AI and Automation Roadmap
What the operating manual accomplished
The operations manual gives Sinclair one standard for how projects run, from preconstruction and buyout through change management, closeout, and accounting. Defined ownership across 271 process steps shows which approvals can move to project managers as the company grows. New job descriptions and role calendars give new hires a defined lane from their first week.
Ascent’s AI and automation strategy landed because it was concrete. We built a Claude workflow with the team, using Sinclair’s own inputs to price a project they had already bid. The result came in within 5% of a number that originally took three to four weeks.
Ascent then delivered a roadmap of more than 30 use cases sorted into four tiers: Procore features to configure, near-term add-ons, longer-term custom builds, and general AI tools like Claude and Microsoft Copilot. Sinclair can now see which improvements need no new spend and which ones justify a developer.
The real payoff is owner bandwidth: with roles and processes written down, Sinclair’s owners can hand routine approvals to their project managers and put their time into the developer relationships that bring in the next job.
The wall many growing construction managers hit
Construction managers and GCs growing at Sinclair’s pace often hit a wall: the people who got the company to $40M usually can’t personally sign off on every decision at $100M. Writing down how work moves, who owns each step, and what current systems already do helps AI tools deliver more, because they finally have something solid to work from.
AI works best on processes that are already written down
AI tools can only follow a process someone has documented. Ascent can help you document the work first and choose the tools second, starting with the software systems you already own.