Most construction companies adopt technology the hard way. They build habits first, then bolt on software years later. By then, the old processes are cemented, and change management becomes the real project.
Zach Simmons, President of Stronghold Construction, decided to do it the other way around. He has used Procore since 2014 and lived through several implementations at other firms. So when he helped launch Stronghold Construction in 2022, he pushed to put systems in place from day one.
Stronghold is a veteran- and first responder-owned general contractor based in Oklahoma City. The company has used Procore for its projects since February 2023. Zach serves as president, and his goal is simple: make Stronghold one of Oklahoma's most tech-forward contractors.
At Procore Groundbreak 2026 in Orlando, Florida, Stronghold was named one of three national finalists for Procore's Empowering the Industry Award, and Zach spoke on the Expo Hall Elevation Stage. The event brought together thousands of construction professionals, technology leaders and innovators under one theme: build and win together in the AI era.
While at the conference, Caroline Raffetto, editor-in-chief of Constructionowners.com, sat down with Zach at the Lumber booth for a live, in-person episode of CO Pod. They talked about building processes early, why hands-on training beats slide decks, and how a small team can use AI as a workforce multiplier.
Caroline: You've been a Procore user since 2014 and with Stronghold since 2023. How has that journey been?
Zach Simmons: It's been awesome. We saw the need early on to invest in the platform and build our processes around it, instead of building processes first and trying to modify them later.
We founded in 2022, and we wanted to establish systems and processes right away. That's where success is truly driven, and we wanted to make it easy.
I had already been through a couple of Procore implementations. When you take a company that hasn't been on Procore, the hard part isn't the implementation. It's changing all the other processes that have been cemented for so long.
Caroline: Change management is one of the hardest things for any company. And construction has been slow on technology. Procore was founded in 2002, but it didn't see mass adoption until the late 2010s. AI seems to be speeding things up. What are you doing in the AI realm?
Zach Simmons: I'm a big advocate. A small team can do so much more with it. We see it as a true workforce multiplier, so we pursued it early.
Adoption was slow at first. Some of my senior staff were lukewarm. Early on, you'd see AI slop and hallucinations. But as we learned how large language models work and how to prompt for a good output, it got better.
We call AI the stupid little brother. Trust, but verify. You get what you put in, so we make sure we have a good prompt structure tailored to what we're actually trying to do.
Caroline: Some teams are bringing in AI or platforms like Procore that their people have never used, and it's hard to get everyone on board. What would you recommend to someone in that position?
Zach Simmons: Founders and senior leaders need to understand their goal first. What are they trying to achieve with this adoption? Are they maximizing the workforce? Refining systems and processes? Understand that goal, stay in that lane, and get good at it before pushing it to the whole company.
I think Jeff Bezos said that in the early days of Amazon, he had enough ideas to kill Amazon. Technology moves so fast you can outpace your company's ability to adopt it.
Take bite-sized pieces. Let's work on this system and process. Let's work on this small implementation. That gets you mass adoption much more easily than handing people a massive tool and saying, figure it out.
Caroline: Educating the team is part of that too. You can't just bring in flashy new software and say, "Figure it out." Did you do any of that when you brought in Procore?
Zach Simmons: Thankfully, a lot of the team we built already knew Procore, which made it easy.
We're a veteran and first responder organization, and many on our team share that mentality. Training is very much shoulder-to-shoulder. We paired experienced people with those who weren't, so that they could see the real use case.
I personally hate formalized training. Let me get my hands on it and see it in action. Studies show that's one of the most effective ways to learn, so we avoid death by PowerPoint as much as we can.
Sometimes you do need formal training, where you take something out of the real-world context and break it down. But for tools people use every day, let them use it in a way that's actually useful.
Whether it's AI, Procore, or any new technology, my senior staff and I learn it first. Then we start applying it to projects right away, in bite-sized pieces.
Caroline: How excited are you for Procore's AI tools?
Zach Simmons: Pretty excited. Think about the monotonous daily tasks, like reports and filling everything out. Now you can do that on the fly and have a real conversation: What's happening here? What should I be looking for?
Language is much more intuitive than typing. You can unlock a new level of capacity just by doing that.
Caroline: It should also give us more accurate data. A lot of the data we have now isn’t as accurate as it could be, mostly because of manual processes.
Zach Simmons: Absolutely. Right now you have both sides. Some people say, “I love this.” Others say, “It’s going to kill us all.” It's a strange time to watch what AI is doing to society.
It can only make us better. I firmly believe the safeguards we need will be put in place. It’s never as bad as the people screaming the loudest say. It’s going to make us better as a society and as an industry.
Caroline: What's next for Stronghold when it comes to technology and AI?
Zach Simmons: We'll keep refining. It’s a personal goal to be one of the most tech-forward companies in Oklahoma. Being a small team lets us move at a pace some larger companies can’t, and we love that.
We want to stay ahead of the curve without pushing too many changes at once. In practice, that means refining how we run jobs, our delivery methodology, and how we select the tools for each project.
We're also building our own tools to fill gaps the industry hasn't addressed yet. With AI, we're coding proprietary tools that take whatever is still a paper process and make it AI-driven, or at least AI-assisted.
If I can give an individual the world at their fingertips and make them as capable as possible, then I can hire on attitude and aptitude. Give someone every tool they need to be as dangerous as possible, and you can do some really amazing things.
Caroline: I can't wait to ask you these same questions a year from now.
Zach Simmons: Let's do it.
Most technology rollouts don't fail because the software is bad. They fail because the company tries to change everything at once, or because the old way of working is already set in concrete. Zach's point is that both problems are avoidable.
Stronghold built its processes around its project management platform from the start. That spared the team the painful step of unwinding habits later. For established firms, the same lesson still applies: name the goal before picking the tool, and roll it out one process at a time.
How people learn matters just as much. Stronghold pairs experienced users with newer ones and puts the tool to work on live projects right away. Leaders learn it first, then teach it shoulder to shoulder. Formal training has its place, but daily tools stick when people use them on real work.
AI raises the stakes. It can cut time spent on daily reports, turn paper processes into digital ones, and improve the accuracy of project data. It also needs a human check. Stronghold treats AI output the way you'd treat a junior team member's work: trust, but verify.
For construction owners, the takeaway is practical. Start with one clear goal. Pick one process to fix. Let your most experienced people lead the rollout in the field, not in a conference room. And give your team the tools that let you hire for attitude and aptitude.
Small teams can move fast. Those that adopt in bite-sized pieces and make their people as capable as possible will be the ones that keep up as the industry speeds up.
Zach Simmons, CCM, is the president of Stronghold Construction, a veteran- and first responder-owned general contractor in Oklahoma City founded in 2022. A Procore user since 2014, he leads Stronghold's push to become one of the most tech-forward contractors in Oklahoma. At Groundbreak 2026, Stronghold was a national finalist for Procore's Empowering the Industry Award. Zach speaks on technology adoption, AI as a workforce multiplier, sovereign construction, and team building.
