In this episode of AEC Trailblazers, Valentin Noves (CEO) sits down with Traci VanDalsem, a fourth-generation contractor who grew up immersed in the construction world long before technology reshaped the industry.

Traci opens the discussion with a simple but powerful idea: everything in construction is a process. Teams in the AEC industry naturally operate through workflows, routines, and repeatable methods.

Yet, as she explains, technology often disrupts those processes—not by replacing them, but by reshaping how they function. Sometimes it’s uncomfortable. Sometimes it forces teams to rethink tasks they’ve done the same way for decades. But that friction is where transformation begins.

She also emphasizes one of the most overlooked realities in construction tech: ROI isn’t always immediate. You may invest in a platform or workflow change and not see measurable impact for a year.

A major theme in the episode is the importance of buy-in. The people who approve a technology purchase—often C-suite or financial leadership—are not always the ones who will use it every day.

They focus on cost, efficiency, and risk reduction. But the true test of adoption happens at the project-level, where PMs, superintendents, and office administrators interact with the tool constantly.

For them, technology must make their lives easier. It has to reduce friction, not add steps. As Traci puts it, “the best tool is the one your team will actually use.”

She illustrates that idea through the work she does at RedTeam, a cloud-based construction management software purpose-built for General Contractors and Project Managers. In her own words:

“RedTeam is a construction management software platform that takes a construction project all the way from bidding and estimating all the way through closeout. We manage all the document control in between. We have the ability to issue contracts, subcontract agreements, do change management, create owner bills where we of course can put together an owner pay application and send it over to the owner.”

RedTeam is designed to manage every phase of the project lifecycle in one place—an approach that aligns perfectly with Traci’s belief that teams need tools they adopt fully, not partially.

This is an episode for anyone navigating the intersection between construction and technology: GCs seeking smoother workflows, PMs looking for better tools, and leaders working to drive meaningful change across their organizations.

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