AI steps into construction draws: Built Technologies launches a draw-request agent
If you've ever waited days for a construction draw to clear, you know the drag on schedules, subs, and cash flow. Built Technologies says that wait is avoidable - and it's rolling out an AI agent to prove it.
The company, valued at $1.5 billion in 2021, has moved its proprietary software into an AI-driven "embedded teammate" focused on draw requests. After testing with select lenders, Built says it's ready for wider use.
"We're trying to improve that ecosystem up and down the value chain of the construction real estate industry," said Chase Gilbert, CEO of Built Technologies.
What the Draw Agent actually does
Draw requests are slow because every disbursement needs a review: documents, progress verification, risk checks, and approvals. That work stacks up, and timelines slip.
Built's Draw Agent automates that review with lender-specific policy logic and shared, live data across stakeholders. Everyone sees the same information, submits requests, and approves payments with less back-and-forth.
"There is an opportunity to fundamentally serve the ecosystem... where everyone's looking at the same information at the same time and can request funds or can make a payment with more confidence," Gilbert added.
New to construction draws? Here's a quick primer on how construction loan draws work.
Reported results from pilots
- 95% faster approvals, with some reviews completed in as few as 3 minutes
- 4x more risk detection versus human-led reviews
- 100% adherence to each lender's policies and procedures
- 300%-500% ROI reported on portfolios as small as ~500 loans
- Significant reduction in manual workload; teams avoided new hires
Built tested the agent for three months with several lenders, including Anchor Loans. Results are reported by Built and its pilot clients.
Why it matters to lenders
Throughput goes up. Compliance stays consistent. Risk signals surface earlier and with more context. That combination cuts cycle time and operational cost without growing headcount.
Why it matters to developers and builders
Faster draw decisions smooth cash flow, keep subs moving, and reduce schedule friction. Less paperwork ping-pong means more time in the field and fewer payment disputes downstream.
What's under the hood
Gilbert says the agent acts on trillions of dollars in construction draw data collected over the last decade. "It needs a lot of data and context in order to get smart and make decisions, and we certainly have a lot of proprietary data on that," he said.
Where it fits in your stack
Built has long supported banks, non-banks, and private credit providers on capital improvement and construction portfolios, serving clients like U.S. Bank, Citi, and Fifth Third. The platform also routes payments to GCs, subs, architects, attorneys, and designers - the full downstream workflow.
The new agent extends that system. Built positions it as an "embedded teammate," and says automation removes human margin of error across reviews.
Practical next steps
- Map your draw policies and exception paths; codify them for automation.
- Set clear SLAs for draw review time and risk escalation.
- Run a limited pilot: a defined loan segment, a single region, or one credit box.
- Audit a sample of AI-reviewed draws weekly; log false positives/negatives and retrain rules.
- Prep your team with new workflows: who verifies, who overrides, who signs off.
- Evaluate vendor fit, integrations, and reporting. Start with a 60-90 day proof of value.
Learn more about the platform at Built Technologies.
If you're upskilling your team on applying AI to finance operations, explore practical tool stacks and workflows here: AI tools for finance.
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