Most finish in under 30 minutes.
Not a form. Each question is built from your last answer. Give us a number and we'll ask where it comes from. Mention a problem and we'll follow it.
Commercial construction · $5M+ revenue
Before you spend on AI, know where it pays and where it would break first.
For commercial HVAC, electrical, plumbing and GC/CM firms.
01 / What you walk away with
Five things a leadership team needs before spending on AI.
Everyone promises where AI pays. Nobody tells you where it will fail.
Where AI will pay. The single operating constraint that limits the company most, and the two or three levers around it where AI creates leverage. Not a list of tools.
What to prioritize. Ranked, with the reason for the rank.
What not to automate yet. The parts of the operation that are not structurally ready, and what has to be true first. This is the part most AI assessments skip, and the part that saves the most money.
What it is worth. A conservative dollar figure for each lever, built from a number you stated against a named benchmark. If you cannot state the number, the report says so instead of inventing one.
What to do in the next 90 days. A 30/60/90 leadership roadmap, in the order that pays.
See what you get before you buy.
A full sample report for a fictional commercial HVAC company. Every input is illustrative. Every benchmark is real and named.
See the sample report
Who built this
New diagnostic. Not new thinking.
The Executive Diagnostic is the first product in the AI Readiness Index. Brainforest is not new. Since 1995 we have helped leadership teams make hard operating decisions. The diagnostic applies that discipline to AI.
Brainforest and its principals have worked with organizations including BlackBerry, Motorola, the University of Chicago and Arizona State University.
Nils Bunde, Founder, Brainforest. Leads Brainforest's strategy work and built the diagnostic.
Lindsay Kinkade, Chief Creative Officer, Brainforest. Leads creative strategy and how findings are presented to leadership.
Used before implementation. Iron River Technologies, a Brainforest technology partner, uses the diagnostic with its clients before any AI work begins.
We are early, so we show our work.
We will not invent case studies. Judge the diagnostic by its questions, its method and its report. Verified results will appear here as they come in.
02 / How it works
We model the dollars against named industry benchmarks.
Every figure shows its source.
You get the full report, or a live readout with your lead.
Then you decide on the 90-Day Advisory.
Who does what
Our AI interview gathers the facts. Anthony Brandt of Iron River Technologies, our construction partner, reviews your answers, runs the live interviews and delivers the readout. You always talk to a person before any Advisory.
Your answers are seen only by the Brainforest team and your lead. They are never used to train public AI.
03 / Every dollar has a source
Most AI assessments print a number to impress you. This one refuses to.
Each dollar figure in the report is one of your stated numbers, multiplied against a benchmark we name, at a conservative capture rate we show. Where you cannot state the number, the report prints a visibility finding instead of a dollar. The figure is smaller than a consultant would show you. It is also one you can defend to your partners and your leadership team.
Sample. Fictional company. Illustrative inputs.
Field Labor Productivity
Service vehicles: 18 · Service share: 45%
MSCA 2025 Benchmark Survey (n=323): median band $300–350K revenue per service vehicle (target $325K midpoint) [Sourced: MSCA]
Estimate: 25–40% (dispatch optimization, route density, job-context prep)
$135,000
$135,000 to $216,000
Derived · Estimate · MSCA
Benchmarks are named in every report. Commercial Construction: CFMA, MSCA, CII, FMI. Hospitality: CBRE, AHLA, Cornell CHR. Higher Education: NACUBO, IPEDS, NCES, National Student Clearinghouse.
04 / What the interview is like
How many branches, territories, crews, or operating units are you managing?
“Our backlog is strong, but margin performance is inconsistent across jobs.”
“Is the constraint estimating accuracy, project handoff, field reporting, change-order discipline, labor visibility, or closeout? What report would prove that by Monday morning?”
Roughly, what was your total revenue last year, an actual number, not a range? A close estimate is fine.
I would rather not guess. I will pull last year's P&L.
Use what you can state. Where a number is missing, the report says so instead of inventing one.
About how much of that is service work vs. project/construction work, a dollar split or rough percentage?
Mostly project work. Service is the smaller piece, but it is where the repeat accounts are.
Project Margin: what gross margin do you typically bid at, what do jobs typically close out at, and when do you usually learn a job is losing margin: weekly job-cost, monthly, or at closeout?
We bid at a healthy margin and usually close out lower. We tend to find out at closeout, sometimes at the monthly job-cost review if the PM flags it.
The interview does in under 30 minutes what a week of discovery would take.
It asks for proof, not opinion, because opinion is what every AI assessment already has.
05 / The report
Twenty-five sections, built from your interview.
Each figure comes from a number you stated, against a benchmark we name. Where you could not state one, the report says so.
- Opportunity dollars, with sources
- Where AI would break first
- What not to automate yet
- 30/60/90-day plan
- Leadership summary
See all 25 sections +Hide sections −
- 01Executive Snapshotfrom your stated numbers
- 02Leadership summaryfrom your stated numbers
- 03Opening Verdict
- 04Leadership Thesis
- 05Readiness Score and Revenue Opportunityfrom your stated numbers
- 06Money Movement Map
- 07Five Issues Shaping the Revenue Opportunity
- 08Top Constraint Analysis
- 09Metric Deep Diveswhere a number was missing
- 10How Each Bottleneck Works Inside the Operation
- 11Executive Signal
- 12Strategic Judgment
- 13Vertical Operating Context
- 14Evidence Register
- 15Priority and Risk Map
- 16Scenario Modeler: Adjust Assumptions to Estimate Recoverable Annual Upsidefrom your stated numbers
- 17Role and Workflow Impact
- 18Change Management
- 19Turn Diagnosis Into Motionfrom your stated numbers
- 20Readiness, in your words
- 21Where it pays, and where it would breakwhere a number was missing
- 22Monday morning
- 2330 / 60 / 90 Roadmap
- 24What you have, and what comes next
- 25Methodology and Confidence Notes
Leadership summarySection 02
Where estimating, field documentation, service history, compliance follow-up and billing readiness run on manual coordination, the exposure shows up in margin leakage, cash timing and account retention; AI widens that gap only for the operators who tighten those handoffs first.
Top constraintSection 02
Field Labor Productivity
Conservative estimateSection 02
$316,111
Full range $316,111 to $519,509
Estimate · sum of lever estimates
First moveSection 02
Pull a weekly commercial value list that shows work mix, open value, owner, age, next action, documentation status, margin or risk signal, billing readiness, and source system.
06 / Built for
Companies doing $5 million or more.
For leadership teams that make the call themselves and expect every number to hold up in front of the people they answer to.
Built for commercial mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and specialty contractors and GCs, $5M+ in revenue.
Commercial Construction
Know where it pays on your jobs and where it would break first. Under 30 minutes. Every dollar shows where it comes from.
Built for independent and branded hotels, $3M to $30M in revenue.
Hospitality
Know where it pays at your property and where it would break first. No new software.
Built for public and private four-year institutions, 2,500 to 15,000 students.
Higher Education
Know where it pays across the institution and where it would break first, with governance built in.
07 / Diagnostic ladder
Three ways in.
Start on your own with the AI Snapshot, or with an expert in the room with the Executive Diagnostic. The 90-Day Advisory is by application.
AI Snapshot
$795For: Leaders who want the numbers and the plan before talking to anyone.
Includes:
- Interview, most finish in under 30 minutes
- Readiness score
- Opportunity model with sources
- Where AI would break first
- 30/60/90-day plan
- Leadership summary
- Full report, web and PDF
Not included: Live interviews or readout
Start AI SnapshotFull fee credited toward the Executive Diagnostic or Advisory within 90 days of your report.
Executive Diagnostic
$5,950For: Leaders who want an expert in their field in the room before anyone spends on tools.
Includes:
- Everything in the Snapshot
- Live 60 to 90-minute interview with you, plus short interviews with your operations, estimating and finance leads
- Your numbers checked and corrected, and the report reissued
- Your top 3 moves, ranked, each with a cost range and a first step
- A vendor-neutral tool shortlist for your #1 move
- 90-minute leadership readout, recorded
- 30 days of follow-up questions by email
Full fee credited toward the 90-Day Advisory within 90 days of your report.
90-Day Advisory
$18,500 $11,500 for the first 5 organizations, through December 31, 2026. Whichever comes first closes the offer.Includes:
- Executive Diagnostic included
- Six working sessions
- Written 90-day plan after Session 2
- One lever per session
- Day-90 re-score
- Day-90 results report: what changed, in dollars, against your starting numbers
- Vendor-neutral tool shortlist
- Direct line, reply within 2 working days
Founding exchange: A named case study and one reference call.
Apply for the AdvisorySnapshot and Diagnostic fees credited in full within 90 days of the report.
No system install · Answers never used to train public AI
Snapshot and Diagnostic: if we can't find at least 10x your fee in sourced, defensible opportunity, we refund the fee in full.
08 / The questions executives actually ask
One number you stated, one benchmark we name, one capture rate we show. All three are printed next to the figure. If you cannot state the number, there is no figure.
No. It is an adaptive interview that asks for evidence. It changes based on what you say.
No. You need under 30 minutes and your own knowledge of the company.
Your answers are seen only by the Brainforest team and your lead. They are never used to train public AI.
Then the report says so, names what has to change first, and you have saved yourself from buying tools that would not have paid.
With the AI Snapshot, you have the full report and choose your next step. With the Executive Diagnostic, your lead runs the live interviews and the readout. Then, if the opportunity is real, the 90-Day Advisory. If not, you are done and you have the read.
Most finish the interview in under 30 minutes, in one sitting.
Every dollar figure is traced to your own numbers or a named source and labelled sourced, derived or estimate. If you find one that is not, reply to your report email and we correct it. Snapshot and Diagnostic: if we can't find at least 10x your fee in sourced, defensible opportunity, we refund the fee in full.