Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

How Inflation, Experience Gaps, and AI Are Reshaping Education Construction and Cost Control

  • 03/23/26

Scott Creekmore, VP of Customer Engagement at Gordian, explains how Gordian evolved from Job Order Contracting into planning tools for facility condition assessments and asset recapture, plus estimating through RSMeans price data. He outlines major challenges facing education construction today: rapid inflation driven by geopolitics, an industry-wide experience gap as seasoned professionals retire without enough backfill, and resulting cost-control volatility where prices swing dramatically over short periods. Creekmore describes how advancing technology—especially AI—along with CMMS and cost-tracking software can help agencies do more with less by improving scope detail, reducing change orders, tracking labor on site, and enhancing cost benchmarking and predictive insights, including regional price differences. He also advocates for longer-term planning, economies of scale, and reexamining procurement laws and options such as cooperative purchasing and job order contracting to improve cost control.

00:00 Meet Scott and Gordian
00:22 Gordian Origins and Services
01:14 Industry Challenges Today
03:14 Tech Trends and AI Tools
05:11 AI for Better Scopes
07:42 Long Term Planning in Education
09:22 Smarter Procurement and Cost Control
10:05 Closing Thoughts

Additional resources:

Sponsored by Gordian

Featured

  • Wenger Names New Vice President of Sales for Performing Arts, Controls

    Wenger Corporation, which provides products and solutions for music and theater education, performing arts and athletic storage, recently announced the hiring of a new Vice President of Sales for Performing Arts and Controls.

  • Minnesota District Opens New PreK–12 School

    Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop Schools in Gibbon, Minn., recently announced that construction is complete on a new, $68.9-million school for students in grades PreK–12, according to a news release.

  • Wold Completes Geothermal Projects at Two Minnesota Schools

    Wold Architects & Engineers recently announced that it has completed two geothermal expansion projects for Mounds View Public Schools in Shoreview, Minn., according to a news release. The work at Highview Middle School and Irondale High School serves the district’s long-term goal of reducing energy costs and dependency on non-renewable fuel sources, as well as improving building performance.

  • Missouri Child Development Center Completes $2.3M Expansion

    The Urban Sprouts Child Development Center in St. Louis, Mo., recently announced the completion of a $2.3-million expansion and adaptive reuse project, according to a news release. The new space includes a retail café, outdoor learning space, and a support office building.