Practical AI adoption · Christchurch, NZ · serving all of NZ

Bring AI into how your projects actually run.

Practical AI for construction, civil and trade businesses — grounded in years on the tools, not tech hype.

Get in touch by email See what we do
15 years, site engineer to construction managerRunning projects end to endAdvisory co-funding may be available*
Why us, why now

Most construction firms haven't started with AI. That's your opening.

Industry surveys show nearly half of construction businesses use no AI at all — and the ones that do mostly stop at emails. The gap isn't the technology; it's having someone who knows both the tools and the trade. Any business can put AI to work — not just the big players. We size every tool to the business in front of us.

Crannóg — round timber house on a piled loch platform
What we offer

Three ways we help you get more done.

Not just how to use AI tools — deciding what's genuinely worth doing, and doing it safely inside the systems you already have. Every engagement includes training as we go.

01

Permit & consent writing tools

The same address, dates and job description re-keyed into four different forms before anyone can dig. We set up AI so it gets entered once and the documents come back filled in.

  • Corridor access requests and work permits
  • Traffic management plans
  • Service locate and pothole requests

It produces the documents ready to lodge — submitting them stays with you.

02

Quoting & scope assistants

You already have rates you trust. What costs you is the item buried in the specification that never makes it onto the drawing, and doesn't surface until it's too late to charge for it.

  • Scope checks that read the plan and the spec pack together
  • Quote drafts in your own format, from site notes
  • Subbie quotes checked against the scope before you commit
03

Job records & compliance paperwork

The documentation that repeats every job — drafted once, then generated, copied and pasted instead of rebuilt from scratch, and filed where you can find it two years later.

  • Inspection & test plans, safety docs and checklists
  • Certificates and close-out packs as reusable templates
  • Registers and filing that hold up as you grow
Pricing — clear, fixed, no surprises

Start small. Pay for outcomes, not promises.

Every engagement starts with a free conversation. From there, fixed prices you can see before you email us — because that's how we'd want to be quoted too.

Free chat

$0

20 minutes, online. We learn how your business runs and tell you honestly whether AI is worth your time right now.

Email us

AI Accelerate

$1,200 + GST

The next level after your Kickstart: three additional custom tools built for your business, plus a half day of hands-on training for you and your team.

Ask about Accelerate
How it works

From a free first chat to tools running in your business.

STEP 01

Conversation

We learn about your business, how you work today and where AI could realistically help — then explain what we can provide.

STEP 02

Agree the scope

Together we agree exactly what to build — scope, priorities and outcomes — so it's clear before any work starts.

STEP 03

Build

We build AI tools around your workflows and do the technical work, so you can keep running the business.

STEP 04

Train & refine

We teach your team to use the tools — and how to work with the assistants behind them, whether that's Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot — so you can keep improving things without us. Then we keep customising as we learn what actually fits.

Training isn't a bolt-on. Whatever we build, we teach your team to use it and keep customising as we learn what fits — so the value stays in the business, not with us.

Free — no sign-up, nothing to buy

Two things you can set up yourself this week.

Before you spend anything with us, here are two of the tools we set up in every Kickstart, written out in full — what they do, the script, and how to put it in place. They work in the free version of Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot.

01

Make AI emails sound like you

Stops every email coming back in the same polished AI voice that isn't yours. You give it a few of your own emails once; after that "tidy this up" comes back sounding like you wrote it.

About 10 minutes to set up.

02

Stop AI making things up

Tightens what the assistant is allowed to assert, and makes it tell you how sure it is at the end of every answer — with the reason, and the one thing most worth checking.

About 2 minutes to set up.

Open the free tools
The name

Old engineering, new tools.

A crannóg is a house built on timber piles driven into a loch bed — sound foundations, honest structure, built to last, on ground that had to be made where none existed before. As an Irish couple building a life and business in New Zealand, the name fit.

Most of the value isn't in headline projects — it's in the ordinary jobs, the admin and the paperwork, where a bit of AI help goes furthest and frees you up for the work only you can do.

Who we are

Graham McWilliams & Niamh Fanning

Graham McWilliams

Graham

15 years in construction: civil engineering and project management across New Zealand and the Pacific, from site engineer to construction manager. We speak fluent construction, not IT jargon.

Niamh Fanning

Niamh

A research scientist's rigour — Trinity College Dublin, the Salk Institute, and a PhD from Edinburgh — testing every tool before it reaches a client and explaining it in plain terms.

Start here

Start with a free AI needs assessment.

We'll look at where AI could realistically save you time — no jargon, no obligation. Or jump straight to an AI Business Kickstart for $350 — online, custom training plus a custom-built tool — while introductory pricing lasts.

Email for a free consultation Email about a Kickstart — $350

Or email graham@crannogai.co.nz · based in Christchurch, serving all of NZ