Introducing Construo, the pioneering and unique portal bringing the fragmented construction industry together in one focal point, with a revolutionary (effectively crowdsourced), vote-backed question-and-answer system plus access to high-level expertise.
At the heart of Construo lies its question-answering engine, along similar (but more subject-focused) lines to Quora. Using this, construction professionals can pose real-world questions (specific to their jobs or more general) to the entire Construo base. They can then register votes for their favourite answers, and Construo’s upvoting/downvoting system ensures that the best questions and answers remain prominent on the portal – rather than becoming buried in a feed as they would, for example, on LinkedIn.
Thus, Construo highlights the biggest issues facing the construction industry at any one time. Currently, for example, the site shows that construction professionals are most concerned about Covid-19-related working practices and the drive towards sustainability and energy saving.
Perfect for job-seekers
Construo is also the perfect entry point for young people looking to pursue a career in the construction industry. In what is a physically fragmented industry – especially given the current situation – it gives them the chance to amass useful contacts, and to tap into Construo’s vast well of building-related knowledge by asking questions.
veteran whose CV includes a spell as a Commercial Director of Lend Lease, highlights what makes Construo unique: “Construo is about sharing practical knowledge and experience, rather than advice. The differential is that you’re actually talking to real people, and those people are interested in sharing their knowledge. It’s a central point for construction information and advice, whereas everything else out there is spread far and wide.”
Spilsted is keen to emphasise Construo’s mission to bring collaboration to the construction industry: “Because the construction industry is so diverse and fragmented, it doesn’t generate collaboration easily. And it has a habit of driving everything down to the cheapest cost, not necessarily taking the best value approach. I think the last year generated the most collaboration I’ve seen in the industry because of Covid-19 – companies have been working together to solve mutual problems.”
Construo’s origins
Spilsted co-founded Construo with E-Man Venture Labs (https://e-man.co.uk/), the leading technology startup incubator based in London, Los Angeles and Sofia. E-Man Venture Labs’ Co-Founder and Managing Director Eugene Kouumdjieff was instrumental in turning Construo from an idea into reality, as Spilsted recounts: “Eugene asked if I had thought about doing something like this myself, as a website or app. I said: “Not really,” although I had thought about writing a book. So we had a few chats, and Construo started as a means of sharing practical knowledge and experience, really. It then evolved into something more like an app, when we had the idea of adding a Q&A system.”
Consgtruo’s circle of knowledge includes Non-Executive Director Steve Hardy, previously a Commercial Director at Mowlem and Balfour Beatty. Hardy sees Construo as a means of giving something back to an industry that he loves. After leaving the corporate world three years ago to move into solo consultancy, and starting to lecture occasionally to University students, he says: “I found myself giving back a lot of the knowledge that I’d built up over the years to less experienced and younger staff: it was rewarding. I’d found in my corporate career – certainly in the last ten years of it, in very senior roles – that I just didn’t get the chance to go and help youngsters and to develop people.”
As Construo builds its member base, its roadmap includes adding exciting new services that include various cloud tools designed to help SMEsa comprehensive, AI-driven advertising, jobs and events platform, along with a wealth of other unique features.
