Reference
AI Glossary
Plain-English definitions of the AI terms and productised offers used across this site — written for SME owners, not engineers.
- AI Advisor Retainer
- Ongoing engagement where a senior AI consultant acts as a fractional advisor for an SME — monthly strategy call, async Q&A access, and one quarterly implementation included. Sized for businesses that want continuous AI coverage without hiring a full-time lead. Priced from AUD $1,500 per month, three-month minimum, via EveryDay AI with Graham.
- AI Agent
- An AI system that takes actions on behalf of a user — sending emails, querying systems, triggering workflows — rather than only answering questions. Common SME applications include customer-service triage, internal knowledge assistants, and scheduled monitoring. Graham runs his own multi-model agent, Harry, which handles email, phone calls, and home automation around the clock.
- AI Implementation Sprint
- Fixed-scope four-week engagement that picks one workflow — invoice processing, document extraction, RFQ drafting — and ships a working AI-powered replacement plus team training. The buyer ends with deployed software, not a slide deck. Priced from AUD $12,000 via EveryDay AI with Graham.
- AI Readiness Review
- Structured one-week assessment of where AI can deliver the highest ROI in a small-to-mid business. Outputs a written report ranking five to ten opportunities by payback, effort, and risk, plus a 90-minute walk-through. Designed for businesses that want a defensible "where do we start" answer before committing budget. Priced from AUD $2,500 via EveryDay AI with Graham.
- AP Automation(Accounts Payable Automation)
- End-to-end automation of supplier invoice processing — extraction (OCR), GL coding, GST treatment, approval routing, and posting to the accounting ledger. A mature category with clear ROI for any business processing 100 or more invoices a month. Common Australian stack pairings are Xero with Hubdoc and MYOB with ApprovalMax; construction businesses also handle subcontractor invoicing through Procore's own Invoice Management module.
- Construction Finance Automation
- Applying AI and automation to the finance workflows specific to construction and civil businesses — progress claims, retentions, subcontractor payments, cost-to-complete reporting, and reconciling project costs back to the general ledger in MYOB or Xero. Distinct from generic bookkeeping automation because it has to respect job costing, variations, and head-contract payment schedules. Graham has run finance across multiple civil entities turning over up to AUD $60 million and migrated construction businesses from MYOB to Xero with ApprovalMax.
- Custom GPT
- A version of OpenAI's ChatGPT customised with company-specific knowledge, tone, and instructions. Useful for trainee onboarding assistants, standardising RFI responses, and "ask the company manual" lookups. Graham built one for Halo Civil Engineering's internal use during his time as Finance and Business Systems Manager.
- Document AI(Document OCR)
- Using machine learning to extract structured data from PDFs, scans, and photos — drawings, invoices, timesheets, ITPs, and compliance certificates. Modern document AI handles handwriting and low-quality scans far better than legacy OCR. Often the first AI implementation a construction SME runs.
- Estimating AI(AI-Assisted Estimating)
- Using AI to speed up construction cost estimating — reading drawings and specifications, drafting a work breakdown structure, suggesting rates and productivity factors, and assembling a priced estimate for an estimator to review. The output is a first-pass draft, not a final number: AI estimates carry run-to-run variance and always need a qualified estimator's sign-off. Graham builds EstimateAI, a tool that produces draft civil estimates from tender documents.
- Procore
- A cloud construction-management platform used for project management, quality and safety, and financials on building and civil projects. AI opportunities around Procore centre on automating data entry, extracting information from drawings and RFIs, and surfacing reporting from the data it already holds. Graham implemented Procore at Halo Civil Engineering — covering safety KPIs, inspections, and timesheets — and works with Australian contractors already running it.
- RFQ Automation(Request for Quote Automation)
- Using AI to draft, classify, or partially respond to RFQs received from head contractors or clients. In construction, common targets are extracting requirements from bid documents, populating estimating templates, and drafting standard schedules of rates. Saves estimators hours per week.
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