The recent models, Opus 5.5 and GPT-6 Astra, have been genuinely quite amazing. I’ve built complete 3D models from a prompt + drawing and turned them into 5D project plan. They've changed how we should build skills. A skill should no longer explain how to do the task. If you over-specify the process, you're more likely to get a worse result. Instead, specify the outcome, the source information and the guardrails around the task. This week I'm giving you eight practical strategies to build better Claude skills. As always, it's structured around News, Inform and Work. News GPT-6.1 Terra. OpenAI's new mid-tier model (26 October) is built for visual reasoning, computer use and clearer writing, at half the cost of GPT-5.6 Terra. It's in ChatGPT Work, Codex and the API. Read OpenAI's announcement. Claude 2.0. This is the name people are giving the rebuilt Claude desktop app. It's not a collection of new features. The features I'd try first, mostly in the Code tab: - Nested sessions: one chat splits a big job into helpers. For a bid review, that's scope, contract, programme and risk, combined into a go/no-go summary. - /goal: gives Claude a finish line, such as every requirement priced, excluded or raised as a clarification. - Docs, Slides and Design: editable documents, decks and one-pagers inside Claude, now on every plan. - Dashboards: live dashboards you share as a link (paid-plan beta). Features are rolling out in stages, so check your plan if you can't see one. Inform: about 1 in 6 US construction businesses now use AI 16.1% of US construction employers told the Census Bureau they had used AI in the two weeks to 4 October 2026, up from 7.4% in November 2025. See the Census data. My takeaway: I am consistently reminded that if you’re building skills, creating 3D models, etc. you are still part of a complete bubble. Of that 16.1% most people would be prompting it to ask questions, not really building anything meaningful.

In the last couple of months AI players have been releasing their version of what a true agent style interface looks like. Grok Bot, Muse, Dots, Hermes and soon Duet from Anthropic. I went into more details in the video on how each perform and which one will be best for who. My main point is also that these are great for their running around tasks like picking up items that are coming up due in registers, reminders on tasks you promised in a meeting and that ad-hoc admin tasks. Work like extracting trade packages, reviewing contracts and line item pricing all still belong using skills in Claude Cowork or ChatGPT Work. You want reliable results where you know what the AI has done so you can review the output before carrying on. I'm interested in how you all are using these agents and whether it has changed much for the way you work?

Quality management is how we prove a construction project meets its requirements. Those requirements cover what we build and the processes we follow, including inspections, approvals and handover. That connection runs through the whole project: - Design: check that drawings and specifications satisfy the original project requirements. - Construction: inspect and test the work against the approved design. Inspection and test plans (ITPs) define the checks, acceptance criteria and records. - Commissioning: demonstrate that the systems function and achieve the required performance. - Completions: close out defects and deliver the required records, manuals, training and spare parts. Quality assurance establishes the system. Quality control is the inspection and testing. Audits check whether we are following the system. My strongest recommendation is to keep quality moving with construction. Do the checks when they are due, collect the records and fix defects as you go. That helps avoid rework and delays. It also gives the client evidence to accept the work and supports payment and handover. Full walkthrough: Construction quality management

Construction accounting and finance is pretty simple, right? You just bill a client more than it costs you to do the work. Track the invoices and expenses. Simple. Wrong. Construction accounting and finance is one of the most confusing topics I’ve dealt with. Retention. Progress claims. Secured and unsecured variations. Cost tracking. Estimating. Corporate overheads. There are so many elements to this topic. So I’ve been trying to research and lay out the entire topic in a simple, step-by-step framework. This week, I’m going through how those pieces fit together, from pricing a job to deciding whether the business can afford another one. As always, it’s structured around News, Inform and Work. Just quickly, I’m looking for some customer feedback on a new product I’m launching. Would love if anybody has the time to fill this out: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdILOUFSeoYJRJOfY5g5BHnI8ZLPHcfZhiL78nOE0AFOpRdTQ/viewform?usp=header News Claude Duet: an assistant that keeps working in the background. Anthropic’s new agent runs on its own computer in the cloud. It can prepare email replies, meeting briefs and financial models using your connected apps. I can see this helping contractors keep up with admin while they’re on site. It is currently a US-only research preview for Pro and Max users, through a waitlist, and is designed to ask before sending messages. See how Claude Duet works. Anthropic has filed for an IPO. The company behind Claude filed its public IPO paperwork on 26 October and intends to list on Nasdaq under the ticker ANT. The share price and number of shares are still to be determined. For businesses building workflows around Claude, this makes the company behind the tool worth following too. Read Anthropic’s announcement

For me, it’s poorly prepared bid packages. You get sent hundreds of documents that all say different things. Then you spend 10 hours going through them to work out what the client wants. Unfortunately AI is making it even easier to produce hundreds of pages of junk for someone else to read. What’s yours? What part of working in construction do you wish someone would sort out? I’ve been working on a new product. And yes, this is one of those annoying product research surveys where I ask what your problems are and how I can help. If you’ve got five minutes, I’d really appreciate you filling it out. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdILOUFSeoYJRJOfY5g5BHnI8ZLPHcfZhiL78nOE0AFOpRdTQ/viewform?usp=header