Building America in the AI Boom: Construction, Captives, and Risk

This episode is a candid, wide-ranging chat with Insurance and Risk Management guru, Bill McIntyre, who’s spent nearly 60 years in construction risk. We dig into why insurance matters more than you think, how group captives like ACIG let contractors take control of risk, and why insurance isn’t just a paperwork checkbox but a tool that literally protects lives, livelihoods, and company competitiveness.

We talk about the massive construction ramp driven by AI, data centers, chip plants, and next-gen infrastructure — and how that growth exposes gaps in trained labor and frontline managers. Bill explains the real cost of mistakes (think way beyond the insurance payout) and why safety and quality go hand in hand.

You’ll hear why leadership and culture make the biggest difference: set the tone at the top, walk the talk, and empower people in the field to Observe–Orient–Decide–Act (OODA). That loop is everything for fast, complex projects where thousands of micro-decisions happen every day.

We also cover practical ways to bridge the gap — mobile tools that push and pull knowledge to the craft level, sharing best practices across captives, profit-sharing models that align incentives, and how a strong safety mindset actually makes companies more competitive on bids.

Finally, Bill frames construction and insurance as essential to national strength — from energy and water infrastructure to cyber and AI security — and reminds us why working in this space is meaningful. If you care about building stuff that matters (and keeping people safe while doing it), this episode is full of perspective and ideas you can actually use.