As AI tools become increasingly accessible, hardscapers look to harness these powerful new tools without sacrificing the foundational knowledge that separates professionals from hobbyists.
AI as a Workflow Enhancer
For many in the industry, AI has already moved from experimental to essential.
Weston Zimmerman, founder of SynkedUp, calls AI “an accelerant to the things that you need to do already anyway.”
For instance, contractors writing proposals at 10 PM, exhausted from a long day, can now “give AI your rough and polish proposal description, let it clean it up for you, tweak a little bit and use that,” Zimmerman said.
“They’re using AI to help them come across as more polished, more well presented in their written communications with their customers.”
Eric Hammer, Partner at WestBlock Systems, echoes this workflow enhancement approach.
“I use AI on the daily,” Hammer said, “because it actually really helps me be more efficient in my workflow or in providing clarity in documents that I’m writing.”
As the founder of SynkedUP, a business management software company focused on the hardscaping and landscaping industry, Zimmerman believes the impacts of AI will go beyond convenience.
“Documentation of processes is the very thing that keeps owner-operators prisoner in their own businesses. Until that happens, you are forever the only person that can do whatever task,” Zimmerman said. “With AI that is so much easier because you can literally shoot a video of you doing XYZ task, whether it’s out in the field or in the office or whatever, and feed that video to AI and it’ll shoot out a nice document with a list of steps that you need to take to do the task and do it well.”
Zimmerman also notes that most hardscaping businesses are sitting on “data goldmines.”
“A lot of operators are failing to document their own data,” he said. “They estimate a job—it’s going to take 250 hours and X dollars’ worth of materials to go out and do it—but they never document how many hours it actually took them. Every job that gets finished without tracking the resources and the hours and materials that went into it is a lost opportunity to build your own archive of data.”
Even without AI, this data helps you avoid repeating mistakes. But as AI becomes more integrated into industry tools, that data will help you get more accurate results for business processes and estimating.
“Take the time and track your hours and resources per work area in a job. Even if you’re not feeding that to AI yet, that data will become super valuable as AI becomes more prevalent, since you will have way more history to feed into your AI tool,” Zimmerman said.
“…My hope is that some of these problems that exist in the industry, with AI, the bar will be lowered on how easy it is to solve them.”
AI for Visualization and Manufacturing
There are additional applications of AI that show particular promise.
Hammer describes a workflow that’s already transforming his client presentations.
“I will draw out a full layout in SketchUp, then I’ll take a screenshot of that, and I’ll upload it into ChatGPT and say, ‘Make this look photoreal,’” Hammer said. “Conveying the final vision or the possibilities that can be done is huge.”
Looking ahead, Hammer believes that manufacturing could be revolutionized by the combination of AI with Internet of Things (IoT), a network of physical devices, vehicles, appliances, and other physical objects that are embedded with sensors, software, and network connectivity, allowing them to collect and share data.
“I think that that’s going to be a huge thing where maybe you don’t actually need a full-time machine operator,” Hammer said.
But Hammer is quick to point out AI’s current limitations. When he tried using AI to solve a specific engineering problem, “it just was not able to comprehend, so there’s still that human aspect to it.”
This distinction matters. AI excels at augmenting human expertise, not replacing it. The professionals who will thrive aren’t those who hand everything over to AI, but those who understand where AI adds value and where human judgment remains irreplaceable.
Why Education Matters More Than Ever
AI’s power and potential can create significant risks, especially in an industry where engineering precision can be the difference between a structure that lasts decades and one that fails.
“While it’s very cool, it’s also very dangerous in some ways,” Hammer said. “You have to put in very strong restrictions on what it’s able to provide, and what its source of truth is.”
Richard Ansley, Professor and Landscape Design & Management Program Coordinator at Columbus State Community College, frames the challenge even more directly. As AI becomes integrated with Building Information Modeling (BIM) and design software, “AI is going to walk you through it so much faster. And if it doesn’t know on their website, it will reach out to another server that’ll bring it to you.”
But speed without discernment creates problems.
“Students or new professionals can watch a video on Facebook and think that’s the way we do it,” Ansley said. “We don’t want students thinking that everything they see on the Internet is gospel.”
The same applies to AI-generated information.
“AI will give us everything we want. But do we want all of it?” Ansley said. “What do you want from it that you can be a professional about?”
What Aspiring Hardscapers Should Know
For aspiring hardscapers, the willingness to explore AI and new technologies can be a competitive advantage, but only when paired with solid fundamentals.
If you’re looking to enter the hardscaping industry in the age of AI, here’s what you should consider:
- Develop prompt engineering skills. Being able to write effective AI prompts requires deep understanding of what you’re trying to achieve. You need to know enough to ask the right questions.
- Pursue formal education. Whether it’s a college degree, trade school, or CMHA certification, structured learning gives you the foundational knowledge to use AI critically rather than blindly.
- Learn to verify, not just trust. Can you tell when AI gives you information that’s technically unsound?
- Develop data discipline. Start tracking time and resources by work area from your first job and look for other areas where you can collect information and data that might one day inform useful AI outputs.
- Embrace the innovation mindset. Those willing to thoughtfully integrate new tools while respecting proven principles will stand out.
- Understand the limits. AI should be a tool, not a substitute for expertise.
AI in hardscaping isn’t about replacing human expertise; it’s about amplifying it.
The professionals who will thrive are those who build strong foundations first, then leverage AI to work smarter, visualize better, and stay ahead of competition still stuck in old patterns.