Updated October 2026
Selling commercial general contractor data for AI training: what it's worth and who buys it
11,835 US commercial and institutional building contractors had 10+ employees in 2022, and 4,119 of them had 30+.1
On a commercial job the general contractor sits in the middle of every conversation. The owner's rep wants a date, the architect wants the submittal resubmitted, the mechanical sub wants an answer on the ceiling height, and the PM has to turn all of it into RFIs, change order requests and an updated three-week lookahead. On a two-year hospital wing or a tilt-up warehouse, that adds up to tens of thousands of linked records in Procore or Autodesk Construction Cloud.
Those links are what make a GC's archive unusual. An RFI points at a sheet, the answer changes the scope, the change order prices it, the pay application bills it, and the closeout log proves it was built. Few industries keep cause and effect this tidy. Polyshares has published a general contractor license, and broker ads now name Procore by name.
This page is for commercial GCs and construction managers with ten or more staff. It walks through what a week of project data looks like, which buyers fit a firm of your size, why platform access is becoming a question in its own right, and what to settle about owner and design-team documents before anything is licensed.
Worth
What a GC's data may be worth
Set for a typical GC, 60 staff and 12 years of records. Move the sliders to match yours. Our estimate, not an offer.
Buyers
Which buyers want this data
Buyers whose own published rules fit commercial general contractors. We can introduce you to the ones we work with.
Featured partners
micro1
Its 30 to 200 employee band fits most regional GCs, and it asks for project management workflows and task histories.10,11
- $100K to $2M+, micro1 says7
Watch out for: Says it removes personal details only "when relevant", so ask exactly how.12
Polyshares
The only buyer with a published general contractor deal, and it takes design files and ERP exports alongside email.4,13
- $100K to $2M+, Polyshares says8
- None, Polyshares says14
- An offer in 1 to 2 weeks, then paid in 30 to 60 days15
Watch out for: Exclusive by default, and every deal it lists is exclusive with no end date.16,17
Everyone else we reviewed
By score, with full reviews. We have no referral agreement with these companies, so we do not link out to them.
Mercor
Connects to Outlook, Teams and Drive, where owner, architect and sub correspondence lives outside the project platform.18
Watch out for: It confirmed a cyberattack in 2026, and class actions followed.22,23
Nyne AI
Takes job, invoice and AP and AR records, the cost side of a commercial project that sits in accounting rather than Procore.24
- $100K or more, Nyne says25
Watch out for: Pays only after the dataset is accepted, and publishes no timeline.26
Who wants this
Do buyers want commercial general contractors?
No buyer publishes prices by industry, but their own intake forms show which industries they rate higher.
- Troveo puts construction and trades in its second of four demand tiers: "Your industry carries above-average buyer demand."27
- Polyshares takes construction and specialty trades, without marking it premium.28
- VMS, a broker, gives construction standard weight when it estimates value.29
Which buyers take a GC your size
Shown for 60 staff, a typical GC. Ask whether contractors and part-time staff count.
micro1
Polyshares
No headcount rule; the length and texture of the record matter more30
Mode
20+ full-time US office staff (accounting firms 10+, law firms 6+)31
Pewter
20+ staff and 3+ years; by industry, from 10+ (healthcare) to 50+ (manufacturing, finance)32,33,34
Grepped
No headcount minimum stated35
Ventra
30+ US employees and 3+ years of records36
Mercor
None stated37
Troveo
No minimum stated; its estimator starts at 2038
Nyne
20+ US W-2 employees and 3+ years39
Endless
Roughly 30+ employees40
Supersoniq
50+ employees and 5+ years41
What buyers value
What in a GC's records buyers value
What buyers look for in your records, and what to talk through with your buyer before anything leaves your systems.
| Data | Where it lives | Why a buyer values it | Raise with the buyer |
|---|---|---|---|
| RFI register with linked sheets | Procore or Autodesk Construction Cloud | Each entry ties a field question to a drawing reference, a design answer and a cost or schedule effect. | Architect and engineer responses, which the design team may treat as its own work product. |
| Change order requests and owner change orders | Procore change management, Excel | Pricing logic under negotiation: markup, backup, rejection and the revised number. | Owner identity and contract sums on private developments. |
| Pay applications and schedule of values | AIA-style pay apps, accounting system | Monthly percent-complete judgments that show how progress is measured and disputed. | Lender and owner financial details attached to draws. |
| Subcontractor buyout files | Bid leveling sheets, email | How a GC compares scope gaps between bidders before awarding a trade. | Sub bid prices given in confidence. |
| Meeting minutes and three-week lookaheads | Word, Procore meetings, Excel | Open items carried week to week until closed, which shows how coordination actually resolves. | Nothing specific |
| Closeout and punch list records | Procore punch list, O&M binders | Defects found, assigned and verified fixed, the end of every project's feedback loop. | Equipment manuals and warranties written by manufacturers. |
A week of records
A week of data at a GC
- Monday: the OAC meeting, with minutes listing 40 open items and who owns each.
- Tuesday: six new RFIs from the drywall and fire protection subs, two answered the same day.
- Wednesday: a change order request for unforeseen rock, with the excavator's tickets attached as backup.
- Thursday: three submittals returned revise-and-resubmit, and the lookahead re-sequenced around them.
- Friday: daily logs closed out, the pay app draft started, and a punch walk on the finished floor.
Process
How it works with each buyer
In each buyer's own words. Where a buyer publishes nothing, we say so.
micro1
- Internal docs, SOPs and playbooks, knowledge bases, project management workflows, internal comms, templates, CRM and workflow metadata, task histories11
- 30 to 200 employees10
- $100K-$2M+ per data package; over $1M for unique data7
- PII removed "when relevant"12
- The company keeps ownership of its data and reviews samples before release42
- Not published
Polyshares
Mercor
Selling or closing
Selling or closing your GC? License its data first
When a commercial GC is sold or merges into a larger builder, the buyer is usually paying for backlog, bonding capacity and people rather than the archive of closed jobs, in our reading. Polyshares describes its general contractor deal as perpetual and exclusive. Before a transaction, ask each licensing company whether closed projects can be licensed separately, and whether the license survives a change of ownership.2
FAQ
Commercial general contractors: questions, answered
Scale and linkage. A commercial job runs through a formal chain of RFIs, submittals, change orders and pay apps, usually in one platform, with an owner's rep and a design team on every thread. Construction managers score 98 on O*NET's email scale, and on a commercial job most of that writing is on the record.5
That is worth asking early. ENR reported Procore cut Trunk Tools off from its API, citing the security of customers' data. A buyer may ask for an export rather than a live connection; ask each one which method it uses and who runs it.48
Closed private-sector projects with complete closeout are the cleanest place to start. Polyshares says it leaves out data held on behalf of clients, so expect questions about owner documents on every job you include.44
Every business is different, so this one is best talked through with the buyer you're working with. Their team goes over it with you before anything is signed.
Every business is different, so this one is best talked through with the buyer you're working with. Their team goes over it with you before anything is signed.
Before you sign
Questions to talk through with your buyer
Every business is different, so these are best talked through with the buyer you're working with. Their team goes over them with you before anything is signed.
Questions for this kind of business
- Which owner agreements give the owner rights in project records, and are those jobs excluded?
- How are drawings and specifications prepared by the design team kept out of the package?
- Does the license end, transfer or continue if the company is sold?
- Who owns this data: the company, an estate, or someone else?
- Do customer, vendor or platform contracts, NDAs or API terms restrict this?
- How does a license affect a sale of the business: reps and warranties, change of control, earnouts, exclusivity?
Questions for any buyer
- Is the license exclusive, and for how long?
- Can you sublicense the data, and to whom?
- Which AI labs will receive it, and will you tell us?
- How long do you keep it, and how is it deleted?
- What is your liability cap, and who indemnifies whom?
- Will the contract ban re-identification of people in the data?
- Who removes personal data, by what method, and do we approve it first?
Proof
Deals in this kind of business
- Polyshares' track record lists a general contractor license at $300,000 (Polyshares' own claim, no company or size named).4