A perfect storm of high home prices, rising mortgage rates, and fresh tariff threats is adding weight to an already strained housing market. For homebuilders, the ability to compress design, development, and construction cycles has become more than a competitive advantage—it’s a necessity.

The challenges of building compound exponentially with complexity,” says Michael Bergin, co-founder and Special Projects leader at Higharc. “The process of getting from a rough idea to a buildable home has historically been slow and fragmented. AI is changing that.”

Bergin sat down with The Builder’s Daily to discuss how AI-driven generative design is optimizing workflows and fundamentally redefining how homes are planned, priced, and built.

The Race to Reduce Cycle Time

For decades, homebuilders have operated in an industry where time has been the enemy—weeks or months lost to drafting, approvals, and rework. AI is now collapsing those timeframes.

Historically, turning a simple sketch into something that could be constructed took multiple people and weeks of work,” Bergin explains. “Today, AI allows us to analyze an architectural sketch and produce a dimensioned, buildable model within minutes.”

This speed unlocks two critical advantages:

• Shorter soft-cycle time – Faster plan iteration means builders can get approvals and pre-sales moving faster.
• More real-time decision-making – Builders can explore design changes and feasibility adjustments dynamically instead of waiting weeks for revised plans.

This is a game-changer for builders who increasingly rely on real-time consumer demand signals instead of speculative land positions.

AI-Powered Home Design: No More Bottlenecks

AI is doing for home design what cloud computing did for business software—removing inefficiencies, manual input, and delays.

Bergin’s team at Higharc has developed AI-powered sketch translation that can take a crude drawing—or even an Excel-based layout from a purchasing manager—and automatically generate a 3D model of the sketch.

We’ve had homebuilders bring us rough sketches at trade shows, and we’ve been able to translate them into a full 3D model in minutes,” Bergin says. “That process used to take weeks of back-and-forth between drafting, engineering, and purchasing.”

This shift eliminates one of homebuilding’s biggest pain points — the bottleneck between concept and constructability. Instead of a linear, approval-heavy process, AI allows for simultaneous iteration across design, engineering, and estimating teams.

The Multi-Unit Future: AI Bridges Complexity

As land scarcity and affordability challenges push homebuilders toward multi-unit development, AI is stepping in to simplify complexity.

Townhomes and multi-unit dwellings come with stricter codes, more document complexity, and significantly longer approval cycles,” Bergin explains. “The moment a buyer wants a design change, that means reworking 150 pages of construction documents instead of 20.”

AI is transforming this process by:

• Dynamically updating multi-unit project models in real-time
• Auto-generating revised construction documents with every design change
• Standardizing project data for streamlined permitting and compliance

This removes enormous risk from the pre-construction process for builders entering the multi-family and build-to-rent (BTR) markets.

The Open Data Imperative: Breaking Down Silos

Homebuilding has long been hindered by legacy ERP, CRM, and construction management systems that don’t communicate. AI is starting to break those silos.

Many of the core tools that homebuilders rely on were developed 20 to 30 years ago,” Bergin says. “Extracting and integrating that data into modern, web-based workflows has been a major challenge.”

Higharc’s web-native platform aims to standardize and expose data via an open API, making it easier for builders to:

• Sync plan details, material costs, and purchasing data across different platforms
• Automate option pricing updates without manual data entry
• Enable real-time design and estimating visibility across teams

Bergin argues that the industry needs a homebuilder-driven push toward open data standards.

The only way this changes is if homebuilders demand that their data be accessible. The industry’s major ERP players are moving quickly, but this has to be a priority for builders themselves.”

AI-Driven Personalization Without the Chaos

There is a longstanding paradox in homebuilding: Buyers want customization, but builders fear the operational chaos it creates. AI is starting to resolve that tension.

Builders have always worried that giving customers more choices will lead to unmanageable complexity in estimating, purchasing, and construction,” Bergin says. “But AI allows us to manage that complexity dynamically, meaning builders can offer more options without the operational headache.”

Explore first-hand how seamless ERP integrations, AI-powered design, and automated plan management are revolutionizing homebuilding operations in this exclusive Webinar with Michael Bergin.

AI-powered rules-based modeling allows for:

• Instant cost recalculations when a buyer selects an option
• Automated construction doc updates with each choice
• Real-time visualization of how selections impact the finished home
• Instead of restricting personalization, builders can now market “customization at scale”—a key advantage as buyers demand more say in their home design.

The Next Leap: AI Meets Natural Language

Perhaps the most radical shift in 2025 is the way AI will transform how builders and buyers interact with design data.

The next breakthrough isn’t just about analyzing sketches,” Bergin explains. “It’s about being able to describe a change in plain English—and have the system update the model in real-time.”

This could mean:

• A purchasing manager saying: “Reduce this from an 8/12 roof pitch to a 6/12,” and the system updating instantly
• A buyer asking: “What does this home look like with white kitchen cabinets?” and seeing the result dynamically
• A superintendent requesting: “Swap these lots for a different foundation type,” and generating instant new plans

This natural language AI interface could eliminate the need for traditional CAD software entirely, making design iteration as simple as having a conversation.

The Bottom Line: AI is No Longer Optional

As homebuilders navigate an unpredictable market, speed, efficiency, and adaptability are becoming the new currency of success.

Builders are being forced to find new ways to compress cycle times and reduce risk,” Bergin says. “AI isn’t just a tool—it’s becoming an operational requirement.”

For builders who embrace AI-driven home design, the advantages are clear:

• Faster project timelines
• More customization without chaos
• Tighter integration between design, pricing, and construction
• Less risk in a high-cost, high-volatility environment

For those who hesitate? The gap is only going to widen.

2025 may be the year homebuilding finally moves beyond blueprints—toward a fully AI-integrated future.