Grace Tsao Mase grew up watching her father work as an electrician, and those early years tagging along to job sites planted something in her that never really left.
“I’m a daughter of electrician. I started going to job site when I started school, so it was kindergarten period. My dad would take me to job sites and really fell in love with the whole concept of construction, residential construction, and particularly seeing my dad owning a house for the first time, and that really made a huge impact on what does it mean to be a building professional, what we get to deliver, and how we change people’s lives and the communities.”
She became an architect, then a licensed builder, and eventually someone deeply immersed in technology, and by the time we sat down together I realized pretty quickly she carries all three of those identities into every conversation about where our industry is headed.
We got into how artificial intelligence actually shows up in a builder’s day, in a practical sense rather than the dramatic version most people picture. Grace walked me through why she sees it as another tool hanging on the wall.
“Artificial intelligence really simply put is additional brain to help you process information. Think about, let me trace back to when the calculator first came out. How many of us as builders, we end up switching over using calculator to do all the calculations? And then when the computer came in, then we started using computer to do calculation for us. And AI is just next evolution of using that to help us do calculation.”
She spent years coding and working in machine learning long before any of this became a buzzword, so when she talks about it, the perspective comes from actually building the thing, not just reading about it somewhere.
One part of our talk that stuck with me was her breakdown of why code updates and permitting delays keep tripping up even experienced builders.
“Here in California, we do change about 18 months. And so keeping up all the latest and greatest, and also the gap between when they complete the drawings, when they submit their submittals to the time they actually picked up the set of construction documents to apply for the permit. There are gaps, and there are code improvements, and building science are continue to evolving.”
Grace has watched this cause real friction between builders and the people reviewing their submittals, and she shared some thoughts on working through that instead of getting stuck in it.
We also spent real time on money sitting on the table for builders who simply don’t know it exists yet.
“Metropolitan Water District of Southern California offers $3 per square foot rebate, and to remove the shrubbage, water consumption, vegetation such as the lawn. So I took advantage of that years ago. I think City of Los Angeles gives $5 per square foot, which is significant. So we’re talking about a check for us, our yard is not very big, we got a $7,000 check that pay for material and labor to create that barrier that makes our home safer in case of wildfire.”
It shifted how I think about the conversations builders could be having with clients who assume every upgrade comes straight out of their own pocket.
Somewhere in the middle of all this, we ended up talking about Rush and the Eagles, because apparently a good band analogy is something I can never resist. Grace ran with it further than I expected.
“Rush, what they’re known for over 50 some years is that discipline, and they practice, and they work hard at it. And even the critic may critique their work for being the longest song that’s ever written, but they done it with their heart. And I think in the world of advanced technology, the heart actually stands out more.”
That connection between discipline and craft became the thread for how she thinks about bringing new tools into a construction business without losing what makes the work good in the first place.
There’s a moment in this episode that surprised me more than anything else we covered.
“What was interesting for me after taking so many state licenses, I realized how hard it was for me. I was thought it was aging or whatnot. I’m out of school for many years. But I also was wondering if I was on this, some level of spectrum, and I went to a doctor and had gone through this test, and turned out I was severely dyslexic. I didn’t know that all through my life. I just found out a couple years ago.”
That discovery shaped her belief that AI holds real potential for people in the trades who think differently than a traditional classroom ever accounted for.
We covered where builders tend to overestimate what AI can do right now, where larger production builders are heading with automation and customer service, and why Grace still believes the connection between a builder and a homeowner is something a machine can’t replicate anytime soon.
“I do have to find that engaging with AI, you don’t have that key connection. It’s a human connection, the thinking, the emotion, something that’s lived experience. AI can’t generate that for you.”
She also talked about her book, AI in Residential Construction, and the platform she built called HomeRES.ai, both aimed at getting practical information into builders’ hands instead of keeping it locked away in places most people never think to look.
By the end, Grace and I agreed we had barely scratched the surface, so think of this one as the start of a longer conversation. If you’ve ever wondered whether AI belongs anywhere near your job site, or you already decided it doesn’t, this conversation should give you plenty to chew on.
About Grace Tsao Mase
Grace Tsao Mase is the founder and CEO of HomeRES.ai (selected as a winner of the Fast Company’s World Changing Idea), and author of “AI in Residential Construction: A Blueprint for Lasting Impact and Success” (NAHB BuilderBooks, 2026). A Yale-trained architect, multi-state licensed contractor, NASCLA-accredited, and AIA associate, she has spent two decades in residential construction and software development, from hands-on project work to leading operations.
She has worked alongside contractors on more than 5,000 residential projects nationwide and holds three U.S. patents. A 2025 Los Angeles wildfire survivor, Grace brings firsthand urgency to her work on AI and resilience-focused construction.
Get Grace’s book, “AI in Residential Construction“:
https://www.builderbooks.com/ai-in-residential-construction-products-9780867188295.php
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