Frequently Asked Questions

A. The basics

Q1. What is ClaimZero?

ClaimZero is an AI-powered platform that reads the documents on real estate development, capital improvement, and public infrastructure projects and turns them into a clear view of risk, responsibility, and next actions, from acquisition through sellout. Projects that go wrong show it in their documents weeks before they show up in the budget. ClaimZero reads them first.

Each week it grades the project against the owner's own pro forma across nine development stages, covering 35 risk areas through 178 aspect report cards and 1,577 checks. The system pulls high-priority risks and key decisions into an executive summary, and every grade traces back to the source evidence.

Q2. Who is ClaimZero built for?

The people who carry the financial risk on complex projects and have the least day-to-day visibility into them:

• Real estate developers and owners

• Construction and takeout lenders

• Universities and institutional owners running capital programs

• Public agencies delivering infrastructure

It is designed for projects from $25 million to multi-billion-dollar programs, and for organizations that need to see, across one project or a whole portfolio, which projects are on track, which are drifting, and why.

Q3. Despite the name, is ClaimZero a claims or litigation tool?

No. The name is the goal: zero claims. ClaimZero finds the problems that turn into disputes — design conflicts, slipping commitments, unresolved scope changes, ambiguous contract responsibilities, missing records — and helps your team resolve them early, while they are still inexpensive to fix. It is a risk-prevention and decision-support tool for owners, not a claims-processing or litigation-management system.

A side benefit: because every weekly report is dated and never altered after issue, you build a contemporaneous project record as you go. If a dispute does arise, you are not reconstructing the history after the fact.

Q4. How is this different from Procore or other project management software?

Construction platforms like Procore, e-Builder, and Autodesk manage the work — design, drawing log, RFIs, submittals, schedules, and costs for the team building the project. Those platforms, including their newer owner-facing dashboards, report the project as the project team records it. ClaimZero works strictly for the owner and grades the project independently of the team being graded. It reads that same information, together with the owner's own documents (pro forma, loan agreements, deal structure), and answers the owner's question: is my project at risk, why, and who needs to act?

ClaimZero also covers the full lifecycle beyond field construction: land acquisition, entitlements, financing, commissioning, and sellout or lease-up. ClaimZero does not replace Procore; it reads from it. And every ClaimZero report is reviewed and signed by a named senior Project Executive who stands behind the grade. No dashboard signs anything.

Q5. Does ClaimZero replace my owner's rep, construction manager, or project team?

No. It takes the hours of reading, cross-checking, and tracking off their plate and points them straight to the issues that need judgment. Decisions stay with your people; ClaimZero makes sure the right person sees the right issue in time to act.

Q6. Does it replace the lender's construction consultant or an engineer's inspection?

No. ClaimZero's reports are risk and decision-support intelligence for the owner. They are not sealed engineering certifications, draw approvals, legal opinions, or a substitute for the lender's inspecting consultant. Many owners choose to share selected reports with their lender because they show, with evidence, that the project is being actively managed.

B. What you receive

Q7. What do I actually get each week?

Every Monday at 7:00 a.m. Eastern, you receive a Weekly Intelligence Report for each of your projects:

• Weekly Intelligence Report. One document, issued Monday morning and never altered after issue: where the project stands this week, what changed since last week, and what needs a decision. Four parts:

• Executive Grade Summary. Your project's A–F grades against your pro forma, with week-over-week changes and the top-priority risks regarding projected investment returns.

• Actionable Decision Log. The critical decisions due this week, who owns each one, and the hard deadline.

• Verifiable Evidence Trail. One-click drill-down from any grade to the specific finding, the source documents behind it, and the recommended action plan.

• Project Report Room – updated weekly. Your private, access-controlled archive, refreshed as each report is issued: every report to date, the technical evaluations behind the grades, the source documents each finding cites, and a portfolio view across all of your projects.

Q8. Where do the reports live?

In your Project Report Room. Q7 lists what it holds. Only the people you authorize can enter it.

Q9. How are the grades determined, and can I rely on them?

Every grade is built from specific, defined checks, and every check traces to a source document you can open. Three rules govern the grading:

1. Missing information is never good news. If evidence is missing, the report says so, names who owes it, and counts it as a gap.

2. "Resolved" requires proof. A meeting note saying an issue is resolved does not close it; closure requires the supporting documents.

3. A named person stands behind every report. The Project Executive reviews each week's executive summary before release, reads in full any report carrying a high-priority risk, and every report is issued under his signature. Issued reports are never altered afterward.

Q10. What should I expect from the first report?

Candor. The first report establishes your baseline, and it often shows more evidence gaps than later reports, because records that exist in someone's inbox have not yet reached the file. That is useful in itself: it tells you exactly which documents your team cannot currently produce. Grades typically firm up over the first several weeks as gaps are closed.

Q11. What if ClaimZero gets something wrong?

Rarely. The Project Executive reviews each week's executive summary before release, and any report carrying a high-priority risk is read in full before it is issued — misread data is caught there, not on your desk. When something does slip through, every finding cites its source, so your team can check it in minutes. If a finding is challenged with evidence, the Project Executive reviews it and the correction is recorded in the next week's report. Issued reports are not rewritten, so the record always shows what was known, and when.

C. Who does the work

ClaimZero does the intake, verification and follow-up. Your staff and your CM's staff do not grow by a single head.

Q12. Is the Project Executive on ClaimZero's payroll?

Yes. The Project Executive works for ClaimZero. The role is not added to the developer's payroll and is not carried in the CM's general conditions. No team is assigned to your project and there is nobody for you to manage: the platform does the intake and the analysis, and one Project Executive stands behind the report.

The cost is included in ClaimZero's fee. On the three founding pilots, Ken Van Liew serves as the Project Executive personally.

Q13. Who uploads the documents?

ClaimZero does. The developer authorizes access once; after that, intake is ClaimZero's job.

• At onboarding: the developer provides, or grants access to, the owner-held baseline documents — underwritten pro forma, loan and JV agreements, prime contracts, budget and contingency ledger.

• During construction: Records from the professional team and the Contractor reach ClaimZero through read-only access to the project management platform (such as Procore, e-Builder, or Autodesk), a shared document repository, or a dedicated ClaimZero project inbox that receives team copies on routine reports. Those records include professional, controlled, and building inspection reports; anticipated cost reports; project schedule updates; owner/AIA/CM meeting minutes; the TCO readiness report; and sales and marketing updates.

• Tracking: ClaimZero logs every document, verifies its status (executed, current, complete) and pursues missing records directly.

Q14. Will the developer be uploading documents on an ongoing basis?

No. Beyond the baseline documents at onboarding, a copy of the complete monthly draw (soft and hard costs) and occasional owner-side updates (for example, a revised pro forma or a loan modification), the developer does no routine uploading. Ongoing correspondence flows automatically to ClaimZero through a designated project email address, so routine project email reaches the file without anyone uploading it. No additional personnel are required on the developer's staff.

Q15. What does my professional team, CM or Contractor have to do?

Very little, and nothing new in substance. The design professionals (AIA architect, structural and geotechnical engineers, controlled-inspection agencies and expediting administrators) grant read-only access to the design platform once; the Contractor's administrators grant read-only access to the project platform once; and the CM copies ClaimZero on reports it already produces — monthly reports, native schedule updates and requisitions. No one is asked to create new reports, change their workflow or attend extra meetings.

Q16. Does ClaimZero monitor anyone's email?

No. ClaimZero has no access to anyone's mailbox. The project runs a dedicated project email address — standard practice on most projects — and everyone involved is asked to copy it on routine project correspondence: the professionals, the CM, the Contractor and the subcontractors. ClaimZero receives what arrives at that address, and nothing else.

D. Data and integrations

Q17. What document types can ClaimZero handle?

Standard project formats: PDF (scanned or native), Word, Excel and email attachments. That covers, among others:

• Operating agreements, purchase contracts, prospectuses and offering statements

• Acquisition and contract terms

• Financial and marketing analysis models

• Zoning, entitlement and utility due diligence

• Specifications and construction documents

• Schedules, budgets, cost reports and Anticipated Cost Reports (ACR)

• PCO and change order logs, commitments and requisitions

• Daily reports, manpower logs, procurement and expediting logs

• Submittal and RFI logs

• Contracts, notice provisions and deadlines

• Permits, TCO and closeout checklists

• Lender, investor and third-party monitoring reports

• Professional reports and TCO tracking reports

• Sales and marketing reports

Q18. Does ClaimZero interface with Procore, e-Builder, Autodesk, and Document Crunch?

Yes. ClaimZero connects through read-only integrations authorized by each platform's administrator. It pulls project documents, RFIs, submittals, change events and change orders, budgets, commitments, and daily logs (including manpower). It never creates, edits or deletes a record in any connected system.

Q19. Can it read AIA requisitions and Excel pay applications?

Yes. ClaimZero reads the AIA G702 Application for Payment and G703 Continuation Sheet, whether delivered as PDF or Excel, and evaluates each G703 line item against the Schedule of Values.

Q20. What schedule formats does it work with?

ClaimZero never assumes schedule logic is intact when it cannot see it. If the native file is withheld, that is reported as a gap.

Q21. Can on-site camera feeds be incorporated?

Yes. Time-lapse imagery and progress photos from construction camera providers such as EarthCam or OxBlue can be brought in through the provider's export and sharing features or a direct integration where the provider supports one. ClaimZero uses the imagery as independent visual verification — for example, checking whether façade or slab completion claimed on a requisition or schedule matches what the camera shows.

E. How the analysis works

Q22. How does ClaimZero measure financial health when the schedule is not cost-loaded?

Most construction schedules are not cost-loaded, and ClaimZero does not need them to be. ClaimZero measures financial health from the financial records; the schedule is used for time and progress.

• Cost and budget health: budgets, commitments, approved and pending change orders, ACRs, and the pace of owner contingency drawdown, all measured against the underwritten pro forma.

• Funding and reserves: loan draws, retainage, and remaining equity and contingency against completion milestones.

• Billing against progress: see Q23.

Q23. Can ClaimZero catch over-billing before a draw is funded?

Yes, when it sees the requisition in time. ClaimZero cross-checks each G703 line item against physical progress shown in the schedule, daily logs, site photos and camera imagery, and flags line items billed ahead of the work. To catch it before funding, ClaimZero needs the pencil requisition when the CM submits it, which is why requisitions are on the list of reports the CM copies to ClaimZero.

Q24. How does ClaimZero get manpower data, and what if the CM's daily reports are inaccurate?

ClaimZero does not assume daily reports are accurate. It tests them against several independent sources:

• Daily logs and Procore manpower entries, audited for missing days, blank pages and auto-generated entries. On projects reviewed to date, up to 70% of daily log entries have been empty auto-generated pages. Each source is then weighed against the full project record to set the manpower risk grade.

• Independent records: site badge and sign-in logs, site safety records, subcontractor daily logs and camera imagery.

• Schedule-implied manpower: even without resource loading, activity durations and scope imply the crew sizes required. Comparing required crew against reported headcount gives early warning of a coming delay.

Q25. What happens when the CM's records are incomplete?

The gap becomes a documented finding. ClaimZero records what is missing, identifies who owes it, and lowers the confidence on every grade that depends on it. An informal complaint about "unreliable daily reports" becomes a dated, specific record the owner can enforce under the contract.

Q26. Is the analysis done remotely, or does someone visit the site?

Remotely. The analysis runs off-site and continuously, from the project's own records. Nothing about ClaimZero requires a person on your site, and the weekly report is produced, reviewed and issued without one.

Each report carries a short cover note that flags anything needing your attention. Most weeks that note is quiet, and it is meant to be — the point is to surface the few things that matter, not to land a new alarm on your desk every Monday.

When a grade or finding needs interpretation, a ClaimZero reviewer who knows your project is available to answer questions by email. The analysis is automated; the judgment behind it is not.

Site visits stay available on request — at onboarding, at key milestones, or whenever the data shows a discrepancy that only physical verification can settle.

Q27. How will my design professionals and CM react to ClaimZero?

A well-run CM has little to fear and a good deal to gain: ClaimZero's findings are evidence-based and specific, they surface owner-side decisions the CM is waiting on, and they are tested with the project team before release. ClaimZero is not an auditor of the CM's means and methods; it is the owner's view of the project, built from records the CM already produces.

Design professionals are in a similar position, with one difference worth naming: their concern is usually errors-and-omissions exposure, not means and methods. ClaimZero does not grade design quality or second-guess professional judgment. It tracks whether drawings, RFI responses and inspection reports arrive when they were promised, and whether open items are closed with evidence — a record that protects the designer as much as the owner when a question is raised later.

F. Security, confidentiality and ownership

Q28. Is my project information secure and confidential?

Yes. Each owner's project data is segregated, and only the people you authorize can see your reports and source files. Access to the CM's platform is read-only.

Q29. Can ClaimZero work within our own compliance and IT requirements?

Yes. During onboarding, ClaimZero walks your IT and legal teams through its security and data-handling controls, completes your security questionnaire, and aligns with your organization's data-compliance and confidentiality requirements. Lenders and institutional owners often have their own rules; we expect to follow them.

Q30. Is our data used to train AI models?

No. Your project documents are used only to produce your reports. They are not used to train public AI models and are not shared with other ClaimZero clients.

Q31. Who owns the reports, and who gets to see them?

You do. Reports are the owner's confidential business records. You decide who receives them — internal team, lender, investors, CM — and ClaimZero distributes nothing without your authorization. Because the reports form a dated project record, we suggest a short conversation with your counsel at the outset about distribution.

Q32. What happens to our data if we stop using ClaimZero?

You keep your reports. On termination, ClaimZero delivers the full set of issued reports and returns or deletes your source documents, on the schedule set in your agreement.

G. The pilot, onboarding and pricing

Q33. How do we get started?

With a pilot on one active project. ClaimZero is placing three founding pilots at no cost, and each one delivers:

1. A Day 0 information request listing the baseline documents and access needed.

2. Twelve consecutive Weekly Intelligence Reports.

3. A closing executive summary of what was found, what was acted on, and what it was worth.

Q34. Can the pilot start on a project already under construction?

Yes, and that is usually the best test. ClaimZero builds its baseline from the documents as they stand today, so it can join a project at any stage, from acquisition through sellout. A project mid-construction with real money still at stake shows what ClaimZero can do fastest.

Q35. How long does onboarding take, and when do we see the first report?

Onboarding is fast and non-disruptive. It starts with a kickoff meeting and a short configuration session to connect the project platform and data sources. Once access and the baseline documents are in hand, ClaimZero configures the project and issues the first Weekly Intelligence Report within 5 to 7 business days.

Q36. What makes a good pilot project, and what do we need to start?

• An active project with real money still at stake — mid-construction is often the sharpest test

• A named owner-side contact who can authorize access

• Read-only access to the project platform, or its standard exports

• The latest native schedule, monthly report and requisition

• An introduction to the CM's project lead

• The baseline documents listed in Q13 — granted once, after which intake is ClaimZero's job

Q37. How do we judge whether the pilot worked?

Against measures we agree before the first report. Typical measures are: issues identified that your team had not already flagged; decisions surfaced before their deadline; dollar exposure identified, and the share of it acted on; and hours your team no longer spends assembling status. The closing executive summary reports against those measures.

Q38. How is ClaimZero priced?

After the pilot, ClaimZero is a monthly fee per project, scaled to the project's hard and soft development cost; land is excluded. The fee covers the platform and the Project Executive behind your reports. There are no separate charges for review or for document intake. Typical monthly fees represent a tiny fraction of 1% of total project hard and soft costs. The three founding pilots carry no fee; pricing for continuing coverage is quoted before the pilot ends, so there is no surprise at the decision point.

Q39. What happens at the end of the pilot?

You decide. Continue on that project, extend ClaimZero across your portfolio, or stop. Either way, you keep every report issued during the pilot. Founding-pilot owners get first position on continuing coverage, at the pricing quoted during their pilot.

Q40. What does ClaimZero cost us, and when does it pay for itself?

In staff time, almost nothing: no added headcount, no new reports, and one-time read-only access. In dollars, the monthly fee described in Q38 — there is nothing else.

Payback is measured against exposure, not against a software budget. The things ClaimZero is built to catch — a change order resolved before it hardens, a line item billed ahead of the work and corrected before the draw funds, a schedule slip seen weeks earlier — each carry real dollars on a project of $25 million or more. Most owners see the fee covered by the first finding they act on. Q37 sets the measures we agree before the first report, including dollar exposure identified and the share of it acted on, so payback is tested against your project's numbers rather than a generic claim.

H. Background

Q41. Who is behind ClaimZero?

Ken Van Liew founded ClaimZero, with more than 45 years of experience in engineering, construction management, and real estate development. He has delivered more than $4.2 billion in project value and more than 7 million square feet of development. He started at 17 years old as a site inspector for the New Jersey Soil Conservation Service and went on to build ground-up high-rises in the toughest market in the country. He has sat in every seat on a project: site design engineer, project engineer, NYC-licensed superintendent, site safety manager, general contractor, senior construction executive, and owner's representative.

ClaimZero's checks encode what four decades on these projects teach: the documents that go missing, the commitments that slip quietly, and the early signals that separate a recoverable project from a claim.

Q42. What is the next step?

A 30-minute conversation to consider our pilot offer and walk through a sample Weekly Intelligence Report.

Kenneth J. Van Liew, MS, MSRED · [email protected] · claimzero.ai