Lumber, an AI-powered construction workforce management platform, announced the acquisition of Pivla, a construction-focused AI company specializing in prevailing wage and apprenticeship compliance, tax credit optimization, and regulatory automation. The deal marks Lumber’s expansion into what it describes as “agentic compliance,” an AI-driven category focused on both regulatory adherence and identifying funding opportunities tied to labor compliance.
The combined platform introduces Lumber’s new funding agent, an AI-powered system embedded into payroll and workforce workflows that identifies federal and state incentive programs contractors may qualify for on eligible projects. The platform continuously analyzes prevailing wage rates, apprenticeship utilization, fringe contributions, and certified payroll data to determine eligibility and compliance requirements.
The launch comes amid a surge in federally funded construction activity in the United States, driven by initiatives including the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), CHIPS and Science Act, and the federal AI Action Plan. According to the announcement, these programs collectively represent more than $500 billion in construction-related funding opportunities tied to Davis-Bacon prevailing wage and registered apprenticeship requirements.
Lumber said the platform enables contractors to identify incentive opportunities during the pre-bid process, helping them price projects more competitively while maintaining margins. The system also maps active projects to relevant federal funding programs, tracks compliance thresholds in real time, flags potential gaps before audits occur, generates audit-ready documentation, and identifies new funding opportunities through labor data analysis.
The platform is designed for multiple federally funded construction sectors, including data centers, energy infrastructure, semiconductor manufacturing, transportation infrastructure, broadband deployment, commercial retrofits, industrial facilities, and federal public works projects.
Lumber said the acquisition strengthens its position as an operating system for construction workforce management by adding a compliance intelligence layer directly into payroll and workforce systems.
KEY QUOTES:
“We built Lumber to be the operating system for construction workforce management. With Pivla, we’re adding an intelligence layer that turns Davis-Bacon compliance into a profit center for every federally funded project. Our funding agent doesn’t just tell you whether you’re compliant, it tells you how much money that compliance is worth and how to capture it. That’s a fundamentally new capability for this industry.”
Shreesha Ramdas, CEO and Co-Founder, Lumber
“When we built Pivla, the thesis was simple: labor compliance on federally funded projects shouldn’t be a nightmare, it should be a gateway to better project economics. Joining Lumber through this acquisition significantly accelerates that vision, allowing us to embed our compliance intelligence directly into the payroll and workforce systems that contractors already rely on. Together, we can deliver this at scale. The Funding Agent is exactly what this industry needs. It’s a system of intelligence that reads labor data across every project, surfaces funding opportunities, and helps contractors capture the money they’re leaving behind.”
Nigel Coelho, CEO and Co-Founder, Pivla
