Most contractors spend more time managing information than they realize. Supplier pricing in one tab, a client email in another, a competitor's website open in a third, and a quote form half-filled in a fourth. Comet is an AI browser that changes how all of that works. Here's what it does and how to put it to work this week.

Comet is a free AI-native browser built by Perplexity AI. It's not a chatbot bolted onto Chrome. It's a browser built from the ground up with an AI assistant that can read your open tabs, navigate the web on your behalf, summarize pages, fill out research tasks, and take action without you clicking through everything manually. For contractors, the practical applications are immediate: supplier price comparisons, subcontractor research, permit requirement lookups, and client communication drafts, all handled by the browser while you stay focused on the job. This issue covers what Comet actually does, how to use it as a contractor, and where it fits in your existing workflow.

A contractor I know spends the first 90 minutes of most mornings doing what he calls "computer work." Checking supplier pricing. Looking up permit requirements for a new jurisdiction. Responding to three client emails about project timelines. Researching a subcontractor he's considering for the first time.

None of that work requires his expertise. All of it requires his time. He's a skilled builder doing administrative browsing because nobody else is doing it for him.

Comet doesn't replace the expertise. It replaces the browsing. You describe what you need, and the browser goes and gets it, reads it, and brings back what matters.

Five specific use cases you can run this week.

Use case 1: Supplier price comparison without opening 12 tabs. Type into Comet's assistant: "Find the current price for [specific material] from three suppliers in [your area] and compare them in a table." Comet navigates the supplier sites, pulls the pricing, and returns a comparison without you opening a single tab. What used to take 25 minutes of tab-switching takes under five.

Use case 2: Subcontractor research before a first call. Before calling a sub you haven't worked with, type: "Research [company name] in [city]. Find their website, any reviews on Google or Yelp, how long they've been in business, and any red flags in public records or complaints." Comet pulls everything into a summary. You walk into the call informed instead of blind.

Use case 3: Permit requirement lookup for a new jurisdiction. Type: "What are the permit requirements for a [project type] in [city/county]? Include required documents, fees if listed, and typical processing timelines." Comet reads the municipality's website and summarizes what matters. No more navigating government portals page by page.

Use case 4: Client email drafts from your open tabs. With a project schedule or scope document open in another tab, ask Comet: "Draft a client update email based on the project schedule in my open tab. Summarize where we are, what happens next week, and flag one item the client needs to decide before Friday." Comet reads the tab and writes the email. You edit and send.

Use case 5: Competitor research before a bid. Before submitting a proposal into a competitive situation, ask: "Research [competitor name] in [city]. Find their pricing signals, their positioning, recent reviews, and how they describe their process on their website." Comet summarizes the intelligence. You walk into the bid knowing what you're up against.

1. Treat Comet like a research assistant, not a search engine. The difference matters. A search engine gives you links. Comet reads the links and gives you answers. The more specific your request, the better the output. "Find lumber pricing" is a search. "Compare 2x6 framing lumber pricing at Home Depot, Lowes, and [local supplier] for a 500 board foot order and tell me which is cheapest with delivery" is a Comet request.

2. Use it for the browsing tasks that interrupt your actual work. The highest-value use of Comet isn't replacing your main work browser. It's handling the specific research tasks that pull you away from estimating, managing, or building. Identify the three browsing tasks you do most often that don't require your expertise. Run those through Comet first.

3. It cites its sources, which matters for facts you act on. Comet is built on Perplexity, which consistently cites where its information comes from. When you get a permit requirement or a supplier price from Comet, you can verify the source before acting on it. That's not a minor detail: a wrong permit requirement on a project costs real money. Check the citation before you trust the number.

4. It's free right now, with some limitations. Comet is currently free to download on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. The agentic features, where it actually navigates and clicks through sites on your behalf, are the most powerful and occasionally inconsistent. For straightforward research and summarization tasks it performs well. For complex multi-step automation, test it on low-stakes tasks before relying on it.

5. Pair it with Claude for the work that follows the research. Comet is strong at gathering and summarizing information from the web. Claude is strong at drafting, structuring, and analyzing that information once you have it. Use Comet to pull the research, then paste the output into Claude to write the proposal, draft the email, or build the comparison document. They're complementary, not competing.

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