Artificial intelligence skeptics in the construction world are losing ground as the technology becomes a more common companion for the industry’s office staffers.
Administrative, accounting and marketing tasks are increasingly being aided or carried out by machine learning platforms as a way to save time and money, industry executives tell Bisnow, and construction firms are spending a growing portion of their budget on AI.
Lindsey Pierangeli, director of business development at O’Donnell Roofing Co., was hesitant about dipping her toes into AI, but she did so after becoming worried she would fall behind the company's competition.
“I hate robots,” Pierangeli said. “I’m trying to leverage it in ways that don’t freak me out.”
The construction industry typically isn't the fastest sector to adopt new tech, and many firms still aren't using AI or are having challenges adopting it.
A Slate Technologies survey of 1,000 construction, real estate and investment professionals found that 65% of respondents aren't using it for planning or project execution today, but 61% see value in the technology.
Deloitte found AI creates problems for nearly as many construction users as it does successful outcomes. Its survey of 850 commercial real estate leaders found that 40% are experiencing positive results with implementing AI for construction projects, but 39% are experiencing challenges with it.
Prism Construction, a Vancouver-based firm that builds midsized commercial and industrial projects, has ramped up its spending on AI. Chief Operating Officer Reza Norozy said the firm's technology spending for the fiscal year ending in July was nearly 35% higher than the year prior as it worked new AI software into its daily processes.
He expects a similar rate of growth in the current fiscal year, though those funds will be more focused on training his staff to use the tech.
Norozy has found the most success implementing AI in tasks carried out by office workers at the company’s headquarters. That includes everything from sales and accounting to estimating and preconstruction analysis.
AI tools save Prism workers time with complex design calculations and the consolidation of financial data, Norozy said.
“We used to spend hours working on it,” he said of Prism’s accounting reports. “Now we can get it in minutes.”
The company is still in the early stages of implementing AI, but he believes it will someday become a fixture on Prism construction sites. Norozy is looking into safety-oriented AI that can use camera systems to detect on-site hazards so they can be remedied before anyone gets hurt.
So far, Pierangeli has mostly been using it for marketing purposes. She gravitated toward free platforms like Grok and ChatGPT, which she used to gather insights about varying consumer needs in different parts of the company’s territory.
That clued Pierangeli into the new pickleball businesses sweeping suburban Philly’s Main Line, which have since been a target for her team’s outreach.
Pierangeli also used AI to identify which parts of the Philly suburbs have a large number of homes with slate roofs. Maintenance for those requires uncommon expertise, which she said sets O’Donnell apart from its competition.
BidAssist, an AI tool focused on the request for proposals process, had just two clients in the six months after it was fully launched in fall 2024, founder Ted Baumgardner said. Its roster has since ballooned to 23 different users.
That allowed the company to realize profits early on and skirt the venture capital route many tech startups pursue.
“We were able to deliver value from Day 1 and then build off of that,” Baumgardner said. “Construction has such a long sales cycle, such a long adoption cycle that I think it’s inconsistent with a venture return timeline that needs things to become a billion-dollar company in three years.”
Entrepreneurs behind these platforms say the growth in AI adoption is occurring because these products boost efficiency and save money — two key factors for construction companies.
Alice Technologies offers a suite of construction scheduling tools, including a new Insights Agent chatbot launched last month that answers user questions. The company says the suite can save customers 17% on project durations, 14% on labor costs and 12% on equipment costs.
BidAssist allows a single estimator to bid on 60% more jobs and can boost revenue by 35%, Baumgardner said.
“We give people their time back,” he said. “If you can understand the job in two hours instead of two days, you’re able to be that much more effective at the other parts of your job.”
The increased efficiency is having an impact on hiring decisions at some firms, including Prism.
The company considered adding a fifth worker focused on lower-level tasks to one of its teams, but it pivoted to bringing on a systems coordinator to manage its growing AI suite instead.
Alice founder René Morkos has been working in AI for 16 years. He thinks the technology is at least a decade away from being able to eliminate jobs, even if it works for tasks like number crunching.
“These AI systems don’t have context,” he said. “They can discern patterns, but they don’t understand meaning in the way that we do.”
Norozy said he doesn’t believe AI will be replacing workers anytime soon.
“Will AI support us in those decisions? Yes. Will it make those decisions for us? No,” he said. “That’s where we create and add value as human beings.”
Norozy and Baumgardner both drew parallels between the AI rollout and the Industrial Revolution, when new technologies massively expanded the output of individual laborers.
“History has shown that as we’ve invented tools, people have adapted to continue delivering better results for their clients,” the BidAssist founder said.
“If people don’t adapt, then they will absolutely need to find new roles.”
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