This voice is automatically generated. Please let us know if you have any feedback.
Construction risks in 2026 will increasingly come from small operational failures that surface too late to be cheaply fixed. a tight labor market All I could do was increase that exposure.
According to one report, construction technology leaders cited these issues when pointing to some artificial intelligence tools to protect their profits. 2026 Outlook Webinar by Built By Buildersa network of construction technology companies.
Choosing the right option starts on the job site, Anna Berger, CEO of Trayd, a construction back-office operating system, said in a webinar moderated by construction dive reporter Matt Thibault.
“We need to do everything we can from a software and experience standpoint to create a welcoming environment,” says Berger. “If your team is generating accurate numbers on tracking labor in the field, tracking equipment and materials, what that gives back office and finance teams is real-time true labor costs from the field.”
In other words, the tool must first fit efficiently into the field workflow. This also includes small usability aspects such as multiple language options that can greatly accelerate adoption.
“When teams consider investing in software, they need to invest in employee-centric tools,” Berger said. “It’s not just about back office teams, financial managers and end users.”
Safety with AI
of labor shortage Josh Levy, CEO of Document Crunch, an AI risk mitigation platform, says jobsite hazards are further exacerbated when contractors have to staff projects with inexperienced team members.
Safety programs have evolved over the past decade, but the focus may have shifted too far toward check-box compliance that focuses on businesses rather than workers, said Gabe Guetta, founder and CEO of construction safety software provider Salus. AI may help solve that.
For example, field workers do not necessarily learn through academic processes. This is the direction many safety programs take through forms and documentation. The same tools aimed at breaking down complacency can actually create complacency when they become routine box-checking exercises, he said.
AI tools can update this process by making safety programs more engaging from the beginning, Guetta said.
“Safety turned into a theater, where all the paperwork, documentation and training took place, and the pendulum swung from protecting the workers to protecting the company,” Guetta said. “With today’s AI landscape, within the next six months to a year, there will be a fundamental change in how securely it is performed.”
Expanding the workforce
In the back office, Levy said the build process already requires teams to weave together multiple types of documents to avoid compliance and scope traps. Inexperienced teams will uncover gaps in knowledge about how these documents should be relevant to decision-making. To date, the industry has not done enough to quickly democratize expertise so that new staff can perform at a higher level and consistently, he said. It’s a realm of opportunity.
“Certainly we are in a labor shortage, which means construction companies are ultimately going to have to either find a way to scale up with less headcount, or figure out a way to expand their headcount,” Levy said. “I don’t think we’ve done enough to bring that scalability to the people here.”
That burden isn’t just limited to the back office, says Cameron Page, CEO and founder of Clearstory, a change order management platform. Contractors also struggle to recruit and retain project engineers and project managers, which can lead to burnout among current employees. If a company is already investing in upskilling training and employees aren’t following through, that’s an added problem, Page says.
“We have more demands on our team members,” Page said. “All the technology opportunities around process improvement will help these companies scale for this new era where things will move even faster.”
Opportunities for early detection tools
But the influx of construction technology tools is also creating pressure on what to choose for companies. The lack of stability, both in the construction industry as a whole and at individual companies, will ultimately widen the gulf between contractors who learn from data and those who don’t, said Mike Pink, CEO and founder of SmartPM, an automated construction project management platform.
“The lack of standardization in an environment full of new innovations poses challenges for people working on construction sites,” Pink said. “There is even more uncertainty about who is adopting the system and who is using it.”
According to the panelists, this is where issues that had remained buried become visible. Early detection should be the goal for contractors looking to implement any of these tools.
For example, Page said publication of change orders often sits idle in emails along with informal field tickets long before they’re reflected in the forecasting system. Management may review financial projections for a job only after costs have been entered into internal reporting tools.
“This is one of the big trends in protecting our industry’s interests, and having a higher level of visibility allows us to triage more proactively and work on projects that really need help,” Page said. “You might have 10 great projects, but if that one project lacks visibility and goes way over budget, your numbers for the year can drop significantly.”
Tools should also involve trade contractors in the process as active contributors, which improves early identification of problems, said Chris Cullen, CEO of Plot, a field coordination tool.
“Many times, [trade contractors] “Increasingly, there are engagement tools available to bring individuals from trading partners into the process who may not have previously been active contributors,” Karen said.
