The result is redundant data entry and lag times that leave the back office relying on financial data that’s sometimes two to three weeks old. Without timely integration between the field and the office, budget overruns are difficult to catch early, making it harder to protect profitability before the damage is done.

Construction financial management is also inherently complex because it’s not just about moving money; it’s about managing a mountain of legal defense. Manually tracking insurance certificates, safety logs and lien waivers for dozens of subcontractors is logistically challenging. A missing signature or expired policy can halt a multi-million dollar project or expose the general contractor to massive legal liability.

That’s why more contractors are turning to financial management technologies to navigate increasingly complex financial environments—shifting from reactive accounting to fully connected construction workflows that more easily improve cash flows, reduce lag time errors and align teams.

With an integrated system in place, the finance team can act as a true strategic partner to project teams, helping them not just increase profitability, but take on bigger, more complex jobs—ultimately positioning the business for sustained growth and a stronger competitive advantage.

Integrated Workflows Start from the Field

Shifting to more integrated financial workflows begins with field data, which serves as the critical link connecting what’s happening in the field with back office personnel who must then process that information in a timely manner.  This includes information like labor hours, material and equipment costs, RFIs, submittals and change orders, which are recorded daily in the field.

Within many construction companies, the “field” (project managers and foremen) and the “office” (accounting and finance) operate in disconnected silos. Field teams use project management applications and field logs to track daily progress, while accounting relies on separate financial systems to manage invoices and payments. This lack of timely data flow can create a lag, delaying the discovery of financial issues sometimes weeks after they occur.

A connected ecosystem bridges this gap by unifying field and project data with financial management via a single, shared flow of information. This ensures that both the project lead in the field and the person cutting the check in the office are working from the exact same data.

This workflow ideally starts by transferring bid data directly into a field or project management solution. A common cost-code structure acts as the connective tissue between the field and the office. As crews work, they log hours and materials and other costs against those specific cost codes. This isn’t just “status tracking;” it’s the foundation of accurate job costing.

Hours estimated versus hours spent against the budget can be more easily seen and managed. For example—if a contractor budgeted 40 hours for framing and has already spent 38 hours with half the work done, the overrun will be flagged. This allows the problem to be fixed that week, rather than finding out at the end of the month when the bank account is empty.

Field to financial integrations can also help with change orders, which are often hidden costs that aren’t noticed until the very end of a project. But when systems are linked, the change order process moves from being a paperwork headache to a proactive financial strategy.

For example, when a subcontractor encounters an onsite conflict that results in a potential change order, it’s immediately logged in the financial management system as a pending item. The system automatically calculates the potential change order’s impact on the project’s bottom line and alerts the project manager if it threatens to consume the remaining contingency. Once the owner approves the change, it’s converted into an official change order and synced with the ERP, where it automatically updates both the subcontractor’s contract and the owner’s prime contract.

The Subcontractor Relationship: Facilitating Accuracy, Speed and Trust

Another critical workflow is invoice, compliance and lien waiver management—especially for subcontractors, who are often left chasing payments through emails and phone calls. Automated payment portals like Trimble Pay act as a digital bridge between project managers and subcontractors, standardizing payments through a digitized system. It replaces tedious paperwork with a guided digital experience, shifting the dynamic from chasing checks to simply verifying progress.

Subcontractors submit invoices through a dedicated digital portal, where built-in checks ensure everything is in order before submission. If a certificate of insurance has expired or a required license is missing, the system prompts them to upload the necessary documentation on the spot. It also automatically generates the appropriate conditional lien waiver based on the invoice amount, streamlining compliance and reducing delays.

Once an invoice is submitted, subcontractors gain full visibility into the review process, including who is currently evaluating the bill—whether it’s the project manager or accounting personnel. After approval, payments are released via ACH directly through Trimble Pay.

This transparent, end-to-end process replaces the back-and-forth of phone calls and emails. Subcontractors can track their invoice status from submission to final payment, fostering greater trust and strengthening working relationships.

The Connected Future

Moving from manual, siloed operations to an integrated data ecosystem provides three major benefits to contractors:

Elimination of the Visibility Gap: By integrating field data with back-office accounting, contractors achieve more timely project and financial visibility. This allows them to catch budget overruns (such as labor hours exceeding estimates) and track pending change orders when they occur, rather than discovering financial damage after a project is already over budget.

Reduced Risk and Automated Compliance: Managing compliance and lien waivers on spreadsheets is a gamble. By integrating workflows, financial solutions automatically collect and validate documents before money moves, reducing the risk of costly claims or financial disputes. The transition to automated payment portals reduces administrative friction, fosters trust and strengthens the long-term partnership between the contractor and their trades.

Scalability Without Overhead: Integrated systems allow contractors to take on more complex projects or a greater volume of work without expanding back-office staff. The efficiency gains in payment processing alone allow the finance team to act as strategic partners to the project teams.

Shifting to a fully connected financial ecosystem transforms construction management from a reactive struggle into a proactive strategy. Bridging the gap between the field and the back office helps contractors protect their bottom line through more immediate visibility, automated compliance and stronger professional partnerships. In an industry where a single missing signature or an unrecorded change order can erase a year’s profit, these digital workflows serve as the essential foundation for building a truly scalable and profitable business.

SEE ALSO: WHEN BUILDINGS FORGET: DIGITAL DATA SILOING

The post Powering Profitability With Connected Construction Workflows first appeared on Construction Executive.

Recent research from CBIZ and The National Center for the Middle Market found that while 31% of construction-industry respondents named increasing efficiency as a top strategic priority (more than any other industry), only 26% of construction firms cited investing in technology as a priority. This begs the question: Where do construction leaders see these efficiency gains coming from if not from technology investments?

This discrepancy represents a general mistrust of modernization in the construction industry. While it’s unlikely robots will take over jobsites altogether, the truth is that software, AI and other technological advancements are powering growth in the construction industry by helping with offsite tasks like material management, financial processes, administrative duties, and safety and compliance. These tools can enhance employees’ capabilities, free up time spent on repetitive tasks and increase efficiency enterprisewide.

Construction firms looking to enhance efficiency should consider the following tech tools:

Artificial Intelligence

AI can help construction firms reduce rework and expedite timelines every step of the way, both onsite and in-office.

AI can:

• Help estimate costs and promote more competitive bids by analyzing historical data, material prices and labor availability
• Avoid turning preventable hiccups into change orders by identifying sequences related to scheduling and issuing alerts regarding material availability
• Track progress, ensure compliance and oversee quality assurance programs
• Reduce repetitive work, manual tasks and time spent preparing reports
• Analyze jobsite photos to flag potential safety risks (i.e., missing PPE or hazards)

It’s important to note that AI’s output is only as good as the data it receives, so firms should prioritize clean data, consistent coding structures and clear governance to ensure reliable insights. Try starting with a narrow, high-value use case—such as AI-powered invoice coding or photo-based progress tracking—then prove the ROI and scale to adjacent workflows.

Enterprise Resource Planning

An ERP centralizes data to promote accessibility, integrates and shares information across departments for greater visibility, and provides real-time insights to help leaders make timely and informed decisions. The right ERP should become the source of truth for operational and financial data across estimating, procurement, project management, accounting and HR/payroll.

ERPs can also:

• Deliver cloud-based service to reduce burdens on in-house IT teams
• Ease demands related to construction-specific workflows
• Provide a single access point for key information from across various systems
• Track inventory
• Help with project management and job costing
• Deliver comprehensive audit trails, apply strong controls and streamline reporting processes

Look for solutions that integrate with field applications (i.e., timekeeping and daily reports), support mobile approvals and offer configurable workflows. Robust role-based permissions, embedded analytics and standardized dashboards can help executives and PMs make faster, more informed decisions. Consider mapping your current processes and pain points, identifying essential features and piloting with real data. Plan for data migration and change management upfront to avoid operational disruption.

Drone Technology

Many construction firms are already using drones to monitor jobsites. These drones can also use advanced sensors to chart out obstructions underground. Eventually, there could be the potential for additional functionality to actively analyze and identify potential code violations as they occur.

Building Information Modeling

BIM software can also help teams visualize what hasn’t been built yet, with some systems even enabling teams to test materials and methods virtually. 4D (time-based) and 5D (cost-based) simulations can help teams evaluate sequencing and budget impacts before mobilization.

Time for Change

When implementing new technologies, there are bound to be growing pains. The process of updating and modernizing systems will always be different for each company due to each having uniquely complex processes and distinct goals. In order to ensure that implementation is successful, a strategic approach to change management is crucial.

Change management refers to the process of aligning leadership on important changes and communicating the value of the changes with employees. This usually involves engaging professionals to formalize the changes and develop a strategic approach to introducing new systems and processes.

Change management is effective when employees feel empowered to contribute to a successful implementation. By helping employees understand the benefits the changes represent, they should feel excited to be able to contribute to the company in a new way.

Implementation Tips

• Make change incremental by breaking implementation into phases.
• Establish baseline KPIs and track improvements.
• Consider field input during design to avoid workarounds and unsuccessful adoption.
• Define data ownership, retention and access controls across internal teams and vendors.
• Implement role-based access and multifactor authentication.
• Fund training and provide support for employees during the initial rollout.

Technology is not a silver bullet for the construction industry’s challenges, but it is a practical lever for boosting efficiency, improving safety and protecting margins. Firms that pair targeted tools (AI, ERPs, drones and BIM) with disciplined change management can capture measurable gains: fewer change orders, faster cycles, better visibility and safer jobsites. Start small with a high-impact pilot, invest in training and track outcomes. With a clear roadmap and an empowered workforce, construction companies can support the craft at the heart of the industry while operating with the speed and precision today’s market demands.

SEE ALSO: WHICH CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENTS ACTUALLY MOVE THE NEEDLE ON PROFITABILITY

The post Practical Technology Upgrades for Construction Firms to Improve Efficiency first appeared on Construction Executive.

Construction Technology That Actually Works

Construction technology should target sources of profit loss, such as downtime, rework, budget overruns and safety incidents. Here are proven investments with measurable ROI.

Building Information Modeling

The concept of 3D modeling has been valuable in producing geometric representations of blueprints. Building information modeling takes it a step further by creating and managing extensive project data, including costs, materials and schedules.

Companies can expect better stakeholder collaboration and reduced rework when they connect on these crucial elements and stay aligned. BIM is already expected to increase from $10.27 billion in 2026 to $27.12 billion by 2034 with a CAGR of 12.90%.

Reality Capture and Machine Learning

Reality capture through drones and sensors is versatile, as these tools can be used for site surveys, progress monitoring and safety inspections. Combined with machine learning, progress reports become accurate enough to improve worksite safety for workers.

The collected data can also be used to improve equipment quality and lifespan. Use it as a basis for predictive and preventive maintenance, helping companies experience 52.7% less unplanned downtime than those using reactive maintenance.

Centralized Project Management Software

Centralized project management software can streamline communication, documentation and scheduling all in one platform. A report found that 77% of optimized users saw increased profit margins.

The software also offers productivity gains. By unifying project tasks and enhancing real-time visibility into project progress, construction businesses can reduce their administrative errors and minimize field delays.

Overvalued Tech With Uncertain ROI

As important as technology is, certain buzzwords have innovative potential but are risky or have low ROI. Firms should practice more careful consideration to avoid poor technological investments and implementations.

Metaverse

The metaverse has become more possible through a combination of virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence. It has the potential to improve virtual visualization and 3D modeling, thereby impacting energy efficiency and reducing construction waste.

However, despite its power, technological limitations and data privacy concerns still hinder its widespread adoption in the construction industry. Investing in it now without proper development might involve little to no return.

Blockchain for Supply-Chain Management

Tracking materials and other resources from a factory to a jobsite can involve numerous documents. Integrating blockchain solutions can boost operational efficiency by 25% while reducing fraud by 50%, which improves transparency between workers and stakeholders.

However, it’s hard to ignore the high implementation costs associated with blockchain. It can also be complex to understand, which isn’t ideal for construction start-ups that may prefer simpler options, such as centralized project management software.

Generative Design

Another application of AI is generative design, which entails creating plans with minimal human input. It’s intended to simplify the planning process, but there are concerns about the unethical use of this technology, given GenAI’s challenges with domain knowledge and model accuracy.

Generative design is prone to hallucination and mistakes. Removing the input of experienced architects and engineers early on in the process can also lead to further delays and expenses in the long run.

How to Choose the Right Technology for the Firm

Differentiating between technological investments that deliver measurable results and those that are simply buzzwords can be challenging. It’s important to take the time to analyze these prospects. Here are tips to help construction industry professionals choose the right ones.

1. Identify Problems Instead of Products

Instead of chasing technological solutions based on what’s popular, focus on what problems the construction business is actually facing. For instance, to improve equipment lifespan, predictive maintenance analytics would be most effective.

Start by defining a problem and then work from there. If there are no clear areas for improvement, take the initiative to identify what would positively impact the company’s profits.

2. Consider the Investment Risks

As high as the ROI may be for certain technologies, it’s still important to understand any risks associated with their implementation. Small- to medium-sized companies, especially, should be vigilant about where they invest their money.

For instance, BIM is ideal for improving planning. However, implementation costs can be relatively high, with some services charging monthly or annual fees, depending on the scale and complexity of the project.

3. Implement a Pilot Project First

Before widespread technology adoption, it’s safe to implement a pilot project first. This will involve a limited number of users to evaluate functionality and gauge the budget and resources required to use the tool effectively. It’s best to have an IT specialist who can help lead its integration.

A pilot project should have a specific timeline and a list of goals that would warrant its implementation. Profitability is a key performance indicator, but it’s also important to assess other elements, such as reduced delays and errors compared to traditional methods.

4. Get Employees Involved Through Training

Incorporating new technologies can become much smoother when employees are involved in the process. Managers should provide adequate training sessions to familiarize construction teams with using these tools, ensuring greater success and better results.

Training can also translate to a more positive evaluation of the pilot project and encourage buy-in from business leaders. Seek their feedback to explore any adjustments in the implementation process when it goes companywide.

Be Intentional With Technology Adoption

Technological adoption should enhance profitability and productivity in the construction industry. Evaluate industry solutions before integrating them into the project process to ensure that upcoming investments have a real impact.

SEE ALSO: EXECUTIVE INSIGHTS 2026: LEADERS IN CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY I

The post Which Construction Technology Investments Actually Move the Needle on Profitability? first appeared on Construction Executive.

But opportunity alone does not guarantee success. As competition intensifies, communication failures and poor information management are emerging as some of the most common (and costly) reasons firms lose margins, miss deadlines or fail to secure repeat work. In data center construction, where schedules are compressed and tolerance for error is minimal, even small breakdowns in communication can have outsized consequences.

Why Data Center Projects Raise the Bar for Communication

Data centers differ fundamentally from traditional commercial construction, particularly when it comes to communication demands. These projects are not simply buildings with specialized tenants. They are mission-critical infrastructure environments where mechanical, electrical and digital systems take precedence, and where mistakes can delay commissioning at enormous cost.

In many data center projects, there is effectively zero tolerance for error. A misrouted duct, an incorrect cable path or an outdated electrical drawing can compromise airflow, redundancy or system performance. Fixing those issues late in the process often requires rework that ripples across multiple trades, extending schedules and increasing risk.

Timelines further heighten the stakes. Data center owners often pursue aggressive schedules to bring capacity online as quickly as possible. Contracts frequently include liquidated damages, meaning every missed day directly erodes profitability. Under these conditions, delays are less likely to stem from physical construction than from slow reviews, unclear approvals or conflicting information.

Confidentiality requirements add another layer of complexity. Data centers are widely considered strategic infrastructure, and owners tightly control access to designs, layouts and system details. Informal communication methods, such as unstructured email chains or unsecured file sharing, can violate contractual obligations and undermine owner confidence.

Stakeholder complexity compounds the challenge. Data center projects typically involve owners, developers, general contractors, specialty subcontractors, equipment vendors, commissioning agents, insurers and authorities having jurisdiction. Each relies on accurate, timely information. When teams lack clarity about which documents are current or which decisions are final, confusion spreads quickly.

Fragmented Communication Creates Real Risk

Despite the high stakes, many construction teams still rely on fragmented communication practices. Drawings live in shared drives, decisions are buried in email threads and approvals are tracked manually. This fragmentation increases the likelihood of errors and makes accountability difficult to establish.

Version control is a frequent failure point. When different team members reference different iterations of drawings or models, coordination errors multiply. In a data center environment, those errors can halt progress entirely.

Documentation practices also reveal a firm’s maturity. Data center commissioning requires complete, accurate records, including as-built drawings, testing results, warranties and operations manuals. Teams that delay documentation until the end of the project often scramble to assemble information, delaying handover and straining relationships with owners.

Just as importantly, communication practices directly affect reputation. Owners in the data center market tend to favor partners with proven reliability. A clear, defensible record of decisions, changes and approvals builds trust and reduces disputes. Conversely, missed deadlines, unresolved RFIs or incomplete documentation quietly damage credibility and can result in firms being excluded from future bid opportunities.

Workforce Constraints Make Communication Even More Critical

Communication challenges are intensifying as labor shortages strain the construction industry. Data center projects require specialized skills, including commissioning engineers and power systems experts. These roles are difficult to fill, yet demand continues to rise.

With limited talent available, firms cannot scale simply by adding people. Instead, they must improve how work is managed. Clear workflows, centralized information and disciplined communication allow smaller teams to handle more complex projects without sacrificing quality.

Strong information management also reduces dependency on institutional knowledge held by a few individuals. When project history is captured systematically, teams remain resilient even as personnel change.

Practical Steps to Avoid Costly Communication Failures

Firms looking to compete effectively in the data center market must treat communication as a core operational function. Several practices consistently distinguish high-performing teams:

• Centralize information. Establish a single source of truth for drawings, correspondence, RFIs and submittals. Centralization reduces confusion and minimizes version conflicts, ensuring all stakeholders are working from approved information.
• Standardize workflows. Defined processes for reviews, approvals and changes prevent bottlenecks and clarify responsibility. Automated routing and status tracking can help teams identify issues before they impact schedules.
• Build security into collaboration. Role-based access controls and secure sharing protocols are essential for protecting sensitive information and meeting confidentiality expectations.
• Document progressively. Collect and organize documentation throughout the project rather than at the end. Progressive documentation supports smoother commissioning and faster, cleaner handovers.
• Integrate systems where possible. Disconnected tools increase the risk of misalignment. A full integration improves consistency and reduces duplicate data entry.

Some organizations use dedicated platforms, like Newforma, to support these practices, but the underlying principle applies regardless of technology. Discipline, transparency and accountability matter more than any individual tool.

Communication as a Competitive Advantage

The data center boom shows no signs of slowing. Energy demand is rising, digital infrastructure investment is accelerating and owners are becoming more selective about who they trust to deliver. In this environment, communication failures are not minor inconveniences, but strategic liabilities.

Construction firms that invest in clear communication, secure collaboration and disciplined information management position themselves to win repeat work and protect margins. Those that do not risk being left behind, not because demand disappeared, but because confidence did.

In data center construction, execution defines success. That kind of success requires communication that is simple, secure and reliable from start to finish.

SEE ALSO: DATA CENTER SURGE: PRE-DEVELOPED SPACE ALREADY 90% LEASED

The post Communication Gaps Can Cost Construction Firms in the Data Center Boom first appeared on Construction Executive.

“The research indicates the construction industry is nearing a tipping point for AI adoption,” says Steve Jones, senior director of industry insights at Dodge Construction Network, who sat down with Construction Executive to delve further into the survey questions and answers and what the industry’s current position on them means for AI’s future role in construction.

Other results worth noting include:

• 85% of contractors expect they will spend less time on repetitive, mundane tasks
• Over 70% believe they can make better decisions because AI offers insights they might not arrive at on their own
• 75% look ahead to AI helping them learn from past projects by mining historical data
• 40% are currently allocating a dedicated budget to AI
• 38% are creating implementation teams
• 19% report adapting legacy workflows for an AI environment
• 51% are actively evaluating several potential AI-related changes across their teams
• 81% recognize the benefit of automated constructability analysis to identify potential field issues during design
• 80% express interest in intelligent permit submission with automatic compliance checking
• 79% note strong potential for autonomous project optimization that adjusts schedules and resources in real time
• 76% identify opportunities in dynamic pricing optimization based on market conditions and risk factors
• 92% acknowledge the value of automated contract creation and management
• 79% value intelligent bid-no-bid decision support

The overall findings seem overwhelmingly optimistic. Was that surprising?

No, because there’s already so much in the general consumer environment about AI. It’s very different than when BIM came out—because that wasn’t widely talked about; you had to be in the industry to even have heard of it and it was easily dismissed as just another form of 3D. But now AI is so wide and there probably isn’t anybody who answered our survey who isn’t already also using ChatGPT or Claude or one of these LLMs. They know how it functions, what it does, and they’ve heard so much about it.

I expected the job loss question to score pretty highly in terms of concern—I was pleased to see that that was pretty low, around 20%. I think we may have gotten over that concern.

For the last two years I’ve been pushing to call it augmented intelligence instead of artificial intelligence. AI is here to help us all be better and faster. It isn’t here to replace anybody.

The survey shows 85% of contractors expect they will spend less time on repetitive, mundane tasks. It’s surprising that that’s not 100%. It that because contractors don’t expect AI to be able to automate everything?

There are certain repetitive tasks that don’t lend themselves to AI. It will be interesting to come back to a study like this two or three years from now asking similar questions and compare answers. The answer may be 99% at that point, but at the end of the day, AI’s not going to dig a ditch for you. But there is a robot that’s going to dig that ditch. And the robot will be powered by AI.

Would you say AI is creating opportunities for more jobs rather than replacing workers?

I don’t know that it’s creating the opportunity for more jobs, but what it’s going to be able to allow people to do is contend with the resource strain and drain from the workforce shortage that isn’t going away. The combination of AI automating mundane tasks and robotics being able to actually do labor will help people become much better decision makers.

Only 40% of those surveyed are allocating a budget for AI. Is it that people can’t yet afford these full tech stacks? Or is there just not enough buy-in to AI in general?

There still seems to be a general wait-and-see attitude. People like to know they’re not alone in whatever it is they’re doing. We can say, ‘Here is what a hundred other folks who look a lot like you are doing with this and what’s working and what isn’t working.’ So, they can have the confidence to move forward.

With AI, once people are in the game, they like to play the game and they don’t know why they didn’t start playing earlier. So, how fast do you see the number of players increasing by the end of the decade?

I think it’s longer than that. Because even as big as AI already is, construction is a people business at the end of the day. Human beings have to make the decision to get in the pool and how far down towards the deep end to swim. It’s such a fragmented and growing business right now, nobody has very much time to put energy into something that would seem extracurricular.

If you look at this industry 15 years from now, it will look dramatically different than it does today. But I don’t think the next four or five years are going to show that much. We will begin to see greater preparation, much more engagement and awareness. And I think we’ll see a similar pattern of those who have gotten into the game and are using AI saying that it’s great. The vendors need the feedback coming from the users. The more people who’re using AI, the more feedback they can give and then the better the vendors can make those tools function. The function of AI already far outpaces what construction’s ready for now.

SEE ALSO: MORE CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES ARE BUILDING A TECHNOLOGY-FOCUSED C-SUITE

The post New Survey Reveals Overwhelmingly Optimistic Results on the Use of AI in Construction first appeared on Construction Executive.

Construction as a Technology Leader

One of the defining moments of CES 2026 came during Caterpillar’s keynote address. CEO Joe Creed addressed a packed room with a question many may have been thinking: “Why is a construction equipment company delivering a keynote at CES?”

The answer became evident quickly. Modern construction equipment is no longer just mechanical—it is digital, autonomous, connected and powered by sophisticated technology stacks. Caterpillar announced five autonomous construction vehicles and demonstrated Level 4 autonomy capabilities. The shift underway is significant: Operators are transitioning from inside the cab to remote environments where fleets can be managed simultaneously. Perhaps the most notable unveiling was the CAT AI Assistant, scheduled to go live in Q1 2026. During a live demonstration, a simple voice command adjusted an electrical line warning height to 13 feet. The assistant integrates speech, text and image recognition—representing a move toward multimodal AI systems that assist real-time field operations. Construction is no longer simply adopting technology—it is helping define how technology is applied in the physical world.

A Connected Equipment Ecosystem

Across the LVCC West Hall, the evolution of heavy equipment was unmistakable.

Oshkosh and JLG showcased paired scissor lifts engineered specifically for lifting structural steel—an example of equipment designed around task optimization rather than generalized capability. John Deere continued expanding its autonomous ecosystem, reinforcing the trend toward intelligent fleet coordination.

Battery innovation companies, including Lyten, demonstrated advances in energy density and battery chemistry, highlighting that electrification is moving beyond experimentation and toward jobsitewide energy strategies.

Electrification discussions at CES 2026 extended beyond machines themselves. Charging infrastructure, energy management systems and power optimization software were part of the broader narrative. As cities push for lower emissions and reduced noise pollution, electric equipment is becoming a practical solution for urban and indoor projects.

It is no longer just about whether electric machines can perform—it is about how entire jobsites can be powered efficiently and sustainably.

Innovation from Startups: Solving Field-Level Problems

The Venetian’s Eureka Park, home to emerging startups, provided a view into construction’s next wave of innovation.

Autodesk demonstrated advancements in component modeling, reinforcing the growing integration between design intelligence and field execution. As digital models become more detailed and connected to real-world data, the gap between virtual planning and physical construction continues to shrink.

Cosito introduced AI-powered voice and sensor technology capable of automatically generating daily reports and field documentation. For an industry burdened by administrative paperwork, automation in this space could unlock significant productivity gains.

MIMO Detect presented underground pipe detection technology using ground-penetrating radar. While still in prototype phase and currently stronger in horizontal positioning than depth accuracy, the technology reflects ongoing efforts to reduce subsurface risk and prevent costly utility strikes. 

What stood out across the startup ecosystem was focus. Solutions were not speculative—they were targeted at real-world construction challenges: documentation, detection, visualization and efficiency.

Robotics and Spatial Computing

Robotics once again drew attention throughout the North Hall, with humanoid platforms, quadrupeds and service robots on display. However, the emphasis has shifted from novelty to application.

Exoskeleton technologies continue improving in wearability and ergonomic support, aiming to reduce strain injuries and extend workforce longevity. AI hardware companies such as DeepX demonstrated embedded processing systems powering autonomous vision and robotics applications. One particularly compelling development was spatial computing integrated through hard hat-mounted camera systems. By capturing and processing real-time visual data from a worker’s perspective, these systems aim to enhance hazard detection, progress tracking, and documentation. Robotics at CES 2026 felt less like spectacle and more like support—tools designed to augment skilled workers rather than replace them.

Workforce and AI Literacy

Technology alone does not build infrastructure—people do. Several CES sessions focused on preparing the workforce for rapidly evolving tools.

In the session “Next Gen Skills: Preparing Students for Tomorrow’s Tech,” leaders from Amazon, Oshkosh, CTA, and Tech Access emphasized AI literacy as a foundational skill. Amazon has committed $2.5 million to certify students in AI education and pledged to prepare four million students to use AI by 2028. Apprenticeship models are expanding to support data center construction and advanced infrastructure projects.

Key themes included:

• Prompt engineering as an emerging skill
• Understanding how to work alongside AI agents
• Collaboration between industry and education
• Ensuring technology remains accessible

Construction faces ongoing labor shortages and safety challenges. With less than 5% of the workforce employed in construction but accounting for nearly 20% of safety incidents, AI-powered safety systems and automation could play a transformative role.

New roles are already emerging: fleet autonomy managers, digital twin specialists, AI operations coordinators and construction data analysts. Preparing for jobs that do not yet fully exist is becoming part of the industry’s responsibility.

Connectivity: The Infrastructure Behind Innovation

Discussions involving FCC and NTIA leadership highlighted another critical factor: connectivity. Universal broadband access, spectrum policy, 6G development and WiFi 7 readiness are not abstract regulatory topics — they are foundational to connected construction ecosystems. Autonomous fleets, remote equipment management, real-time drone processing and AI-driven safety systems all depend on reliable, high-speed networks. As infrastructure becomes smarter, connectivity becomes as important as concrete and steel.

Lingering Thoughts Towards a Shift in Equipment Design

In conversations with industry leaders, an intriguing idea surfaced: As autonomy advances, equipment design itself may fundamentally change. If machines no longer require operators in cabs, what happens to traditional controls? Do we eliminate joysticks, operator compartments, and certain mechanical components altogether?

Autonomy does not just change how machines operate—it may redefine how they are built.

Looking Ahead

CES 2026 demonstrated that construction technology is no longer niche. It is integrated across AI, robotics, electrification, manufacturing and policy.

The industry is entering a phase where digital intelligence and physical infrastructure are inseparable. One key takeaway resonated: Technology should be deployed to solve problems, not simply to showcase innovation. That principle applies directly to construction. Adoption must be strategic, measurable and outcome-driven.

Autonomous fleets, AI assistants, spatial computing, electrified equipment and workforce AI literacy initiatives are not distant visions—they are active deployments.

Construction is not standing on the sidelines of innovation. It is helping build it.

SEE ALSO: HOW MOBILE TOOLS ARE CAPTURING SAFETY DATA ON JOBSITES

The post Building the Future: Construction at the Center of Technological Innovation at CES 2026 first appeared on Construction Executive.

Through this partnership, Juneau is not simply using AI to expedite spreadsheets—it is rolling out the Buildots platform into its day-to-day practices in the office and on the jobsite to further its physical construction efforts and cultural company goals.

The three-year enterprise agreement will allow Juneau “to implement Buildots’ entire AI-powered platform across its entire portfolio, leveraging data-driven insights to deliver projects on time,” stated an August press release.

Having already employed the Buildots tech stack on several projects—including Hub Knoxville in Tennessee and One Park Tower in Miami—Juneau has begun collecting valuable data and building even more valuable places for students and residents to live.

To further illuminate the value of this partnership and the contech behind it, Jake Landreneau, Juneau Construction Company’s executive vice president of innovation and technology; and Jessica Herrala, Buildots’ North America regional director, sat down with Construction Executive to share their insights and their hopes for the final year of collaboration.

How long has Juneau been using AI in any capacity?

LANDRENEAU: It really goes back to the ethos of our innovation and tech approach as a whole: We want to adopt solutions that help support our people, our brand and the people we work with. Supporting those folks is the primary focus of our innovation technology approach as a whole. And from our end, there’s nothing we can do better than to give them back extra capacity, which is where a lot of these AI tools come in.

So, we probably started that journey five years ago and then it’s only been the last couple of years where we’ve actually had physical tools that can help reduce the amount of time it takes to understand a project and what’s going on. We can do the reality capture and get meaningful data out of it. Somewhere between the last three to five years has been when we started exploring several different avenues.

How do you get the companywide buy-in to adopt this major technology rollout?

LANDRENEAU: I haven’t run into any of those feelings of ‘AI is going to take my job’ in a serious capacity. Everyone jokes about it, but I think a lot of it is that we really focus on this augmentation approach—that we can make you better, we can help you get home to your family sooner, we can help you work safer, we can get more accomplished in a day by using these specific tools. I think if you brought too much stuff to the plate too soon, you could get that apprehension, but we’re really focusing on a people-centric approach.

What’s different about this partnership? Why is three years the sweet spot?

HERRALA: So, it’s not just that we reevaluate at the end of three years. We’re constantly evaluating our partnership throughout. We get together every quarter, go over the data, go over the feedback. Juneau will get first pass at every single product update that we do. They will be giving us constant new product feedback and they get first dibs at the next new product.

It’s interesting to see how far we’ve come with Juneau because we’ve been working together already for two years and we’re proving that the technology works, that there can be adoption on a company’s side, that there’s data to be used. So, the three-year agreement is really a good test to see where the technology will be at the end of those three years because the technology’s going to evolve so quickly and Juneau and Buildots will evolve together as the technology grows.

The feedback that you’re getting from the actual field operations: How important is that to informing the further development of products?

HERRALA: It’s literally everything. We are customer driven, so we don’t do anything on a product that is not specifically requested by the customers. Every product update we do comes from feedback directly from the customers, whether in casual conversation with the superintendents onsite or through high level conversations with people like Jake. We’re just in a constant state of improvement based on the needs of our customers.

When you’re rolling out new products to your company, how are you introducing them? Are you just rolling them out to the field and accepting feedback or are you training your workforce to know what to look for when they’re using these products?

LANDRENEAU: I think the Buildots rollout process is a good case study for that and indicative of what we like to do, which is find a project and an open-minded project team to test it out on. It just happened that it was a massive project so it was a very big first test, but those team members are now the disciples of the product and will help push those initiatives and really showed us that there are a lot of materials in the AI space that are figured out and there’s a lot of stuff that’s not figured out, but this has really good features now and tremendous potential in the future. So, it really has been a grassroots effort from one team to the next. By the end [of that major project] there was a little bit of hype—people were curious when they would get Buildots on their project or if they would have the same tool.

The Hub Knoxville and One Park Tower: Talk a little bit about what comprised each of these projects and the specific technologies that you employed.

LANDRENEAU: Hub Knoxville is a four-building, 2,700+-bed, student-housing, off-campus complex for the University of Tennessee. We’re continuing to add to that count now as we start the fourth building—the first three buildings are completed, the fourth one is in framing right now. There’s also a very large parking structure associated with it and that was the original test project—nearly $375 million of total work.

Then the next project was the One Park Tower project in Miami, which is a 33-story condo project just south of Aventura Mall. It’s been part of the Turnberry [and Associates] master development, so that’s the first building of several buildings around a manmade lagoon in the luxury condominium space.

What specific Buildots technologies did you use on these projects?

LANDRENEAU: I mean it’s the whole platform—which included reality capture at least once a week for all of the capture area, and then that’s connected to our schedule that we’re maintaining weekly as well as our models. So, it basically allows us to track progress and do some quality control work in terms of accuracy of installation as well as provide photo documentation for the project if the owner would like at the end of the day.

HERRALA: For us it’s really about helping Juneau forecast delays, so utilizing this really detailed progress tracking that creates production rates that leads to really showing the smoke before there’s fire. Jake likes to say Buildots is a bit of a canary in a coal mine.

LANDRENEAU: It really creates a lot of accountability and ability for us to check from an executive side.

How has Juneau tried to incorporate AI education into the company? And how does Buildots design with user experience in mind?

LANDRENEAU: It’s like with any contech application. It’s got to work and it’s got to have a user interface that people could actually interact with. We’d been doing a lot of reality capture well before AI was a big player in it, whether that was laser scans or drones or things like that. So, people were used to the idea of taking a lot of pictures of projects and that provides meaningful data. This really just compounded and expanded on that idea—we were already doing this, but we could up it a couple levels and we can get even more meaningful data out of it.

HERRALA: I think even a year ago there was a lot more hesitancy about AI, but I think now AI is so much in people’s daily use. I think there’s a lot of exposure that comes with Buildots—it’s exposing a lot of what’s happening on the jobsite so it really is like an extension of your team. That’s the goal of it, and to be able to show what’s happening onsite and how to utilize that data to make different decisions. So, it’s not like we’re just dropping AI into your lap, like it’s Big Brother and it’s watching over you. It’s really more a useful tool to help you perform work better.

But what about it taking your job? Because we do get this question a lot and I always say this is a tool to do the menial tasks that you’re doing every day that are taking your time away from quality and safety. Use that extra time to focus on the things that matter and, as Jake said, get you home at night, safe and to your family. Juneau has some of the best and brightest young people in the industry and they simply won’t tolerate not having a work-life balance anymore. We as the industry have to bring tools to them that are going to help them do that. And Juneau is doing a great job at providing those tools.

How will this partnership propel each of your companies forward? And how will it set a precedent for other companies and other partnerships?

LANDRENEAU: We’re most excited about the data side of this. We are quantifying things that you used to only find out from experience or communication or manually sifting through stagnate data. Let’s say I needed to figure out what X trades partner’s production rates were over the last three weeks. Now this type of data is just there at your disposal at any random time on any random day. You just pop it up, you go look and you can start viewing that on every single project. Now you’re developing a historic data set similar to what you’d have with cost and preconstruction. Everyone’s always been tracking their estimates but now you’re tracking that alongside production rates and quality in the field, so it’s just an incredibly meaningful data set and that’s going to help us continue to reshape our project approach with evolving systems.

To us, the partnership was important because we want to help drive and steer not only our company but the industry in that direction—we have a lot of ideas that really focus on data and the data analytics side of things and helping our people with that information. So this partnership really gives us that ability and that access—that’s what we’re excited about.

HERRALA: We’ve been in the North American market now for a few years and Juneau was really one of the first in partnering with Buildots. And it means everything to us as a company that we’ve not only delivered what they asked us to deliver, but we continue to become a better partner to them—and that really speaks volumes to who they are as a company and the partnership they’ve helped us foster. It means the world to us truly.

SEE ALSO: CONTECH FOR CHRISTMAS: WHAT TECHNOLOGIES CONTRACTORS ARE SEEKING MOST AT YEAR’S END

The post Tech Partnerships Paving the Way for Innovation in Construction first appeared on Construction Executive.

If a construction company is just starting to build their tech stack, what should they look for first?

In our industry, the gold standard foundation is an end-to-end field service management platform. These systems bring scheduling, dispatch, invoicing, payments and reporting into one hub. For smaller contractors, an FSM ensures day-to-day operations are efficient and cash flow is healthy. For larger or more complex firms, that FSM foundation often needs to connect into an ERP or accounting-first platform that can scale with multiple divisions, entities or business units. Without that strong base of clean, centralized data, every other tool—AI, estimating, project management or marketing—will struggle to deliver real ROI.

How should construction companies build out their tech stack—everything at once or product by product?

It’s tempting to go all-in, but the most successful companies roll out product by product, in phases. Start with the most business-critical area (usually job management or accounting). Once adoption is strong and workflows are documented, move into complementary tools like CRM, estimating or marketing automation. Layering systems this way avoids overwhelming the team and ensures each tool is fully utilized before moving on.

Where should companies look for quality tech solutions beyond the big brand names?

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the tech noise in the market. The most important step is to start with a clear understanding of your business needs and what your primary FSM platform already offers. From there, you can identify true gaps or areas where enhancements will drive ROI.

Once you have that clarity, evaluating third-party integrations becomes much simpler. Look to your FSM’s partner marketplace first, since those tools are designed to integrate natively. Beyond that, industry associations, peer groups and distributor networks can be excellent sources of vetted solutions. Smaller, field-built tools often offer faster support and flexibility, but they should be layered in only where they enhance your FSM foundation, not distract from it.

For companies with existing stacks, what are signs they need to upgrade?

Look for red flags like:

• Teams running spreadsheets or shadow systems outside the core platform
• Duplicate data entry across systems
• Frequent complaints from field teams about usability
• Reporting that’s delayed or inaccurate

These are all signals that your tools aren’t keeping up with how your business is operating today.

Which products usually need to be upgraded first/most frequently?

We most often see upgrades needed in:

• Accounting/ERP (to handle scale, multi-entity or job costing)
• CRM/estimating tools (as sales and project pipelines grow)
• Communication tools (to keep office and field aligned)
• Field apps and marketing platforms also evolve quickly, so staying current there matters

How does evolving your tech stack improve longevity?

Technology isn’t just a cost, it’s an asset that compounds. Each upgrade makes the company more efficient, more attractive to employees who want modern tools, and more appealing to investors or acquirers who value clean, centralized data. Evolving your stack ensures the business can pivot with market shifts rather than getting locked into outdated workflows.

How can a smaller company keep up financially with the pace of changing tech?

Focus on ROI-driven priorities. Start with tools that generate or protect revenue—job costing, invoicing, payment processing or lead management. Many platforms offer modular pricing so you can add functionality as you grow. Also, explore rebates or co-op dollars from manufacturers and distributors who often subsidize tech adoption.

What should their priorities be for best ROI if they must pick and choose?

• Cash-flow tools first: payment processing, AR automation, or scheduling/dispatch
• Customer-facing tools second: CRM, estimating, communication apps
• Efficiency tools third: automation, integrations, or BI dashboards

The key is to invest where technology will have the fastest and most visible payback, then reinvest those gains into expanding the stack.

SEE ALSO: EXECUTIVE INSIGHTS 2025: LEADERS IN CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY II

The post How to Build a Proper Construction-Targeted Tech Stack first appeared on Construction Executive.

“ABC’s fifth annual construction technology report turns the spotlight to the jobsite, where field technology is driving the next stage of progress,” said Matt Abeles, ABC vice president of construction technology and innovation. “The swift advancement of this particular technology represents a new era for our industry. These leading solutions and companies display a focus on empowering the people who build our infrastructure with field tech like drones, robotics, laser scanning and jobsite security. Field technology is redefining how contractors plan, monitor and execute their work while protecting their people and adding value to communities.”

“In this report, we see how field technology can close the gap between off-site strategies and jobsite activity,” said Patrick Irwin, chair of ABC’s Construction Technology and Innovation Committee and chief operating officer at Leonard S. Fiore Inc., Altoona, Pennsylvania. “The companies that invest in connected systems will be better positioned to deliver safer projects, stronger margins and long-term competitiveness. Our industry faces no shortage of challenges—from workforce shortages to economic uncertainty. Yet, our industry remains resilient, and a key component of this resiliency is technology and innovation, which continues to play a critical role in shaping the present and future of construction.”

The ABC Field Tech Report includes an executive summary of the field tools and innovations from ABC strategic partner Milwaukee Tool and insights from Tech Alliance members and Dodge Construction Network.

The report, published by the ABC National Construction Technology and Innovation Committee, was made possible by ABC’s 2025-2026 Tech Alliance members—Arcoro, Autodesk Inc., BuildOps, Datagrid, Document Crunch, Egnyte, Kojo, KPA, Sage, Sentriforce, Smartapp, SmartBuild, SubHQ, Stack and Trimble—and ABC strategic partner Milwaukee Tool.

ABC creates the conditions for construction companies to innovate, differentiate, and attract and educate top talent to win and deliver work safely, ethically and profitably for the betterment of the communities in which they work. ABC continues to invest in helping its members select high-quality construction technology through its Tech Alliance and Tech Marketplace. Visit abc.org/techreport to read the digital report and watch a video with highlights of the report.

ABC members received the print edition of the ABC Field Tech Report with the September/October issue of Construction Executive, the magazine for the business of construction.

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The post How Field Technology Is Transforming Construction Jobsites first appeared on Construction Executive.

“It was my task to help ensure that everything that we designed, constructed and operated was done with a sustainability focus,” says Linstroth. “I really cut my teeth figuring out what works and what doesn’t with our own dollars and our own portfolio.” After slogging through hundreds of projects and even more spreadsheets, Linstroth realized, “What I was doing was the same as my peers: an awful lot of manual work.”

As a steadfast advocate of green building, Linstroth constantly heard complaints around time consumption, expense and other high barriers to entry. Then one night, after fighting through to the end of the very last spreadsheet with bloodshot eyes, Linstroth thought to himself: “Man, there’s got to be a better way. Perhaps, how can we use technology to remove that barrier, decrease costs and increase performance?”

To help make buildings as green as possible, as painlessly as possible, Linstroth went on to found Green Badger in 2014. Today, Green Badger offers a variety of solutions—from LEED documentation to embodied carbon analysis to construction ESG—for a variety of audiences—general contractors to waste haulers—and also practices what it preaches:

Its employees walk, bike and telecommute to work; the company collaborates with local nonprofits; it offsets its own carbon output, participates in litter pickups, energy installations and tree plantings, and more.

As someone who, “loves LEED but hates LEED documentation,” Linstroth sat down with Construction Executive to discuss where the construction industry stands on the road to mid-century sustainability goals and how technology can facilitate its efforts over the coming decades.

You founded this company over a decade ago. You’ve been in the industry longer. So, you’ve been around for a lot of major milestones for construction and sustainability efforts. It is stereotyped that construction is not necessarily the fastest or most accepting industry in terms of integrating new technologies, ways to digitize and ways to build more sustainably. Would you say that you have seen that mold break over time?

I’d say there’s been a lot of progress, but there’s still a lot of room to grow. You know, when we started, people were not using things like Procore and Autodesk Construction Cloud. Every schedule was still in a spreadsheet. So, I think in general, whether it’s sustainability or not, the increased adoption of technology in construction has been profound.

And standards, like LEED, evolve every couple of years, so a lot of those older practices just inherently become obsolete. And it really turns into a great pivotal moment to adopt technology. And then especially as these requirements become more stringent you get to a point where you’ve got to have a technological solution because you’re trying to keep track and do all of the verification and validation of all of these attributes, which again might change. If you’re working on an airport project, then in five years, you’re still working on that project, there’s going to be a new slew of requirements.

It’s adapt or die, right? The goalposts have moved and they’re continuing to move exponentially as tech progresses. So, why is mid-century a good deadline to have to achieve certain sustainability markers? How realistic is it?

I think 2050 has just become part of the natural evolution of how we set goals, but part of it is also the science of climate change. Incremental change probably isn’t going to get us there, so we need a roadmap to plan these things out because it can’t happen overnight.

Knowing that we’re already halfway through this decade, what are some short-term goals the industry can aim for?

One of the challenges we see is that there has been a lack of benchmarking. So, it’s hard to even say how a company gets to 2050 if they don’t know where they’re starting today. I look at it sort of like a 401K. If you want to retire in 2050, you have to know what you’ve got in the bank today. It’s hard to say, ‘What do I need to do for the next 15 or 25 years so that I can get to my happy retirement in 2050?’ If we’re going with blinders on, it makes it tough. But the fun part is implementing strategies and tactics.

So, if we’ve got 25 more years to figure this out, the very first step needs to be taking account of where we’re starting from so that we can spend the next year or two focusing our efforts on what those immediate short-term goals need to be.

You can’t hope you’re going to get there. You need to have a plan in place. You need to have a business strategy in place that’s going to help you map out and achieve these goals.

Regarding companywide culture and buy-in, what types of technology would you say can aid that process?

There’s no wrong way to start and there’re some free and easy tools out there to help get that baseline level of data pulled into place. No one’s saying you need to go hire a 50-person team or bring in a million-dollar consultant. These are things you can do with teams internally as part of your day-to-day job. That investment as a business strategy can help you win more work. It can help you retain and attract talent. We already know the labor shortages that are facing the industry, so why would you not do these things that can help you win more work and help your company attract and retain top talent? And it seems that the cost or the risk of not doing these things is vastly greater than the risk of establishing a sustainability strategy.

Regarding the skilled-labor shortage, would you say that companies are having to rely more on technology to fill those holes?

I think it turns into an opportunity. We don’t have enough people and there are too many hours and too many things to do and not enough people to do them. Well, what is your alternative? You can make your people work 80 hours a week and get a whole bunch of burnout and put people in conditions they shouldn’t be working in, or you can find technological solutions that can help alleviate that concern. And sustainability is one component. There’s plenty of things on a jobsite where you can free up additional people’s time. I think as we take a hard look at how we can account for not having enough boots on the ground, we find alternative solutions, and technology is the lowest hanging fruit and the most cost effective one that I think everybody can start to leverage across the board.

Comparison is the thief of joy, but are there any companies or projects that stand out to you that exemplify best practices in this realm?

Comparison is tough because if you’re building a three-story garden-style apartment complex, your world looks a lot different than if you’re building a downtown skyscraper. You can’t even compare those two in terms of practical applications and end results. But I can say from folks we’ve worked with, we’ve seen some pretty cool initiatives that companies are taking to drive change in the industry—namely benchmarking and carbon tracking across all of their projects. Again, whether the owners are asking for it or not, these construction companies are taking a leadership role and saying we really need to understand what impact we can truly have on the materials that we are selecting and we’re going to proactively choose to start looking at this to be healthy in the industry.

This is not something they’re keeping inhouse either. They publish it and they put it out there and help others in the industry understand where those opportunities are so that we can all rise to the occasion.

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The post It’s Not Easy Being Green—But It Can Be: How Technology is Aiding LEED Documentation first appeared on Construction Executive.