The rapid buildout of data centers has triggered a hiring boom in the construction industry. Spending on data center facilities could reach as much as $7 trillion by 2030, with thousands of data centers currently underway and thousands more to be announced. The increased demand for construction jobs has created a strong pipeline for Gen Z entering the workforce.

With that said, Gen Z does not have hands-on experience like previous generations, and the industry is faced with the challenge of training a new generation in the complex tactical skills of estimating. Historically, knowledge transfer between veterans and newer estimators happened through years of proximity, learning to read drawing sets and price assemblies through repetition and correction. Now, leveraging technology and industry resources is the only way to equip newcomers with the skills needed to support the projected scale of AI infrastructure.

Less than a year ago, the rate of open construction jobs dropped to its lowest point in nearly a decade, thus renewed interest in construction jobs comes at a crucial time for the industry. The future of construction will depend on how effectively decades of institutional knowledge can be transferred from experienced professionals nearing retirement to the newcomers poised to replace them.

A Two-Sided Adoption Challenge

What makes the experience gap difficult to close is that it cuts in two directions, and most discussions of AI in construction address only one of them.

Many veteran estimators have built deep, trade-specific expertise inside legacy estimating platforms. For this group, adopting new AI-enabled tools is less of a skill issue and more so a technology latency issue. In their eyes, the methods they have used for years still work for them, so they are not motivated to learn new platforms. This is a key vulnerability of the profession, because if that group does not adopt new tools, their expertise stays hidden in workflows nobody else can see.

Newer estimators present the opposite risk. Handing an estimator an AI tool early in their career that can answer nearly any question raises the risk that they will rely on it instead of developing their own judgment. Getting answers isn’t the same as closing the experience gap. An estimator needs to learn how to find the right answers independently. The gap has simply been outsourced, which leads to problems when AI inevitably gets something wrong and no one on the team is positioned to catch it.

The industry’s approach to AI in estimating needs to account for both sides of that equation rather than focusing only on newer hires. Construction technology companies need tools that are trained by professionals who already know the trade, capture what is valuable about how they think and then transfer that knowledge to newer estimators in a way that builds skill rather than dependence.

Designing for Adoption and Depth 

Estimating software must satisfy two goals that are somewhat contradictory. It needs to be fast and accurate while answering in a way that provides a clear chain of reasoning that can be verified.

Speed is essential to user experience. A new estimator comparing a four-hour manual training to a twenty-minute AI-assisted one will choose the faster path almost every time, regardless of what’s happening underneath. However, speed without transparency trains estimators to trust outputs they can’t explain, which will lead to further problems down the line. 

The key to longevity is striking a balance; easy enough that a new estimator prefers using it, while preserving the source material and reasoning of legacy platforms. Every output should be traceable the same way a veteran would explain a number to an apprentice standing next to them. The goal should be to teach new estimators skills that are repeatable and train their instincts to identify how professionals arrive at conclusions.

That distinction is what separates a tool that can be widely adopted from one that erodes years of deep trade knowledge. An answer with no source teaches a new estimator nothing they can use again. An answer with a verifiable source teaches the underlying skill every time it is used. Software that can close the knowledge gap adequately prepares new estimators with the skills needed to do the job on their own if the software fails.

A Narrowing Window and Shortening Runway

Contractors, along with the CPAs, attorneys and suppliers who support them, are watching two trends collide at once: a construction labor market suddenly attractive to younger workers and a veteran workforce retiring faster than firms can replace it.

The industry should not see this as a crisis but as a window of opportunity for new talent to interact with veteran estimators before they age out of hands-on work. The data center boom has become an unexpected recruiter for the construction industry, handing the industry a new army of young talent with genuine interest in the work. What happens next is crucial to keeping workers around and keeping alive the legacy these firms have built.

It is critical that firms understand in order to maintain quality employees they need to pivot to strategies other than traditional training alone. For estimating departments specifically, that means the value of AI is not primarily about speed, though faster takeoffs and bids are a real byproduct. The true value is in capturing what departing professionals know before that knowledge leaves with them and putting it into the hands of the estimators arriving right now to take their place.

Ben Coffman is the Senior Vice President of Engineering and Product at STACK Construction Technologies.

Location: Los Angeles, California, United States

The post Closing Construction’s Widening Workforce Experience Gap With AI first appeared on Construction Executive.

Cofounder of the Boston-based contech company, Cyvl, Pelaez is helping over 100 U.S. cities rethink how they build and rebuild their roads.

“Through vehicle-mounted sensing and analytics already embedded in day-to-day operations, Cyvl is effectively powering the reconstruction of roads up and down the country—determining what gets fixed, when and why,” says a representative of the company.

Having just been named in Cemex Ventures’ Top 50 Contech Startups for 2026—which recognizes companies that are already influencing how construction and infrastructure decisions are made on the ground—Cyvl sat down with Construction Executive to discuss their evolutionary work further.

Maybe even stay tuned for a sneak peek inside one of their AI-powered cars.

What was the impetus for starting this product/company?

DANIEL PALAEZ: It’s a fun story. It started with the problem and we found the technology to solve that problem. One of my first ever jobs was working on the road crew for a public works department in Southbury, Connecticut. And I was seeing firsthand how hard it was to manage infrastructure. The town was reacting to issues every single day, whether that be residents hitting a pothole or trees falling down or missing signage no one noticed until it caused an accident. This was a smaller city that was relying on outdated data that lived on paper in a three-ring binder.

I was only about 18 or 19 at the time, but I figured there had to be a better way. So, I started talking to lots of other communities and realized they were relying on similar techniques. When I entered college in 2020 for engineering is when I started to learn about these sensors used for self-driving vehicles, and that was the “a-ha” moment of seeing the massive problem firsthand, recognizing that pretty much every community across the U.S. is battling with outdated infrastructure and information. Then it was about figuring out how technology from self-driving cars could be applied to automatically map out infrastructure, and how to use AI to perform condition assessments, recommend treatments, budgets, etc. That is really where we saw the magic of applying that tech to this problem. Ever since then it’s been a very fun journey helping hundreds of governments implement this into their day-to-day workflows.

What was the process of getting this off the ground?

About halfway through college, I thought this would be a fun application of the tech. It was never a class project. I just started conceptualizing it in my mind and I recruited one of my best friends and roommates—we’ve actually known each other since we were seven years old—who is way smarter than I am to help me build it out.

We didn’t know anything about starting a company; we just thought we were solving a cool problem. We began looking for funding to make prototypes and entering innovation contests across the country. After winning a few of them, everyone kept telling us, ‘Hey, this is a really big problem that our country and the world needs to solve,’ which motivated us to take it more seriously. So, shortly after graduating, we decided to become cofounders and brought on a third friend of ours from college to help us with the AI side of things. We raised $100,000 from our first ever investors, which felt like a lot of money at the time—we were all just 22 years old. We made that last more than a year until we got our first customers. And it’s been a wild ride since then.

When did this product officially hit the streets?

At the beginning of 2022, we started our first projects with municipalities and a few civil engineering firms in Massachusetts. Those were crazy days where the product barely worked, but we were determined to make it better and to keep getting feedback from the cities and towns we were working with, which was invaluable to us at time.

Do these sensors/vehicles operate as a service (i.e. SaaS)?

It’s an annual investment the cities make in our technology. What that gives them is access to the sensors, which they can put on their vehicle so they don’t need to buy them, and access to our software program, which is what’s taking all the data from the sensors, automatically processing it, doing the condition reports and then creating plans and budgets so the city can get to work with more speed and accuracy.

Was it hard to get cities to agree to bring this tech on board?

Yeah, it was incredibly hard. Imagine a 22-year-old placing cold calls into every single town or city in the state telling them, ‘Hey, I have a better way to manage your very expensive roads and sidewalks.’ There was a lot of skepticism—especially when they asked how many customers we had and we had to say zero. We got a lot of nos, but, slowly but surely, we started building a reputation. It’s still challenging these days, but I think that’s what’s really been special.

Cities do see immediate value when they start working with our technology. Now there’s less perceived risk when we can present them with data from working with some of the biggest cities in the nation. It was never easy, but, as with any business, you just have to keep pushing through.

What is the smallest/biggest city you’ve worked with?

We’ve worked all over Massachusetts, Iowa, Wisconsin in some pretty small communities, about 5,000 people or under. Our first big customer was the city of Atlanta. We partnered with them about a year and a half ago, and we were just selected by the city of Nashville to do a full five-year infrastructure plan. We have a few other big cities that we cannot formally announce yet, and we’re even beginning talks with some state DOTs.

How do you hope to see your company evolve?

I’d say our number one goal and our mission as a company is to enable government agencies to build infrastructure 90% faster and 50% cheaper than they’re doing today. And if we can encourage a digital-first standard, I’m sure there will be more companies like us popping up, and I’m sure some of the major civil engineering firms are going to start to embrace these technologies, too. If we can make that the de facto standard for the U.S. by 2030, that will be a huge accomplishment for us. We’re really trying to change an entire industry here, and we’re not going to do that alone. So, bringing more people along with that shared digital-first mentality and the new operating model for infrastructure is incredibly important.

How do you hope that your story might inspire the future of construction business owners and innovators?

I’ve been so fortunate just to be surrounded by mentors and advisors and friends that have been cheering for us, supporting us, rooting for us unconditionally, because the construction industry is definitely not the quickest to adopt technology and rightfully so—there are major risks on the line when you’re talking about critical infrastructure. I think for good reason people are conservative about trying new things.

My advice is simply ‘don’t give up.’ It’s very easy to be told no 99 times and to return to whatever you were doing in life before. But, I guarantee you, that if you just keep your mind to it, you don’t give up, you persist, whatever you’re working on, whether it’s a business in this industry or not, you’ll be successful. Then surround yourself with like-minded folks, because you need that positivity. You have to be a default optimist.

SEE ALSO: NEW WALL-SCALING ROBOTS ARE SAVING CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES TIME, PRODUCT AND PERSONNEL

The post Contech Company Cyvl Uses Vehicle-Mounted AI Sensors to Collect Fresh Data for Some of America’s Biggest Cities first appeared on Construction Executive.

Nonresidential construction employment increased by 19,900 positions, with gains in all three subcategories. Nonresidential specialty traded added the most jobs, increasing by 14,100 net positions. Nonresidential building and heavy and civil engineering added 3,200 and 2,600 jobs, respectively, in June.

The construction unemployment rate was 4.7% in June. Unemployment across all industries dropped to 4.2% and is 0.1 percentage point higher than one year ago.

“Today’s jobs report was full of positive signs for the nonresidential side of the industry,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “The nonresidential segment continued to add jobs in June and has grown several times faster than the economywide average over the past 12 months.

“At the same time, the supply of labor appears adequate to fuel ongoing hiring,” said Basu. “The industry’s unemployment rate rose to 4.7%, higher than in any June since 2021, and that slack took some pressure off of wage escalation. Average hourly earnings for nonmanagerial construction workers rose at the slowest pace since last September. With ABC contractors signaling ongoing hiring intentions, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index, it appears likely that the industry will continue to expand its employment base over the coming months.”

SEE ALSO: ABC APPLAUDS PRESIDENT TRUMP’S NOMINATION OF KEITH SONDERLING AS LABOR SECRETARY

The post Nonresidential Construction Retains Hiring Momentum in June Jobs Report first appeared on Construction Executive.

“We realize how necessary it is to get in front of students at a young age to let them know our industry exists and that there are a multitude of careers available,” says Helen Robinson, chair of the DFI Educational Trust and vice president of GEI Consultants Inc.

The trust serves as the charitable arm of DFI—an international association of contractors, engineers, manufacturers, suppliers, academics and owners in the geotechnical construction industry.

Over the past 20 years, more than 700 students and young professionals—geoprofessionals involved in the design and construction of foundations, excavations, ground improvement and tunneling—have received scholarships and grants across the United States and Canada, which includes many international students studying in North America.

“We always get a very high caliber of candidates, so it’s very difficult to make the scholarship selections,” Robinson says.

Recipients of the scholarships are enrolled full time at U.S. and Ontario, Canada-based colleges or universities and are pursuing undergraduate or graduate degrees related to the field. Spring scholarships range from $2,000 to $5,000. “A $5,000 scholarship is wonderful, but we’d love to do even more,” says Robinson.

“We’re always trying to quantify the impact and determine how we can use the funds more effectively. It’s a challenge because the cost of getting an engineering degree continues to increase,” she says.

Since 2006, the trust has awarded nearly $2.7 million in scholarships and grants through 24 funds, including the spring offerings for At-Large Scholarship Program and Women in Deep Foundations Professional Development Grants Fund.

Recognizing diversity gaps within the industry, DFI’s Women in Deep Foundations Committee worked with the trust to create an initiative to support professional growth and industry engagement among women involved in geotechnical design, manufacturing and construction.

The grant awards recipients $1,750 and provides a complimentary opportunity to attend DFI’s Annual Conference on Deep Foundations in Orlando, Florida—helping expand networking and career development opportunities.

“Over the past 15 years or so, we’ve seen real progress for women in the industry,” Robinson says. “But there’s always more we can do, especially when it comes to supporting parents starting young families.”

Despite strong career potential, the geotechnical industry is not usually at the forefront of students and parents’ minds. A lack of awareness around the field’s opportunities continues to impact recruitment.

“There’s so much work to be done. We are working to educate parents and students who may be interested in the field,” says Robinson. “Not everyone needs to go to college. You can make a good living, be part of a team and be very successful without that path. We want young people to know that.”

Retention is another growing concern.

“People in the industry are getting burned out because we can’t keep up, and some are seeking lower-stress jobs. It creates a cycle,” she says. “Geotechnical work has a reputation for people getting dirty, and the tools or lab testing may not seem as exciting.”

The solution? Supporting the next generation of professionals in the geotechnical industry with access, awareness and opportunity.

“We need to change the image of professions in the industry to reflect innovation,” says Robinson. “It’s not just about moving dirt—it’s an exciting and highly challenging field, and the world is built on the work we do.”

SEE ALSO: A BEACON OF HOPE: JOSEPH GROH FOUNDATION’S NEWEST GRANT RECIPIENT

The post Trusting the Pipeline: Supporting Early-Career Construction Talent first appeared on Construction Executive.

As ABC’s 2026 Young Professional of the Year, Mokeba is proudly bearing the fruits of his labor—and his 12.5-year career at Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based Performance Contractors stands as a testament to how merit builds legacy.

“I don’t have an education in construction management,” says Mokeba. “You would think someone like me would be behind the eight ball, but I have proven that I will work hard and learn. Advancement in the merit shop isn’t based on who you know, how long you have been there or what your name is.”

LINING UP THE SHOT

For Mokeba, cultivating his career and leadership path in Baton Rouge—the city that raised him—was not always the plan. After earning a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a Master of Business Administration from Southeastern Louisiana University, he chose to pursue a career in construction from the ground up.

“I just tried to find my way into an interview and let them know, ‘If you teach it to me, I will learn it and I will be as successful as possible,’” he said.

That goal-setting mindset at Performance Contractors set Mokeba on the path to where he is today. “Goals need to be realistic but also challenging. They need to be attainable and achievable, and they need to not only benefit me, they need to benefit other people as well,” he says.

Mokeba began working primarily in the field before transitioning into a corporate role. During that time, Josh Rounds, vice president of project services and controls at Performance Contractors and a past ABC Pelican Chapter president, along with Lance Glaser, director of strategic procurement, equipment and logistics, encouraged Mokeba to get involved with ABC.

“Growing up in Baton Rouge, you see a lot of different ABC members that are based there. You see the life that they live—they’re very stable and always growing,” Mokeba says. “I am grateful to work for Performance Contractors, a company that not only supports my professional growth but also encourages me to pursue my personal passions. Their support has given me the platform to make a meaningful difference.”

FAMILY MATTERS

Mokeba’s endeavors to refine his career and leadership have been shaped by positive role models and guiding principles. His father, a political science professor at Louisiana State University for the past 36 years, instilled the philosophy of servant leadership.

“I think it’s simple—putting others before yourself and being kind,” Mokeba says.

Trademarked as his best attribute, Mokeba has been adamant in his maintaining selflessness, kindness, faith and service throughout his career. One of his guiding mottos reflecting that mindset? “Be the person that you want your daughter to marry,” he says. “I want my daughter to see me working through hard things—to see that everything you want in life comes from sacrifice and hard work.”

While his servant-leader qualities have been a useful tool in navigating challenges in the industry, Mokeba’s ethos of service extends beyond his career. Over the past five years, Mokeba has raised more than $30,000 for cancer research, supporting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the American Cancer Society. He also serves on the board of Fork Cancer.

EARN IT

Mokeba’s vision for the future of the industry reflects a meaningful balance between embracing the inevitability of technological advancements while preserving the integrity of older generations of craft professionals. “We need to combine both to ensure we’re not losing what got us here, while also becoming more efficient with our practices,” he says.

Supporting the next generation of construction professionals has become a natural extension of his work. For the past four years, Mokeba has volunteered with LSU construction management students preparing for ABC’s annual Construction Management Competition. This year, the LSU construction management students won first place and were named Student Chapter of the year. “I have taken the lead over the last few years—arranging speakers and industry experts, speaking in classes to recruit students and sharing how beneficial this experience can be for their future,” he says.

It comes as no surprise that Mokeba’s character and merit have already been recognized by ABC. In 2024, he received the Committee Member of the Year Award from the ABC Pelican Chapter for his work with its Young Professionals Committee. “Given the Pelican Chapter’s respected reputation in Baton Rouge and across the nation, being selected for the award was both humbling and motivating,” Mokeba says.

Naturally, Mokeba’s commitment to growth extends beyond the jobsite. He serves on the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry’s 2026 Emerging Leaders Council and is currently pursuing a post-baccalaureate certificate at LSU in contract writing and construction project management.

Winning ABC’s 2026 Young Professional of the Year is a milestone—but not the destination. “These achievements remind me that success is not just about personal milestones, but also about giving back and creating opportunities for others,” he said.

At the top of his priorities? Fostering a culture of safety and inspiring the next generation of craft professionals. “The industry is growing right now,” he says. “And we need more people. We need more talented and smart people.”

The post Merit Milestone: ABC’s 2026 Young Professional of the Year Nyoki Mokeba first appeared on Construction Executive.

For these students, this isn’t the future of work. It’s just how work is done.

However, a disconnect occurs the moment these graduates hit the professional jobsite. According to NAHB and ACS data, Gen Z is entering the trades at a higher rate than Millennials did, drawn by the promise of high-tech, high-impact careers. But when they arrive, they often find themselves stepping back in time—entering a world of siloed scheduling and “bottlenecked” communication.

To retain this new influx of talent and solve the industry’s looming experience gap, we have to stop viewing technology as a tool for the office and start seeing it as the universal language that connects the trailer to the field.

The Bi-Directional Knowledge Loop

The common industry trope is that the veteran superintendent teaches the green project manager the ropes. While that institutional knowledge remains the lifeblood of any project, the flow of information has become a two-way street.

Gen Z grew up in an app-centric, visual computing world. They don’t just understand new technology; they expect it. We’ve seen this play out repeatedly: a young PM or field engineer is the one who initially gets excited about a new collaborative tool. They see the inefficiency of a static PDF schedule and introduce a real-time, visual alternative to their team.

The magic happens when the resistant veteran superintendent finally sees the value. Once that superintendent—who has decades of gut feel and field logic—gets their hands on a visual planning tool, the results are explosive. Their institutional knowledge, combined with a tool that allows them to communicate that knowledge instantly to the entire crew, creates a level of project agility that a static spreadsheet simply can’t match.

Bridging the Experience Gap With Visuals

The biggest hurdle for any new hire is the experience Gap—the years it takes to develop the spatial and logical reasoning required to manage a complex build.

Traditional scheduling is often abstract. A Gantt chart is a wall of bars and dates that requires a high level of translation to understand how it affects a specific crew on Tuesday morning. Gen Z, however, thrives on visual data.

Moving toward collaborative, visual planning accomplishes three things:

1. Democratizes the Schedule: When the plan is visual and accessible, it’s no longer the super’s secret. Everyone on site can see the ripple effect of a delay.
2. Accelerates Onboarding: A new hire can contribute faster when the workflow is intuitive. If the interface feels more like the collaborative software they used in school (or even the gaming logic they grew up with), the learning curve disappears.
3. Validate the Veteran: Visual tools allow a veteran to point at a conflict and say, “That won’t work because of X.” The tech-savvy new hire can then adjust the logic in real-time. The tech becomes the bridge, not the barrier.

Moving Beyond the Bottleneck

The traditional model of a single person owning the schedule is the ultimate bottleneck. It creates a lag between what is happening on the ground and what is reflected in the plan.

In the high-pressure environment of the ASC competition, students are taught that agility is a competitive advantage. If a subcontractor is late or a weather event hits, the plan must change instantly. Corporate construction must mirror this agility.

Transitioning from static, one-person schedules to collaborative workflows moves away from policing the schedule and toward facilitating the work. For a Gen Z hire, being part of a team that can adapt in real-time is a major factor in job satisfaction. They want to be part of a multiplayer environment where their input is reflected in the plan immediately.

The Bottom Line: Technology as a Retention Strategy

The ongoing labor shortage has struck up a war for talent. If the next generation enters into an environment that feels archaic, they won’t stay. They don’t want to work in silos; they want to work in sync.

The Gen Z shift is a massive opportunity for contractors to modernize their operations. By embracing the digital literacy of their newest hires and pairing it with the deep expertise of their veterans, construction companies won’t only be building projects more efficiently—they’ll be building a culture that the next generation actually wants to lead.

SEE ALSO: CONSTRUCTION NEEDS MORE BIM TECHNOLOGY AND MORE PEOPLE WHO KNOW HOW TO USE IT

The post The Multiplayer Jobsite: Why Gen Z Is the Catalyst for Collaborative Planning first appeared on Construction Executive.

These four construction professionals are shaping the construction industry by highlighting its lifelong career opportunities, emphasizing healthy and safe work practices and expanding skill-building education. 

• Tatton Kilmer, preconstruction manager and plumbing instructor, ABC Southern California chapter, Anaheim, California, is the 2026 Craft Instructor of the Year.
• Jason White, mechanical supervisor and industrial technician, The Cianbro Cos., Pittsfield, Maine, is the 2026 Craft Professional of the Year.
• Nyoki Mokeba, corporate director of equipment sourcing, Performance Contractors Inc., Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is the 2026 Young Professional of the Year.
• Jennifer Ferdinand-Stong, corporate safety manager, Gaylor Electric, Indianapolis, is ABC’s first-ever Health and Safety Professional of the Year.

SEE ALSO: BEST OF THE BEST: ABC’S 2025 CONSTRUCTION WORKFORCE AWARDS

The post ABC Names 2026’s Top Craft Instructor, Craft Pro, Young Pro and Safety Pro first appeared on Construction Executive.

“ABC strongly supports the DOL’s bold new approach to addressing longstanding concerns with registered apprenticeship programs by improving flexibility for program sponsors and employers, as well as addressing state policies that impair worker access to these high-quality training programs. These policies align with our consistent advocacy for simplification of unnecessarily burdensome apprenticeship regulations, and ABC thanks the DOL for taking steps to implement our recommendations.

“ABC champions RAPs as one piece of an all-of-the-above solution to workforce development needs to solve the construction industry’s demand, including a shortage of 349,000 workers in 2026 alone. ABC chapters offer more than 450 RAPs in more than 20 different occupations across America.

“Continuing to make improvements to the RAP system will be critical to achieving President Donald Trump’s ambitious and timely goal of achieving 1 million new active apprentices, as laid out in Executive Order 14278 and America’s Talent Strategy. ABC looks forward to continuing to work with President Trump’s administration on this important issue.”

SEE ALSO: MENTORING THE FUTURE OF THE ENGINEERING WORKFORCE

The post ABC Supports Trump Administration’s Critical Improvements to Apprenticeship Programs first appeared on Construction Executive.

Nonresidential construction employment decreased by 3,800 positions, with losses in 2 of the 3 subcategories. Heavy and civil engineering lost 6,500 jobs and nonresidential specialty trade lost 1,400 positions, while nonresidential building added 4,100 jobs in February.

The construction unemployment rate was 6.9% in February. Unemployment across all industries rose to 4.4% and is 0.2 percentage points higher than one year ago.

“Construction employment shrank again in February and has now declined in 8 of the past 11 months,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Both the residential and nonresidential segments lost jobs for the month, adding to a recent string of downbeat industry data releases; construction spending has been in decline for several quarters, and ABC’s Construction Backlog Indicator fell to a four-year low in January. With the conflict in Iran adding to trade policy-related uncertainty and crude oil prices well above $80 per barrel, the industry’s outlook remains downbeat through the first few months of 2026.”

SEE ALSO: MENTORING THE FUTURE OF THE ENGINEERING WORKFORCE

The post Construction Loses 11,000 Jobs in February first appeared on Construction Executive.

As someone with personal experience in architecture, engineering and construction both in school and the field, Merson understands the perseverance and nuance it takes to successfully navigate as a woman in this industry, so she is taking her wisdom to students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and SUNY Polytechnic, where she serves as a mentor—and not just to female students. Merson knows that men play a part in getting more women into construction, so she also leads regional ASCE initiatives and actively supports young professionals through the Capital Region Chamber of Commerce to expand her impact.

In a recent conversation with Construction Executive, Merson delved into her passions for engineering and mentoring, as well as her hopes for broadening the future of the construction workforce.

SEE ALSO: MENTORING GEN Z: AN INTERVIEW WITH A YOUNG NEW ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT

How did you get involved in the world of mentoring?

Part of it was that I did have some mentorship during my undergraduate while I was studying engineering. In that environment, I felt like I was well supported. I had people I could ask questions to. I had other women who I could talk to who were progressing in their degrees. When I got out into the professional world and started doing field inspection out on the construction sites, I just felt like I was thrown out there and didn’t have anyone who could mentor me through that. I learned through time and sticking with it that others had a similar experience.

And the environments are very different. Across the industry, academic and construction settings can treat people very differently, and I definitely felt that difference early in my career. When I saw that other people had left engineering or the construction profession, I did a personal gut check—did I want to stick with the profession? I realized I like doing this. I like solving problems. I got into civil engineering because civil engineering holds the health, safety and welfare of the public. The first person that you’re responsible to is the public and their safety—there is a civil service aspect of it. I realized I got into it for that reason, and I wanted to stay in it for that reason.

And then that was my impetus to go out and find my own mentors without structured programs because there were no structured programs at the time, which is what prompted me to start giving back and mentoring others.

How did you get involved with the structured mentor programs at RPI, SUNY, ASCE and the Capital Regional Chamber?

There was a little bit of a nudge from a previous boss suggesting I get involved with ASCE to enhance my leadership experience and other connections, but really it was me raising my hand and saying, ‘I’m interested. What do we have? What can we do?’

How has your work evolved since you first raised your hand to where you are today?

I think it’s become something that’s much more acknowledged and much more structured. Everyone sees the value of a mentor-mentee relationship, adding to the business. While a lot of work has been done, there’s still more to do. Unfortunately, in certain places, there are still institutional barriers, generational differences and different experiences that prevent people from advancing, but those differences are also very valuable for problem solving—and engineering is constant problem solving. It’s valuable to have those different perspectives, especially generationally, but mentorship programs are just one piece of a bigger puzzle. There is still plenty of progress to be made. Mentorship isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer. And I think the best mentoring relationships often come from those relationships that you extend yourself and are less formal. It’s when you can say, “I see this person, they look like me, they’ve done this. Let me talk to them, ask them their opinions and develop that relationship naturally.” Often, those are the best mentor-mentee experiences.

What does a typical day look like as Maureen Merson’s mentee?

Students are about to graduate with their engineering degrees, but there are things they have to learn in a real-world setting. So, they’re working on a capstone project where they try to solve a real-world construction problem with up to 30-60% design completion in an actual design firm. What I do is step in there and help the students understand how that process works, what to expect and what are the biggest problems they’d have to think about in that environment, rather than the technical problems.

These students, they’re sharp, they’re good engineering students. They know how to solve the actual calculations and the problems. It’s more about going back, trying to frame the problem; it’s a very people-oriented part of the design. It’s figuring out that early stage of what has to happen, where we are, who’s involved; guiding through that design process is critical to being able to succeed in the actual industry. So, my role is to help them work through it with questions, ideas, and design concepts, and to prepare them to recognize the challenges they’ll face in the real world before having to deal with them in the real world.

Do you work with only women?

I work with any of the students who are interested in the geotechnical aspect of civil engineering. I think it’s important for everyone to be prepared for the challenges that they’ll face in the profession. Because even though it might be harder to deal with certain aspects of construction as a woman, there are universal challenges that a young man or young person of any background will also face.

Are there other mentors you work alongside?

The professors are the ones who match the mentors to the students, but that’s only in one capacity of structured mentoring. The other half is through the American Society of Civil Engineers, which has a student chapter on campus and I am their professional practitioner advisor for that organization. That offers a much less structured mentorship.

Why do you think it is important for women to not only see other women like you in the industry, but also to be mentored by men in the industry?

It is incredibly important to both find mentors who look like you and to find mentors who don’t look like you, because if you find someone who looks like you, has your experiences, that person has extra insight into what your exact experience might be like and the barriers you may run into. When you’re with someone who doesn’t look like you, it is initially more challenging because you don’t have that instant connection based on shared experience, but I think that it’s valuable in the long run because you can both expand each other’s way of thinking about things, way of seeing problems, way of handling things.

Are there any particular mentoring moments that have stuck with you?

For me, the most valuable piece of the whole thing, and why I do it, is that it feels really good to see someone be able to handle a problem that they hadn’t been able to handle before. It feels really good to enable someone to go out and find information where they didn’t think they could find it before.

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