A new research report from Dodge Construction Network (Dodge), in partnership with CMiC, indicates that contractors are highly optimistic about the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) on the construction industry. The report, "AI for Contractors," found that 87% of contractors believe AI will have a meaningful impact on their business.
The research suggests the industry is nearing a critical point for technology adoption. “With high awareness, strong interest, and powerful validation from early adopters, contractors appear poised for significant expansion in their use of AI-enabled tools in meaningful ways,” said Steve Jones, Senior Director of Industry Insights Analytics at Dodge.
Contractor Expectations and Early Results
According to the study, contractors anticipate AI will shift project managers from administrative roles to more strategic positions. Key expectations include:
- 85% expect to spend less time on repetitive tasks.
- Over 70% believe AI will enable better decision-making.
- 75% look for AI to help them learn from historical project data.
While current AI usage is low — fewer than 15% of contractors use most of the 23 AI-enhanced functions studied — early adopters report positive results. More than 70% of contractors already using AI-enabled tools find them highly effective compared to previous methods.
Top AI Capabilities and Readiness
Contractors showed strong interest in several AI functions for project and company management. For project management, top interests included automated constructability analysis (81%) and intelligent permit submission (80%). For company management, automated contract creation (92%) and intelligent bid-no-bid decision support (79%) were highly valued.
Organizational readiness for AI is growing, with more than half of surveyed companies actively exploring the technology. The report found that 40% have allocated a dedicated budget to AI and 38% are creating implementation teams.
Data Quality and Other Obstacles
Despite the optimism, significant challenges remain. The primary obstacle identified is the quality of data within contractor organizations, with only 26% of contractors rating their current data quality as high.
Other major concerns include data accuracy (57%) and security (54%). More than one-third of respondents also expressed worry about implementation costs and internal resistance to new technology. “We designed this study to look at the use of AI in the digital tools already deployed by contractors because that may offer the best solution to the challenge of data quality,” said Jones.
