Tech tools that would once take months to develop are now being churned out in under a minute using natural language artificial intelligence.
For construction firms, the advancement means even nontechnical users can now create applications. Its reach includes estimating, compliance and project management, according to a March 18 webinar on the state of construction in 2025, hosted by Built by Builders, a network of construction tech startups.
“You don’t have to be a technical developer anymore to come up with a new product,” said Patrick Murphy, founder and CEO of Togal.AI, a Miami-based construction software firm. “The limitation is creativity.”
Murphy said tasks such as fire code compliance, egress planning and Americans with Disabilities Act requirements are all ripe for AI innovation.
“I think we’re going to see a wave of new technologies,” said Murphy. “A lot of people have the tools to develop their own weapons, basically to make them more efficient.”
In the field, automation and robotics are making inroads on jobsites. Communication ranks one of the clearest areas of impact, where tools can enable faster back and forth between project stakeholders, said Chris Callen, founder and CEO of Plot, a Wichita, Kansas-based construction software firm. Younger workers expect this level of integration, and companies that lag behind will struggle to retain talent, he said.
Skilled tradespeople on the site will always be needed. The real change will be in how these professionals work to get the job done.
“We’re going to see rebar-tying robots, long-haul automated equipment, painters. But you’re not replacing a concrete contractor, rodbuster,” said Callen. “You’re going in there and you’re replacing the worst 20% of their job and allowing them to do something else, something that requires decision making or requires craft.”
AI on workforce issues
A significant portion of the construction industry is nearing retirement. That will leave a significant gap in knowledge transfer, said Gabe Guetta, co-founder and CEO of Salus, a Vancouver, Canada-based safety management platform. AI could eventually bridge this gap, helping new workers to tap into those previous lessons learned.
“How does software start to solve this? This is not a solved problem right now, I don’t even think we’re close to it,” said Guetta. “But where you start to solve it is, how do you start getting those superintendents, those foremen or those people in the office to start recording their failures so that the industry can start learning from that?”
A lack of structured knowledge sharing in preconstruction phases, for example, makes it harder for newer employees to get up to speed on projects, said Steve Dell’Orto, founder and CEO of ConCntric, a Greenbrae, California-based preconstruction management platform. Much of the industry still relies on ad-hoc processes that disappear when veterans leave.
“Very little of that information is truly reposited in a structured way for other people to access it and use it and for it to be synthesized,” said Dell’Orto. “This knowledge transfer is a huge deal. A third of the workforce is scheduled to retire and be completely out of work here in the next two, three years.”
High school and elementary school programs are another area of focus. That includes more outreach and apprenticeship programs to give youth awareness of construction careers before they choose other paths, said Tom Dean, co-founder and CEO of ProjectMark, a San Francisco-based construction software firm.
“Every construction company needs to have some sort of initiative locally with their community to educate the market on why the industry is such a great place,” said Dean. “That’s the quickest problem to solve. It’s going to be to educate the younger generation.”
