Construction Technology

Most contractors believe artificial intelligence will have a profound effect on the construction industry, according to a new survey from Dodge Construction Network.

Dodge, in partnership with CMiC, a financial and project management software provider for the construction industry, surveyed 235 general and trade contractors across the U.S. through September and October 2025, according to the report.

Of the surveyed builders, 85% expect they will spend less time on repetitive tasks, while 75% envision AI will help them learn from past projects via historical data, per the study.

The report adds onto a broad consensus across the construction industry — that AI will transform the construction industry, even as builders continue to lag in their adoption of the technology.

Despite limited adoption so far, more than half of surveyed companies are taking measures to add the tech to their arsenals, such as via pilot programs or staff preparation, per the report. For example, 51% of respondents are actively evaluating several potential AI-related changes across their teams, while 40% are currently allocating a dedicated AI budget.

Contractors and related professionals have experimented with AI to perform key functions across their businesses, including in invoice processing and management, arbitration functions, safety improvements and for contract review. 

“The research indicates the construction industry is nearing a tipping point for AI adoption,” said Steve Jones, senior director of industry insights analytics at Dodge, according to the news release announcing the survey results. “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.”

Builders also believe AI will help them generate a competitive advantage over their peers, according to the report, though this belief is demarcated by a firm’s size. In this vein, 86% of large contractors believe AI will give them a competitive advantage, compared to just 69% of these companies’ small or mid-sized peers.

This belief has been playing out since the advent of AI in the construction industry, as construction firms are currently in the midst of an AI arms race, where companies must adopt new technology lest they risk being left behind by more cutting-edge peers.

As demonstrated by other studies, however, builders still have significant concerns — 57% of respondents listed a lack of reliability or accuracy in AI output as a chief concern, while 54% noted data security and privacy risks as another key issue. 

Other differences cropped up by firm size as well. Of the smaller firms, for example, 49% viewed the cost of investing in AI as a greater issue, while only 26% of large firms reported the same.

Suffolk Technologies, the venture capital arm of Boston-based contractor Suffolk Construction, has closed out its sixth BOOST tech accelerator through its Demo Day, where eight selected startups pitched their products to an audience of investors, experts and stakeholders, according to a Nov. 20, 2025, news release.

BOOST, which Suffolk launched in 2020, has graduated 38 participants, including Trunk Tools and Kaya AI, that have raised more than $700 million in funding, according to the news release. Solutions ranged from artificial intelligence, prefabrication and robotics to materials science.

In 2025, Suffolk tapped its network of 55 partner organizations to give the companies access to clients, pilot projects and investors, as well as experience on active Suffolk jobsites. Of those 55, 28 were construction firms, and 10 of them conducted a pilot on an active jobsite with one or more BOOST members, per a Suffolk spokesperson.

The BOOST 6 cohort comprises:

• ARKI (Canada): A design system that helps architecture and engineering firms complete projects 50% faster by leveraging past data.
• Cyphra Autonomy (Fenton, Missouri): A robotic material movement solution that uses automated wagons tailored for the built environment to allow crews to focus on higher value activity.
• Dig Energy (Manchester, New Hampshire): A geothermal drilling technology that claims it is more cost-efficient, compact and thermally effective than traditional equipment.
• Hardline (Los Angeles): A voice-first, call transcription and documentation solution that captures decisions made over the phone for construction teams.
• MOD (Switzerland): A platform that evaluates prefab potential in architectural designs and organizes supply chain opportunities to accelerate prefabrication adoption.
• Neuron Factory (Redwood City, California): An AI coworker platform for preconstruction data to optimize workflows, increase accuracy and deliver better results in estimation and planning. 
• Ouros Materials (New York City): The firm produces ultra-tough, fire-resistant composites made with captured carbon dioxide.
• Puppet Robotics (San Francisco): A semi-autonomous robotic arm that keeps workers safe while working at height with an emphasis on maintaining human precision and control.

All BOOST participants receive $100,000 on a post-money SAFE, or a Simple Agreement for Future Equity, in return for 3% equity in the company, according to a Suffolk spokesperson. The mechanism allows an investor, in this case Suffolk Technologies, to invest in a company and have a concrete ownership percentage when the money converts to shares.

In addition, Suffolk Technologies also receives the right to invest in the firms’ next qualified financing rounds for up to 20% of the securities offered, per the spokesperson.

2025’s Demo Day comes during a pivotal moment for the contech ecosystem. As builders become more technologically advanced, others are joining the tech fray by investing in startups themselves. Series B deals, for example, are on the rise in the contech space as established firms continue to mature.

AI is a big driver in this space, which Suffolk has kept its eye on. In December 2024, Jit Kee Chin, Suffolk’s chief technology officer, predicted that the rubber would hit the road as AI started to take off in the building industry. While that has played out to a degree, other contractors are still slow to adopt the tech, even as they recognize the benefits of the technology.

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Construction leaders face a tough reality: Technology is necessary to control costs, manage risk and keep projects moving, but its adoption can quietly erode performance.

While function-specific issues may improve with point solutions, your business as a whole is taking on more complexity, risk and manual work behind the scenes to support them. This slow creep of overlapping, disconnected systems is known as “tech sprawl.” This gradual buildup of too many stand-alone applications:

• Creates data silos that keep systems and information disconnected
• Duplicates manual effort as teams re-enter, reformat and reconcile the same data in multiple places
• Introduces security vulnerabilities by increasing the number of logins, vendors and data stores to monitor and maintain
• Relies heavily on people to move data from one system to another

When tech stacks go unchecked, construction leaders end up paying twice: once for the initial purchase and software licenses, and again later in the form of ongoing manual work, delays and rework involved in managing separate systems. Every manual handoff between systems creates risk and takes valuable time away from project managers, accountants and executives.

This inefficiency ripples across the organization, leading to slower payment cycles, higher error rates and misalignment between cost reports, draw requests and field progress. Because departments tend to operate within their own ecosystems, determining the extent of tech sprawl can be challenging unless they really dig in. To identify potential issues, audit the technology environment as a whole, rather than focusing on a single function, segment or department. This means asking every team to:

1. Document the systems they use and what each one is used for.
2. Identify where the same data is being entered, checked or stored in multiple places.
3. Flag spots where manual work fills gaps between tools.
4. Surface processes where multiple teams use the same data in different systems.
5. Track hours spent per week on tasks like verifying pay app details, checking compliance status, resolving discrepancies, etc.

How to choose the right tools

The goal is to choose platforms that solve the right problems and connect to other systems in your environment. Each decision should move you toward a simpler, more connected tech stack, not a more complicated one.

As you assess new solutions, anchor your decisions in these two criteria.

Function

Does the solution address the areas of greatest need identified during your tech stack audit?

Look for platforms that will:

• Address at least one critical pain point (manual pay apps, duplicate data entry, slow approvals, audit headaches, etc.).
• Replace at least two or three existing point solutions instead of adding yet another separate system to maintain.
• Integrate with your core ERP and project management tools without workarounds.
• Provide shared, real-time visibility for project management, accounting and subcontractor management teams.
• Include support, onboarding and training to help your teams with adoption and retiring older systems.

Integration

Does the solution integrate cleanly with the rest of the stack without relying heavily on third-party integrators?

Make sure the platforms you choose will reduce complexity when added to your environment by:

• Identifying the systems this tool must talk to and making sure direct integration is possible
• Deciding which platform will be the single source for contracts, commitments, actuals, compliance data and payments, as well as ensuring new solutions can exchange data with it
• Making clear who’s responsible for configuring, monitoring and maintaining integration
• Setting targets for what “good” integration looks like (fewer discrepancies between systems, fewer manual touches per pay app, faster cycle times, less time spent reconciling reports, etc.)
• Building a timeline for turning off legacy systems and manual workarounds

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Building on its portfolio of 3D-printed projects, retail giant Walmart, alongside other commercial retailers, will work with 3D-printing firm Alquist to deliver more than a dozen construction projects across the U.S., according to a Nov. 24, 2025, announcement.

The jobs, which vary in size, scope and regional application, represent a turning point for the construction industry as 3D concrete printing moves beyond one-off pilots and into full-scale commercialization, Alquist said in the news release.

To meet demand, Greeley, Colorado-based Alquist will partner with construction and equipment rental dealer Hugg & Hall and full-service general contractor FMGI. Under the model, FMGI owns and will lease Alquist A1X printers, financed and serviced by Hugg & Hall, to execute large-scale 3D-printed projects nationwide, according to the news release.

The partnership will apply Alquist's robotic 3D printing systems to deliver structural walls and infrastructure elements, according to the news release. Alquist claims the tech will deliver projects more efficiently and sustainably than traditional construction methods.

The first project under this model will begin at Walmart’s Lamar, Missouri, location in December 2025, according to the news release. 

The job marks Alquist's third Walmart project. Previously, the 3D-printing company created a nearly 8,000-square-foot, 20-foot-high expansion of Walmart’s Athens, Tennessee, store  in September 2024. It also debuted another expansion for the retailer in Huntsville, Alabama, according to local outlet FOX 54.

"What drew us to Alquist was how practical this technology really is, it's faster to mobilize, cleaner on-site and delivers consistent quality in every print,” said Darin Ross, president and CEO of Woodstock, Georgia-based FMGI, in the news release. “For us, this partnership is about transforming how large-scale projects actually get done."

With the technology, FMGI claims it can have AI-trained robots operating 24/7, according to the company’s website, supported by a team of five human operators.

Swinerton and its mass timber subsidiary Timberlab have topped out the firms’ 192,000-square-foot manufacturing facility for cross-laminated timber, a key component of the renewable building material, according to a Nov. 20, 2025, news release.

Swinerton Builders, the firm’s construction division, and project partners Lindgren Development and Lever Architecture, all worked on the facility, named Independence Hall.

Spanning the length of three football fields, it will be one of the largest CLT manufacturing sites in the U.S., according to Swinerton. The firm expects it to produce 7 million to 9 million square feet of CLT annually, ranging from 2 inches to 12 inches thick. When the facility is at full capacity, Swinerton anticipates it will add about 100 jobs with an average total compensation of $80,000, said Danielle Ridgeway, external communications manager for the builder.

The structure broke ground in February 2025, according to the city of Millersburg, Oregon, where Independence Hall is located.

Overall, workers carried out a tightly coordinated installation process using glue-laminated timber, also known as “glulam.” Over five months, crews installed, per the release:

• 192,000 square feet of GLT roof panels.
• 240 GLT columns, which ranged from 32 feet to 45 feet tall.
• 260 GLT beams, which ranged from 90 feet to 110 feet long.
• 72,400 square feet of structurally insulated wall panels.

The construction group also created a digital twin of the structure to speed up the installation process. The model helped verify the CLT manufacturing equipment layout within the facility, as well as specs for machining of all GLT columns. It also provided an Autodesk Construction Cloud VDC model for trade coordination, which helped deliver just-in-time oversize GLT beams.

Swinerton said the timeline illustrates how technology and sustainable materials can come together to deliver large projects faster and more efficiently. The facility is scheduled for completion in early 2027.

Alongside its status as a full mass timber build, many of the materials were made in Oregon. These include wood from Oregon-grown Douglas Fir trees, GLT produced at Timberlab’s Swisshome and Drain facilities and CLT panels fabricated at its Portland location, per the release.

Swinerton and Timberlab are long-time advocates for the material and alternate, yet growing, construction method. Chris Evans, Timberlab’s president, has been bullish on mass timber amid tariff pressures, noting its functional similarity to structural steel.

To wit, mass timber has seen a recent uptick in interest and use across the construction industry. That has led trade groups, including ironworkers, to train their ranks to work with the material and take advantage of mass timber’s growing prevalence.

Providence, Rhode Island-based Gilbane Building Co. topped out the NanoFab Reflection facility in Albany, New York, the cornerstone of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s initiative to bolster semiconductor manufacturing in the Empire State, according to a Dec. 8, 2025, news release from the governor’s office. The $614 million project anchors a $1 billion investment in the NY Creates’ Albany NanoTech Complex.

The 310,000-square-foot facility will include 50,000 square feet of state-of-the-art cleanroom space, according to the governor’s office. Additional facets of the four-story structure’s project scope include two levels of clean space, a waffle table, two additional levels of support space above the operating level and an HVAC rooftop "penthouse" for mechanical equipment, such as air handlers, according to Gilbane and the company’s project page.

In addition, the project will include a 900 car parking garage and is aiming to achieve the highest level of LEED certification, per Gilbane.

Gilbane worked with Amsterdam-based manufacturing construction firm DPS Advanced Technology Group, a subsidiary of design firm Arcadis, over the course of the job. The team won the project in January 2025.

“Today's milestone represents the latest step in establishing New York as the hub for domestic semiconductor production,” said Hope Knight, Empire State Development president and CEO, in the governor’s news release.

As the year has progressed, contractors have looked to bolster their presences in the advanced manufacturing and data center sectors. Swedish builder Skanska, for example, grew its advanced technology unit, which came on the strength of related data center builds. However, as those projects boom, more broadly, nonresidential construction spending has dipped three times in the past four months.

“Momentum remains confined almost exclusively to the data center segment,” said Anirban Basu, Associated Builders and Contractors chief economist, in a Nov. 17, 2025, news release detailing the contraction. “This should come as no surprise given that approximately 1 in 7 ABC members are under contract to work on a data center, and those contractors have significantly higher backlog than those that are not.”