There is a lot of noise about AI in construction. I prefer surveys from public agencies and industry associations, so here is what they say, and what I think it means for a general contractor.
How many construction businesses use AI?
The Census Bureau's Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS) asks US businesses whether they use AI in any business function. Its AI supplement, summarized by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis:
| Group | Share reporting AI use |
|---|---|
| Information and professional services | Nearly 4 in 10 |
| Health care | About 20 percent |
| Manufacturing | About 12 percent |
| Construction | Less than 10 percent |
| Firms with 250 or more employees | 30 percent |
| Firms with fewer than 20 employees | 17 percent |
Census changed the question in November 2025 from AI "in producing goods or services" to AI "in any of its business functions", so older figures are not directly comparable.
Where do contractors expect AI to help most?
The AGC and NCCER 2026 Workforce Survey asked contractors where AI will have the biggest impact inside their company:
| Area | Share of contractors |
|---|---|
| Estimating and bidding | 67 percent |
| Document and contract review | 66 percent |
The same survey found 51 percent expect AI to have a positive impact on construction over the next five years, against 8 percent who expect a negative one.
Why is adoption low if expectations are high?
From what I see in Europe and in US conversations, three things hold contractors back:
- Trust. A general chat tool that cannot show where an answer came from is not usable on a bid or a contract.
- Fit. Tools built for office work do not know AIA A201, CSI MasterFormat or a schedule of values.
- Data. Bid packages, contracts and field records are scattered across portals, email and drives.
The Minneapolis Fed makes a similar point: adoption tends to follow how digitized a sector's workflows already are.
What should a general contractor do in 2026?
- Start where the hours are. The survey answer is clear: estimating, bidding and document review. That is also where the reading is heaviest.
- Demand citations. Every finding should open on its page. If it cannot, do not use it for a bid or a contract.
- Keep a person on every decision. AI does the first pass; the estimator, the PM and counsel decide.
- Measure. Log hours per bid before and after, so the business case is yours, not a vendor's. My bid cost worked example shows how.
Where does BAU AI fit?
BAU AI is the operating system for construction: ten AI agents that read every bid, contract and project document, cite every finding to the source, and hand work to each other from bid to closeout. We built it for the two areas contractors ranked highest, bidding and document review, first. It is live in Europe and onboarding a US founding cohort; any savings figure we show is illustrative until we have US data.
Tushar Adsul, Founder and CEO, BAU AI
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of construction companies use AI? Less than 10 percent of construction businesses reported AI use in the Census Bureau's 2026 AI supplement, as summarized by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
Where will AI help contractors most? In the AGC and NCCER 2026 survey, contractors named estimating and bidding (67 percent) and document and contract review (66 percent).
Will AI replace estimators? Nothing in the survey data suggests that. AI does the reading and the first pass; people price the work and make the decisions.
Sources
- Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, "AI adoption in business grows steadily but unevenly", May 29, 2026, summarizing the Census Bureau Business Trends and Outlook Survey AI supplement.
- Census Bureau, Business Trends and Outlook Survey, question change of November 2025.
- AGC and NCCER, 2026 Workforce Survey Analysis.