Construction risk in 2026 will increasingly stem from small operational breakdowns that surface too late to fix cheaply. A tight labor market could only heighten that exposure.

Those are the issues construction technology leaders cited as they pointed to several artificial intelligence tools to protect profits, according to a 2026 outlook webinar from Built By Builders, a construction tech company network.

Choosing the right option starts in the field, said Anna Berger, CEO of Trayd, a construction back office operating system, during the webinar moderated by Construction Dive Reporter Matt Thibault.

“You have to do whatever you can, from a software and experience perspective, to create an environment that’s comfortable,” said Berger. “If teams are producing accurate numbers around labor tracking, equipment and material tracking in the field, what that results to for the back office and finance teams is a true job cost in real time from the field.”

In other words, tools must first fit into workflows efficiently on the jobsite. That includes small usability aspects too, such as multiple language options, which can meaningfully speed up adoption.

“When teams look to invest in software, they need to invest in tools that are centering the worker,” said Berger. “It’s not just about the back office teams, the finance managers, the end users.”

AI in safety

The labor shortage worsens onsite hazards when contractors have to staff projects with less-experienced team members, said Josh Levy, CEO at Document Crunch, an AI risk reduction platform.

Safety programs have evolved over the past decade, but the focus may have swung too far into checkbox compliance that focuses on companies more than workers, said Gabe Guetta, founder and CEO of Salus, a construction safety software provider. AI may help fix that.

For example, field workers don’t necessarily learn through academic processes, the direction many safety programs have turned to via forms and documents. The same tools intended to break complacency can create it instead if they become routine, box-checking exercises, he said.

AI tools can update this process by making safety programs more engaging from the start, said Guetta.

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Source: Construction Dive

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