AI adoption remains sluggish among US construction companies

A new survey of 750 US industry decision markers by Bluebeam also found that just 7% of companies had embedded AI across core workflows.

A further 32% are piloting the technology in limited or experimental applications, according to the AEC Technology Outlook Report 2027.

The relatively slow rate of adoption stands in contrast to Bluebeam’s finding that of those organisations running AI in production, 40% have reported cost savings exceeding US$500,000.

Among those using AI, 64% reported greater cost predictability and 58% said they were identifying risks and issues earlier in project lifecycles, Bluebeam said.

But while AI has learned to predict problems, it was less effective at helping to prevent them, with reduced rework at the bottom of a list of AI benefits (cited by 17% of respondents).

The survey also asked respondents what they viewed as the main barriers to scaling the use of AI in their businesses. Half (50%) of those companies still piloting AI and half of those that had already scaled named high implementation costs, as the biggest barrier.

That was followed by a lack of internal AI skills, which sat in second place at 34%.

Security and compliance concerns were raised by 18% of respondents, while 15% identified difficulty integrating AI into day-to-day project workflows. Only 2% cited lack of trust in AI outputs as a significant barrier to adoption.

“The industry has bought the ability to see problems sooner. It hasn’t built the path from seeing to stopping – through connecting disconnected systems, cleaning up data, and training people to trust the output, the Bluebeam report said.