IndustryHow AI & Automation Will Influence the Future of Productivity in Construction

The future of productivity is a blend of physical automation and skilled trades. For example, Dusty Robotics customers complete their layout process about 10 times faster than with traditional layouts, while eliminating the hands-and-knees work that creates long-term health issues for workers. AI and robotics will become an integral part of the industry, not as replacements for personnel, but as amplifiers for their skills and experience.

The groundwork for these advancements is already being laid today. More and more construction teams are exploring the many ways technology can make their jobsites more efficient and safe. In the process, they're discovering that incorporating automation not only makes workers more productive, but more engaged, as well.

The road to a safer, more efficient jobsite

According to Procore's state of construction research, close to half of current construction professionals want technology to improve efficiency and safety over the next two to three years.

Today, construction workers frequently have to carry things like equipment, materials, and tools from one place to another, which is time-consuming and introduces more potential for accidents. In the future, real-time updates about material locations and automatically synced delivery schedules could eliminate back-and-forth trips and save time for skilled trades.

Workers will arrive at job sites pre-staged and prepped by machines, with automatically synced information showing exactly what's ready and where it's located, updating immediately as conditions change throughout the day. Heavy equipment will become self-driving, benefiting from being off public roads to speed innovation. This creates roles for people who have previously been limited by physical demands, while also maximizing human expertise where it makes the most sense.

Automated machinery alone won't get construction to a more productive future. We also have to futurize our processes. According to the How We Build Now report, 18% of project time is currently spent searching for data. A further 28% of a project's total time is spent on rework or rectifying issues that were not accounted for in preconstruction. This makes a massive impact on performance, and contributes to nearly half of projects going over time and budget.

This is where preconstruction comes in. Preconstruction lets you visualize the tools and techniques you need for a specific job and make the best choices before workers ever hit the jobsite. Automation and mechanization will make that information transfer super efficient, as connected systems streamline operations and reduce admin work while minimizing handoff issues. Data about resources, materials, and equipment captured from previous jobs will inform the preconstruction process to provide a better understanding of when and how to use automation and robotics on the jobsite.

Hard-earned knowledge about what worked at one jobsite will carry over to another with no more effort than it takes to plug in a USB stick. This will bring the results full circle. Jobs with data-driven preconstruction will yield new productivity data points of their own, which will inform decision-making for the next project, saving the industry millions and reducing waste in the process.

How we get there

The reality is that the technology that will enable these advancements over the next eight to 10 years already exists and is currently in use at many job sites. In fact, 65% of construction professionals surveyed said the adoption of new technology has a significant influence on their company's culture and resilience to risk.

Just as with the digital transformation, we will be able to draw a clear line dividing tools developed before AI and after AI. In the place of tools that digitize construction, we will see tools that now optimize construction, driven by AI. In a survey conducted by Procore on the state of construction, 55% of respondents say it's highly likely that automation will disrupt the industry in the next 5 years.

According to the How We Build Now report, 27% of construction firms were actively using robotics while 33% were planning to adopt robotics within the next 12 months. Winvic's Crown Place Birmingham project demonstrates this adoption in action. Using layout robots and remote-operated tower cranes, they achieved 10% improvement in lifting efficiency and had zero clashes between MEP, dry lining, and joinery after 12 stories of construction. The connected data reduced errors and prevented delays that often substantially impact timelines.

Construction sites will feature more robotics performing more tasks alongside their human counterparts. This will not eliminate workers, only empower them to do more of the work that requires their specific talents.

Not all of the obstacles to the future are technological in nature. Some come down to changing existing behaviors. Construction is an industry where decisions are often influenced by instinct or reliance on what's worked in the past, but sticking to those behaviors will create unnecessary drag on a business's productivity and, ultimately, its profitability.

Many already see the value in transitioning to a technology-enhanced workflow and are making the moves necessary to achieve it. 42% of professionals surveyed for the State of Construction report say upskilling is a primary driver of digital transformation, while 45% of workers cite technical skills as one of the capabilities they want to develop most. In the future, digital twins, AI agents, and robots will be as common on jobsites as backhoes and jackhammers. Those with an open mind and a willingness to embrace them - and other technology-enhanced methods of doing familiar tasks - will be ahead of the curve.