Construction industry risk in 2026 is increasingly expected to stem from small operational breakdowns that surface too late to fix cheaply, according to construction technology leaders who spoke during a Built By Builders webinar focused on artificial intelligence. A tight labor market, they said, is likely to intensify those risks unless contractors adopt tools that improve visibility, tracking, and decision-making earlier in the project lifecycle.
Panelists emphasized that AI-powered tools can help protect both profits and workers by improving jobsite data accuracy, strengthening safety programs, and scaling expertise across organizations with leaner teams.
Choosing the right technology 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. Adoption depends on how well tools fit into daily jobsite workflows.
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“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.”
Ease of use, including features such as multilingual interfaces, can significantly speed adoption among jobsite teams, Berger added.
“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.”
Labor shortages are also heightening safety risks as contractors rely more heavily on less-experienced workers, said Josh Levy, CEO of Document Crunch, an AI risk reduction platform. While safety programs have evolved over the past decade, panelists said the industry may have leaned too far toward compliance-focused, checkbox-driven processes.
That shift can dilute the worker-first intent of safety programs, said Gabe Guetta, founder and CEO of Salus, a construction safety software provider. AI, he said, offers an opportunity to re-engage workers and make safety programs more meaningful.
“Safety turned into theater, where all these forms and documents and training got done, and the pendulum swung from protecting a worker to protecting a company,” said Guetta. “Where AI is today, within the next six months to a year, safety will fundamentally change in the way that it’s performed.”
AI-driven tools can make safety training more interactive and responsive, rather than routine exercises that workers disengage from over time, panelists said.
In the back office, AI can help bridge knowledge gaps as companies struggle to scale with fewer experienced staff, Levy said. Construction teams routinely juggle complex document types that influence scope, compliance, and risk, but newer staff often lack the experience to interpret those connections consistently.
“Yes we have a labor shortage … ultimately what that means is that construction companies are going to have to figure out a way to scale with either less people or figure out a way to scale their people,” said Levy. “I don’t think we’ve done enough to bring that scalability to the people that are here.”
The strain extends to project engineers and managers as well, said Cameron Page, CEO and founder of Clearstory, a change order management platform. Burnout and retention challenges can worsen when companies invest in upskilling employees who later leave.
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“There’s more demands on those team members,” said Page. “Any opportunity for technology on process improvement is going to help scale those companies as we head into this new era where things are probably going to move even faster.”
With an influx of construction technology solutions, contractors face growing uncertainty around which tools to adopt, said Mike Pink, CEO and founder of SmartPM. That lack of standardization can widen the gap between firms that learn from data and those that don’t.
“The lack of standardization in an environment that’s being flooded with new innovation is challenging to the people that are actually working in construction,” said Pink. “There’s a lot more uncertainty on who’s embracing the systems, who’s using it.”
Panelists agreed that earlier detection of risks should be a primary goal. Cost exposure from change orders, for example, often sits buried in emails or informal field tickets long before it appears in forecasts, Page said.
“That’s one of the big trends to help protect profits in this industry, it’s to get that visibility at a higher level, so you can more proactively triage and dive into the projects that truly need help,” said Page. “You might have 10 great projects, and then that one project that had lack of visibility that goes way over budget could really shoot your numbers for the year.”
Improving collaboration with trade contractors can also surface problems sooner, said Chris Callen, CEO of Plot, a jobsite coordination tool.
“A lot of times, [trade contractors] are just the receivers of information,” said Callen. “You’re seeing more and more engagement tools to get those individuals on the trade partners to be involved in a process that they may have not been an active contributor in the past.”
Originally reported by Sebastian Obando, Reporter in Construction Dive.
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