If you run a trade or building business, you have probably heard enough AI hype to last a lifetime. So let’s put the big promises aside and look at what current research actually tells us.
The short version? AI adoption is growing quickly, but there is a big difference between trying an AI tool and building it into the way a business operates.
Construction is adopting AI, but most firms are still experimenting
A 2025 global study by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, based on responses from more than 2,200 construction professionals, found that 45% reported no AI implementation in their organisation. Another 34% said their organisation was in the early pilot phase.
Only 1.5% reported using AI across multiple processes, and fewer than 1% said it was fully embedded across their organisation.
Those figures suggest that interest in AI is high, but mature implementation remains rare.
More recent US research points to growing investment. In the Associated General Contractors of America and Sage 2026 outlook, 61% of respondents said their firms either use AI or plan to increase their investment in it, up from 44% in the previous year’s survey.
The most common applications were office and administrative work, used by 45% of respondents, followed by estimating at 23% and design or pre-construction at 20%.
In commercial construction, ServiceTitan’s 2026 Commercial Specialty Contractor Industry Report surveyed more than 1,000 industry leaders. It found that 38% said AI was having a measurable effect on their business, up from 17% in 2025. The leading use cases included cost estimation and budgeting, bid management, and project planning and scheduling.
The pattern is fairly consistent. Adoption is accelerating, but many businesses are still working out what useful, day-to-day implementation looks like.
What about Australian trades and construction businesses?
Australian construction data shows why the definition of “using AI” matters.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics found that 6% of construction businesses reported using AI in 2024–25. This broad official survey covers businesses across the industry.
A more technology-focused 2026 Autodesk and Deloitte study reported that 52% of Australian construction and engineering respondents used AI or machine-learning tools. Its Australian sample included 287 businesses across architecture, engineering, construction, real estate development and specialty trade contracting.
KPMG’s Global Construction Survey 2025/26 reported that 43.8% of Australian construction industry leaders had adopted AI at scale.
These numbers are not directly comparable. The surveys cover different types of businesses, ask different questions and define adoption differently. A broad survey of the whole construction industry will produce a different result from a study focused on digitally engaged businesses or industry leaders.
The useful takeaway is not that one figure is “right” and the others are wrong. It is that AI use is uneven. Some Australian construction businesses have not started, while others are already using AI and machine learning across established workflows.
Trying AI is not the same as implementing it
For a trade or local service business, the more useful question is not, “Have we used AI?” It is, “Is AI reliably improving a part of the business?”
There is still a clear gap between experimentation and structured implementation. The RICS data shows this globally, where fewer than 1% of respondents reported fully embedded, organisation-wide use.
That gap is where governance matters. If AI is going to interact with customer information, prepare communications or influence business decisions, it needs a defined job, access limits, quality checks and human approval where the risk calls for it.
Is AI linked to better business performance?
MYOB reported in April 2026 that Australian SMEs using its AI products and features were growing 2.8 times faster than a statistically benchmarked group of non-users.
The modelling used aggregated and anonymised transaction, bank-feed and payroll data from hundreds of thousands of SMEs. Among AI users surveyed separately, 54% reported saving time and 34% reported improved productivity.
This is encouraging, but it needs to be read carefully. The result shows an association between AI use and stronger growth in MYOB’s data. It does not prove that AI alone caused that growth. Businesses that adopt AI may also be more digitally mature, better resourced or more willing to improve their processes generally.
Still, the practical benefits reported by users are relevant. Saving time and improving productivity can be meaningful in a small business where the owner is quoting jobs, answering calls, supervising work and managing admin.
Where AI is earning its keep
For larger construction firms, current surveys point to use cases such as:
- office and administrative work
- cost estimating and budgeting
- bid management
- design and pre-construction
- project planning and scheduling
For smaller trade and service businesses, useful applications may include:
- triaging enquiries and preparing call summaries
- drafting quote emails and follow-ups
- reminding the owner or team about leads that need a response
- turning job notes into customer communications
- preparing review requests after completed work
- organising recurring admin and reporting
The goal is not to automate everything. It is to identify a repetitive or easily dropped task, build a reliable workflow around it, and keep human review where judgement or customer trust is involved.
The honest takeaway
AI in the trades is no longer a distant idea, but it is not the overnight revolution some headlines suggest either.
The strongest evidence points to three things:
- Adoption is increasing.
- Structured, business-wide implementation is still uncommon.
- The most practical gains come from applying AI to specific workflows, not introducing AI for its own sake.
If you run a trade or local service business, start with one costly bottleneck. It might be missed follow-ups, slow quoting, repeated admin or inconsistent customer communication. Define what a good outcome looks like, put checks around the process and measure whether it genuinely saves time or improves service.
That is much more valuable than simply being able to say your business “uses AI”.
If you want help identifying and implementing a practical first workflow, learn more about AI Workflow Implementation for your business or book an AI Workflow call.
