Ask leadership
How much of the backlog depends on data center and power projects, and what if they slow?
A good answer
A share of backlog and a plan if it falls.
Push back if you hear
“Data centers are booming.”
Industry guides · Construction and homebuilding
Free industry guide · for contractors and homebuilders
AI is your fastest-growing customer and a useful office tool.
It does not fix the shortage of people who build. Here is where it reaches your business, and what to ask before you spend.
5-minute version · full guide 45 minutes, 9 sections · reviewed Sep 29, 2026
+57net outlook for data center work, the highest of any market
Data centers are the only market where contractors expect double-digit growth in 2026, with a net reading of +57 in a survey of 951 firms. More than four in five of those firms struggle to fill craft jobs.
Courses for each part of the business
3 of 7 areas have a course. The first module of each is free.
Estimating and biddingProject managementField operations and safetyProcurement and subcontractorsDesign and engineeringSales and customer experienceFinance
Finance and capitalProving AI return in the P&LIndustry deep diveConstruction estimating and biddingIndustry deep diveConstruction schedules and delays with AI
Proving AI return in the P&L
Covers Finance · 88 min Essential
Construction estimating and bidding
Covers Estimating and bidding · 109 min Essential
Construction schedules and delays with AI
Covers Project management · 105 min Essential
The five-minute version
What changed, what matters, and what to do next.
How each claim is supported:
EstablishedPublished resultSurveyVendor claimIllustration
Tap any marked phrase for its source.
A contractor makes money by winning jobs at the right price and building them for less than the bid. A homebuilder makes money on the gap between the price of a home and the cost of the land, the build and the sale. Both live or die on estimates, labor and time.
AI is a customer. The data centers that run AI are the fastest-growing thing contractors build. In a survey of 951 firms, data centers were the only market where contractors expected double-digit growth. A record amount of data center space is under construction, and most of it is already leased. Power projects are strong for the same reason.
Data centers pull on everyone's supplies. They need large amounts of electrical gear, cooling equipment, steel and skilled electricians. When a few big projects take a large share, other jobs can wait longer for equipment and pay more for crews, even if they never bid a data center.
Most other markets are cooling. Contractors expect less work in several other markets this year. So the boom is uneven. Firms that can build data centers are busy. Others are competing harder for less.
AI is a tool, mostly in the office. About six in ten contractors use AI or plan to spend more on it. That is up from about four in ten a year ago. They use it most for paperwork, estimating and planning before a job starts. Far fewer have changed how they actually work.
It does not fix the labor problem. More than four in five contractors struggle to fill craft jobs. One in three has felt the effects of immigration enforcement. AI can help an estimator bid more jobs. It cannot frame a wall or pull wire.
Homebuilders face a different squeeze. Homebuilders are fighting high mortgage rates and prices buyers can barely afford. Lennar, one of the largest, saw its gross margin fall from 18.7% to 15.2% in a year. That is not about AI. AI can help with plans, sales and paperwork, but it does not bring rates down.
The data is often not ready. In one survey, a quarter of construction firms still ran mainly on paper. Fewer than half said their site teams had real-time project data. AI needs that data to be useful.
Time saved is not money saved. If AI helps an estimator bid twice as fast, the firm earns more only if it wins more good jobs. Winning more bad jobs loses money faster.
Here is what that looks like in practice. A contractor with $150 million in yearly work wins one bid in five. An AI estimating tool lets the same team bid 30% more jobs. If the firm keeps its margins, that could add tens of millions in work over time. If the tool misses quantities and the firm wins jobs because it bid too low, it loses money on every one.
What should a builder's leaders do first? Three plain things.
- Use AI in the office first: estimating help, paperwork, and reading plans and contracts.
- Test any estimating tool on past bids, where you know the real quantities and costs.
- Decide whether to chase data center and power work, and whether you have the people to build it.
None of this needs a new team or a large budget. It needs one leader who owns each answer.
The full guide shows where AI touches the money, what has actually happened, who gains and who loses, and what to ask before you spend.
Read the full guide
45 minutes · 9 sections · ends with one decision to work through
Open the full guideWhere do you stand?
Six questions, a minute, from what you already know. Your answers pick what to read first.
Has your AI estimating tool been tested on past bids with known costs?
Do you track margin on jobs won with AI-assisted bids?
Do you know how much of your backlog depends on data centers and power?
Can your site teams see current plans, schedules and changes?
Does a named person check every AI-drafted contract or submittal?
Do you have a headcount plan by trade for the work you want to win?
Questions for your team
The same ground, for whoever owns each answer. Bring them to your next leadership meeting.
Ask chief estimator
Has the AI estimating tool been tested on past bids with known costs?
A good answer
Results from past bids, with errors by trade.
Push back if you hear
“It is faster.”
Ask project executive
Can site teams see current plans, schedules and changes?
A good answer
Yes, and a measure of how often they use it.
Push back if you hear
“They call the office.”
Ask finance
Are margins on jobs won with AI-assisted bids holding?
A good answer
Margin by job, AI-assisted against not.
Push back if you hear
“It is too early to tell.”
Ask head of people
Do you have the craft workers to take on data center work?
A good answer
A headcount plan by trade.
Push back if you hear
“The subs will find them.”
Ask risk manager
Who checks every AI-drafted contract, submittal or safety plan?
A good answer
A named reviewer for each.
Push back if you hear
“The tool is accurate.”
Three decisions leaders are making now
For a company of $50M to $500M ·
Should you chase data center and power work?
Demand is there; the question is whether you have the people.
Open the lesson ›Are jobs won with AI-assisted bids holding their margin?
A faster bid that is wrong loses money faster.
Open the lesson ›Will data center demand raise your equipment and crew costs?
Big projects pull on everyone's supplies.
Open the lesson ›Executive+
The guide tells you what is changing. Executive+ tells you what to do about it at your company.
Describe your business once. Every course comes back as an analysis written for it: the bottom line, actions in order with their sources, and the result that would change the decision.
What this course means for your company
Illustrative companyFinance, applied to a $150 million commercial contractor
Bottom line
Whether to buy AI estimating that promises twice as many bids, for $80,000 a year. Owner: the chief estimator, with the CFO. Decision this quarter.
What success looks like
Quantities within tolerance on 10 past bids with known costs, then more bids with jobs won at the firm's usual margin.
The rule for when to stop
If jobs won with AI-assisted bids come in more than two points below the usual margin, the firm stops and finds out why before bidding more.
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