What We’re Hearing on the Ground: Q1 Event Recap

In brief:

• Contractors all over the place are feeling financial strain from excessive prices and tight margins.
• The true problem is not discovering initiatives however discovering the best work quick.
• AI has shifted from principle to follow, with preconstruction professionals actively testing AI of their on a regular basis workflows.

We had the prospect to attach with lots of of development professionals this quarter at a number of the largest occasions within the business:

• World of Concrete: Las Vegas, NV (January 19–22)
• AHR Expo: Las Vegas, NV (February 2-4)
• Construct Expo: Atlanta, GA (February 25-26)
• CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2026: Las Vegas, NV (March 3-7)
• AWCI Build26: New Orleans, LA (March 15-18)

We confirmed as much as demo, join, and hear. Right here’s what we’re listening to on the bottom up to now in 2026. 

The economic system is a most important subject. 

It doesn’t matter in the event you’re a small commerce contractor within the Midwest or a GC managing multi-state initiatives, the rising price of doing enterprise got here up in practically each dialog we had this quarter. Supplies are costly. Labor is tight. Margins are thinner than they was once. 

What meaning in follow: contractors must be selective about the place their money and time go now greater than ever. Inefficiencies are more durable to soak up than they have been simply two or three years in the past. 

The contractors who appear to be navigating at present’s unsure economic system greatest aren’t essentially the largest contractors. As an alternative, they’re those who’ve gotten strategic about which alternatives they pursue and how briskly they’ll transfer on the best ones. 

Should you’re seeking to keep on high of how financial shifts are affecting preconstruction particularly, our Economic Insights Center is an effective place to benchmark. We preserve it up to date with the most recent knowledge and insights, so that you don’t must go attempting to find it. It’s all the things you want in a single place.

Discovering the best work is more durable than it seems to be.

One thing that got here up repeatedly on the sales space is that contractors aren’t struggling to search out initiatives. They’re struggling to search out the proper initiatives and lower via all the noise in between. 

We had various conversations that began with somebody describing hours misplaced sifting via irrelevant leads. In a number of circumstances, we pulled up their ConstructConnect® Project Intelligence searches proper there on the sales space and made just a few fast changes. The response was nearly all the time the identical: real shock at how a lot the platform may do.

This was one of the rewarding elements of getting out into the sphere this quarter. Undertaking Intelligence is a strong device. Seeing contractors uncover a functionality or a search refinement they hadn’t used earlier than, and instantly grasp how a lot time it may save them, was a superb reminder of why these in-person conversations matter. Typically, all it takes is one small tweak to unlock quite a lot of worth. 

Contractors are utilizing AI of their on a regular basis workflows. 

We anticipated AI to come back up in our conversations, however what shocked us most was the extent of hands-on experimentation we really encountered.

Some contractors are nonetheless hesitant about utilizing AI, however numerous people we talked to have already began utilizing AI of their on a regular basis workflows. Some are utilizing AI instruments that combine with their software program whereas others are stitching collectively their very own automations and constructing their very own AI workflows.

Our takeaway? The curiosity in AI is not theoretical anymore. Individuals are making an attempt issues. 

The dialog has shifted from “Ought to I take advantage of AI?” to “How do I take advantage of AI to win extra work?” Particularly, we heard quite a lot of curiosity round utilizing AI to maneuver quicker within the estimating course of. To not exchange judgment, however to eradicate the repetitive work that may oftentimes eat up quite a lot of hours.

It is a sentiment we have heard from our personal clients, too. In a recent conversation with painting contractor, Invoice Brady, he put it plainly, “AI is the way in which the business is shifting ahead. I might advocate getting in entrance of it quite than taking part in catch-up as a result of most of your rivals are in all probability utilizing it.” 

The people leaning into it early share one factor in widespread: they don’t seem to be ready for an ideal answer. They’re experimenting, studying, and constructing a aggressive edge whereas others are nonetheless on the fence. 

Dialog Highlight: A $500K win hiding in plain sight.

Certainly one of our favourite issues about attending commerce exhibits is assembly ConstructConnect clients and listening to how the instruments we construct are serving to them.

At a current occasion, an excavating contractor from a small Missouri city is aware of everybody in his native business. He is well-connected, well-respected, and plugged into his group. He even sits on the native hearth board. So when a $500,000 undertaking got here to his tpersonal, you’d assume he would’ve recognized about it via his connections. 

He did not. Neither did anybody in his networks. 

However he discovered the undertaking on ConstructConnect Undertaking Intelligence earlier than anybody else did. He made the decision early, acquired in entrance of the best individuals, and finally received the bid. That single undertaking accounted for a 3rd of his income for the 12 months. 

Once we requested what made the distinction, his reply wasn’t simply in regards to the undertaking knowledge. He stated the contact data is what is actually helpful as a result of in development, relationships are all the things. Undertaking Intelligence helped him construct connections he did not even know he was lacking.

He summed it up higher than we may: “You possibly can have the very best bulldozer in the marketplace, but when you do not have a undertaking to place it on, it is nugatory.”

What we’re studying from the bottom.

The conversations we had on the bottom this quarter strengthened the identical factor: preconstruction execs are sharp, adaptable, and in search of an edge in a aggressive market. The strain is actual, however so are the alternatives. 

Bought ideas on what you’re seeing within the discipline? We’d love to listen to from you. Send us an email to attach with our crew.