AI use is widespread in construction, but significant returns remain elusive. A Kahua survey found that only eight per cent of respondents reported significant value from their AI investments.
BNN Bloomberg spoke with Scott Unger, CEO of Kahua, to discuss the survey’s findings and what they reveal about the construction industry’s adoption of artificial intelligence.
Key Takeaways
- AI embedded directly into construction applications can deliver greater value than tools used separately from core business processes.
- Human review remains essential to check AI-generated information before accepting it as fact.
- Complex construction projects generate vast amounts of data that AI can help manage throughout design, construction and ongoing operations.
- Consolidating systems can reduce data silos created by numerous applications and project stakeholders.
- Canadian survey respondents showed greater hesitation about using AI, which Unger linked to a need for education and familiarity with the tools.
Read the full transcript below:
ROGER: Well, most construction companies are using general-purpose AI in their operations. Just under one in 10 say they are actually deriving significant value from their investments in artificial intelligence. This, according to a new survey from Kahua. For more on this, let’s bring in Scott Unger, the CEO of Kahua. Scott, thanks very much for joining us.
SCOTT: Thank you, Roger. Good to be with you today.
ROGER: OK, so they’re using AI. What kind? What are they using?
SCOTT: They’re using AI probably within existing applications, and it’s to leverage data to make better intelligence and better sense out of data, and also to improve the productivity of the various business processes. The construction industry has some very defined business processes that it goes through. You can think of punch lists or submittals or reading asset nameplates, etc. And AI can act as a productivity tool to greatly speed up those tasks that someone would ordinarily do in a manual fashion.
ROGER: And now, is this like using a ChatGPT, or is this something more dedicated?
SCOTT: It can be either. You can utilize the ChatGPT that’s built into a system, or you can have business processes where AI is written specifically for those business processes. For instance, the punch list and submittals would be something that’s written specifically for an application, so there’s different ways in which AI can be leveraged throughout the design and construction process.
ROGER: So, and people are embracing it, nearly 84 per cent from your survey, but only eight per cent say they’re seeing actual measurable values. What are they doing different that they’re actually seeing — they’re seeing an impact?
SCOTT: Well, I think it’s — a lot of it is the tools and how really the tools are set up for them to leverage appropriately. And with AI, it’s critical that the AI, I think, is embedded into these tools versus a wrapper around an application, and this is where AI can yield a lot more value than if it’s just a wrapper where AI is separate from, you know, the tool itself.
And so, I think the companies of the eight per cent that are seeing measurable value, they’re leveraging it in different ways of just generically using ChatGPT on the side or other AI. They’re looking at their core systems, core business processes, and leveraging AI within those systems. And the best way to be able to leverage that is to have that AI natively written within those applications versus being a side wrapper for the application.
ROGER: And what’s stopping these other people? Is it — is it fear? Is it the size of the company?
SCOTT: There can certainly be, you know, fear and trepidation in using AI and just being comfortable with it. AI still certainly requires the human in the loop. You know, it’s critical that when you receive information back from AI, that the individual is still looking over, and it’s just not something that’s passed on as accepted as being fact.
It has to be reviewed by a human in the loop, and it’s also — the tools have to be specifically designed for the application. So if it’s in design and construction, we must design the AI tools that are working specifically for that. AI on its own isn’t necessarily going to give you the desired results if you’re not designing it with the intent within the applications.
ROGER: Now, I want to ask: I mean, U.S.-based, but Canadian companies answered the survey as well. Were their responses similar, or concerns similar, or were they different?
SCOTT: There’s, I think, there’s some differences. I think there’s more trepidation by the Canadian firms in utilizing AI, I think, for now. And it’s — I think that’s an education factor and, you know, getting them comfortable with solutions and showing that if AI is set up, it is something that can be quite dependable.
It’s something you can count on. It can add just enormous productivity. Our customers that are using AI are seeing that this can provide real benefit once it’s set up properly within the application for them.
ROGER: What’s the biggest — I mean, I mean, people look at construction and they think you’re building buildings. How much AI can you use in that? Where do you — when properly installed, where do you see the big — the big benefits from AI?
SCOTT: The big benefits from AI come in with — these projects are just tremendously complex. They can be quite lengthy. The design and construction process can take many years. It can be, you know, four and five years with, you know, hundreds, if not thousands, of different entities, and, you know, thousands or tens of thousands of people working on these projects.
So the amount of data that has to be managed from the beginning, the end, and even once the project is complete, you have to manage data on an ongoing basis. And so that’s where the real challenge comes in, is just the enormous amount of data. And it just, you know, continues to increase, and that data becomes very complex and difficult, just in its quantity, to manage. And that’s where AI can really provide some benefit, as it can help us, you know, manage these enormous data sets throughout the design and construction process.
ROGER: And in your note, you mentioned about fragmentation. Is that kind of the fragmentation issue, that everything getting spread about? What exactly do you mean by that?
SCOTT: Well, the fragmentation exists in that these companies that are managing these large projects are using many different systems, many applications, and so you potentially have 20 or 30 different applications on a single project, and that’s where you essentially have silos of data.
Each system is its own separate record, has data within it. It does not integrate well with other systems, and so that’s where the fragmentation is, of just the, you know, the significant number of systems that are used throughout the design and construction process. And that’s where we need to see a consolidation of systems and to have more of one system of record or a primary system of record where all these business processes are being managed versus in a lot of different one-off systems, which creates a lot of fragmentation.
You’re also bringing in, you know, lots of other project stakeholders when you’re doing a design and construction project, again. There can be, you know, 100 or so firms involved in — in doing that project, and so there’s fragmentation that’s built directly into that, of having so many different project stakeholders.
Each one of these project stakeholders needs its own project record, its own system of record that they’re using throughout the design and construction process, and so that’s what needs to be consolidated, those solutions.
And more and more business processes come up over time, whether these are government-related and requirements. But the business and the industry are changing, and you need systems that can keep up with those changes versus continuously adding in new systems and then creating further silos of information and data and further fragmentation.
ROGER: All right, we have to wrap it up there, Scott. But thank you very much for that and the report.
SCOTT: Roger, thank you. Love being with you. Thank you.
ROGER: Cheers. Have a great weekend. Scott Unger, CEO of Kahua.
---
This BNN Bloomberg summary and transcript of the Oct. 23, 2026 interview with Scott Unger are published with the assistance of AI. Original research, interview questions and added context was created by BNN Bloomberg journalists. An editor also reviewed this material before it was published to ensure its accuracy and adherence with BNN Bloomberg editorial policies and standards.
