Paid AI adoption in construction jumps to 68.5%

The survey by LIFEFUND, targeting construction and housing management executives, shows a clear shift from experimental AI use to organizational integration. The proportion of companies reaching Level 2 (AI used in some departments) grew by 25.1 percentage points over five months, while Level 1 (personal use only) dropped from 56.6% to 31.5%. This indicates that AI is moving from individual experimentation to structured department-level deployment.

The rise of paid tools like Claude and Gemini reflects a preference for professional, reliable solutions over free or informal ones. Notably, Claude's paid usage jumped from 18.9% to 71.0% between March and June, suggesting a rapid trust-building phase. Meanwhile, the growing concern about staff capability (from 7.5% to 20.4%) and lack of partners for advanced use (from 11.3% to 27.8%) highlights a new bottleneck: the need for human expertise and external support to fully leverage AI's potential.

Importantly, 87.0% of executives are open to external AI consulting services, which points to a market opportunity for specialized guidance. The shift in perception—from 'AI will be useful' to 'AI is already changing the industry'—underlines a practical focus on tangible outcomes like time savings and cost reduction, as reflected in the rising share of companies measuring ROI (from 15.1% to 24.1%). However, the survey's small sample size (53, 31, 54 respondents) calls for caution in generalizing these findings.