Construction is possibly a curious exception to typical legal and political restraints. Most of the legal and political rules already are and will continue to be environmental and will deal with matters like energy efficiency and waste disposal. Automation should facilitate compliance with these growing regulations which already influence how construction is being done in the U.S.
Expect theatrics over job losses and promises of worker re-training, but political and legal restraints to a construction industry that’s faster, safer, more environmentally friendly, and perhaps even a little cheaper will not be a worry – and legislation may even be designed to be as ineffective as possible.
In the early 70s automobile manufacturers in North America toured Japanese plants like Toyota and got a rude wake up call. Automation was already well in progress in Japan. As a result, over the next few decades, the North American and European auto sectors would also be transformed, along with the rest of manufacturing as well as the agricultural sector.
In fact, according to McKinsey, it is estimated that productivity in the U.S. in manufacturing increased 8-fold between 1947 and 2010, and in agriculture the increase in productivity was 16-fold, twice that of manufacturing.
Construction, you ask? According to McKinsey, productivity in construction increased marginally over the same period in America. So, while automation and robotics have begun to appear more frequently in construction since 2010, the industry is way behind agriculture and manufacturing.
And a big part of the reason for construction’s stagnation isn’t a bricklayer with a bad hangover, but rather poor planning by the architects, engineers, managers, and owners. As renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright once said:
You can use an eraser on the drafting table or a sledgehammer on the construction site.
Frank Lloyd Wright
So, as you read our survey of automation in construction, think of robotics, AI and machine learning as a powerful set of tech “erasers” that can help avoid the costly mistakes typical of all too many construction projects.
Currently nearly 7.9 million workers are employed in construction in the U.S. and almost 11 million in direct employment because of construction, with around 12% of them belonging to a union. There are a large number of small businesses, usually local contractors, along with a fair number of mid-sized companies and a select group of large construction companies.
We need to ask why the construction industry has been relatively slow to automate although this is changing. In other words, why is it taking so much longer for automation to advance in construction compared to manufacturing, for example?
Another key aspect of construction is retiring trades people. Not enough younger electricians, industrial plumbers, masons and concrete workers, metalworkers, and glaziers are being trained in colleges or apprenticeship programs and the industry is facing a looming shortage of skilled, experienced workers. Additionally, as will be clear at the end of this blog, skilled construction workers will increasingly need tech skills not previously required.
Automation can help with most of these problems.
The industry is currently run by a mix of large and small-to-mid size businesses. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in 2022 there were over 900,000 companies in the United States in construction. That means a lot of small companies – local contractors for example – along with a number of mid-sized companies and a few large construction companies.
Ranking | Company | Annual Revenue |
1 | The Turner Corporation | $14.3 billion |
2 | Bechtel | $12.9 billion |
3 | Kiewit Corporation | $10.7 billion |
4 | STO Building Group Inc. | $9.5 billion |
5 | Fluor | $8.8 billion |
6 | The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. | $8.4 billion |
7 | DPR Construction | $7.5 billion |
8 | Skanska USA | $6.4 billion |
9 | Clark Group | $6.3 billion |
10 | AECOM | $6.3 billion |
Given that the U.S. construction industry was estimated to be around $2.7 trillion in 2022, this means the top 10 construction companies only accounted for around 3.5% of the total market. In other words, there’s lots of room for consolidation, and automation can have an impact on that by standardizing many elements of building and housing construction.
Country | Total Construction employees | As percentage of total workforce |
Global | 300 million | 9.4% |
U.S. | 10.8 million | 6.8% |
China | 81.8 million | 10.9% |
Canada | 1.6 million | 8% |
Australia | 1.1 million | 8.7% |
EU | 18 million | 8.4% |
India | 60 million | 13.3% |
Once automation really takes hold in the industry – and we’re just getting started – these numbers will fall dramatically. Not only that, but the technical abilities required to work alongside the robots and AI-powered dashboards will mean a construction worker will need a whole new set of both hard skills (how to interact with advanced technology) and soft skills (how to collaborate effectively while being monitored by machines).
No investment | Low investment | Moderate investment | High investment | Full automation |
Most tasks performed manually or with little automation | Automation limited to only a few areas or processes | Automation in wider range of areas & processes – more integrated into daily operations | Automation widely adopted & integrated into most areas & processes yielding significant improvements in productivity | Almost all tasks & processes automated with humans focused on maintenance and supervision of automated systems |
N/A | Local Contractors and some Mid-Sized Companies | Mid-sized and Most Large Construction Companies | A few specialized areas within large companies | N/A Will occur when construction is modular with all components built in factories and assembled on site. |
First off, automation in construction means any task in the industry previously done manually that would now be done, or is being done, by a machine, software, or any other technology. So, let’s list some tasks that robots can already do:
Watch SAM (Semi-Automated Mason) lay bricks here.
In construction the future is modular. Every home and building will have all its components built in a factory – the way a toilet in your bathroom is built elsewhere – and assembled on site. The walls, the floors, the roof, the windows, the doors, the door and window frames, mechanical – electrical – plumbing (MEP) components, and just about everything else that goes into a building will all have been built to spec in a factory to be quickly assembled at the site. The only exception to this would be the foundation and grading of a structure, which would involve robotic machines preparing a site while monitored by a few skilled operators.
As our focus is America, we can provide a reasonable projection concerning automation in construction. However, given that fully automated means modular construction being the principal method for every type of construction site, we need to be patient with regard to our timelines. Remember:
By 2030 – Local and laggard Mid-sized contractors will have moderate investment levels in automation. No one will have low investment anymore. More dynamic mid-sized companies and less adventurous large companies will have high investment in automation. A few leading large companies and pioneer mid-sized companies will be fully automated.
By 2040 – Only a few local and a handful of mid-sized companies will have moderate investment in automation. Most large companies will be fully automated and will require either high or full levels of automation from smaller companies they work with. The only larger companies that remain only highly automated will be regional exceptions to this.
By 2050 – The industry will be fully automated. All construction will be modular with a few specialized (and very expensive) local and mid-sized companies offering customized work with high levels of automation that complement the basic modular structure of the construction industry.
Construction is possibly a curious exception to typical legal and political restraints. Most of the legal and political rules already are and will continue to be environmental and will deal with matters like energy efficiency and waste disposal. Automation should facilitate compliance with these growing regulations which already influence how construction is being done in the U.S.
Expect theatrics over job losses and promises of worker re-training, but political and legal restraints to a construction industry that’s faster, safer, more environmentally friendly, and perhaps even a little cheaper will not be a worry – and legislation may even be designed to be as ineffective as possible.
The Positive
The Negative