See how leading builders have transformed procurement.
Discover why procurement and project management are better together.
Watch on-demand for free
The fear of AI replacing jobs is everywhere - and construction’s no exception. From estimating to procurement, whenever AI gets mentioned, everyone asks: 'Does this mean fewer people?'
The short answer is no. Construction isn’t like other industries. It’s project-based, full of risk, and always changing. You can’t automate relationships, context, or judgement — all crucial and human.
Construction is late to the tech party, but AI is arriving whether we’re ready or not. The question isn’t if it will be used, but how we’ll use it without losing what matters most: control, context, and capability.
Interest in AI is on the rise. According to the Deloitte + Autodesk State of Digital Adoption in Construction report, 72% of construction businesses plan to implement AI.
That figure might sound ambitious, especially in an industry where many still send tenders by email and track progress in spreadsheets. But it reflects a bigger shift - teams are overwhelmed, and they need better tools.
At the same time, 87% of companies report capability gaps. That’s not minor. It confirms what many commercial directors already know: technical tools are only as strong as the people using them.
AI can process data, but it can’t walk a site or sense when a subcontractor’s price is too good to be true. It doesn’t know whether a quote is low because it’s sharp or because it’s missing half the job.
AI can support decision-making, but it can’t make the decision. Construction is complex, contextual, and loaded with risk. AI can’t run without human oversight - or there are consequences.
The goal isn’t to remove people from the process. It’s to reduce time spent on repetitive admin and give people tools to make better decisions.
AI doesn’t replace the quantity surveyor, the commercial manager, or the contract administrator. It gives them more time to do what they’re best at - think commercially, protect margin, and manage risk.
AI doesn’t know when a vendor is bluffing. People do. AI can’t sense hesitation in a meeting when a delivery promise feels shaky. It won’t catch a quote that seems too neat. Commercial and contract teams read between the lines - AI doesn’t.
AI pulls together a clean report. However, only a contract administrator knows a cladding quote from a new supplier in Leeds is missing fire rating costs buried in an old email chain. That isn’t a data issue. It’s experience.
A quantity surveyor in Birmingham might use AI to surface three historical ductwork packages. The numbers might look right, but only they recall a late-stage design change that pushed costs up. AI doesn’t see that. Humans do.
Procurement decisions don’t live in spreadsheets. They live in context, relationships, and commercial risk.
AI can offer suggestions, but it can’t finalise decisions. Someone needs to steer, armed with real-world insight and an awareness of what’s at stake.
AI in construction procurement should support, not replace, decision-making. When used properly, it cuts admin, highlights risks, and frees time for better commercial outcomes.
Instead of memory or buried spreadsheets, surveyors access structured pricing data from previous projects. AI flags anomalies on the spot. If a plastering package comes in at £160/m² and five similar projects averaged £125/m², the system raises a red flag. The team investigates rather than assumes.
The handover from estimating to delivery is often messy. Details get buried in emails, or forgotten. AI helps package up knowledge - what was included, who was contacted, and how decisions were made. Delivery teams no longer start from zero.
Subcontractor quotes rarely follow a template. One sends a three-page PDF, another an email, another just says ‘see attached.’
AI sorts this chaos, extracting scope items, inclusions, exclusions, and totals into a single comparison view.
Margins improve when teams can move faster with more confidence. That doesn’t mean handing over decisions to algorithms.
AI can’t make decisions. It can only suggest them. That’s why governance isn’t optional - it’s the framework that prevents good data from driving bad outcomes.
A subcontractor flagged by AI might look fine on paper. But if they’ve been deregistered, missed milestones, or failed to return final claims, someone needs to know. AI won’t catch it unless that detail is in the system. Often, it isn’t.
When AI is folded into procurement with no structure, it quickly turns into noise. Different teams use it differently, and no one knows who’s in charge when something goes wrong. That isn’t transformation - it’s chaos in a new wrapper.
People must provide the controls. Project teams know the job, the risks, and where things fail. Commercial managers understand what happens when a cheap number becomes an expensive dispute.
AI should help them move faster and think more clearly - not take the wheel. To explore more about how AI and human collaboration can revolutionise your projects, book a demo with ProcurePro today.
ProcurePro
