The company warned that relying on generic chatbot advice over on-site assessments can lead to faulty execution.
AI is not yet an everyday part of construction work, but it has clearly entered discussions between customers and professionals. Some 73% of construction professionals surveyed said they had already encountered clients referring to AI, while 27% had never experienced this.
Among respondents, 26% said they encountered the phenomenon very rarely, another 26% occasionally and 20% frequently.
Customers most often referred to AI in connection with technological solutions, cited by 35% of professionals. Some 31% encountered AI-based arguments concerning material selection, while 25% experienced them in discussions about required work processes.
AI was also cited in connection with pricing by 20% of respondents, the causes of faults by 17% and expected completion times by 16%.
Mapei said the figures suggest customers most often use AI before work begins, searching for solutions, materials, processes and prices. Problems can emerge when such preliminary research develops into a fixed position.
“A chatbot works from general information. It cannot see the condition of the wall, what is underneath the covering or substrate, whether the layer structure is appropriate, or what faults become apparent during demolition. Without these, it can at most provide an answer for an ideal case, while in construction it is precisely the ideal case that is the rarest,” said Béla Markovich, managing director of Mapei Kft.
Based on rounded survey results, around seven in 10 professionals expressed some level of concern about customers using AI.
Some 29% said they were not bothered at all when clients use artificial intelligence to gather information, while 22% were only slightly bothered. A further 27% considered it moderately disturbing, while 23% said the phenomenon bothered them considerably or very much.
Open-ended responses, however, did not indicate broad opposition to technology. More accepting professionals said it was natural for customers to gather information from multiple sources and that discussions could even be easier with better-informed clients, provided misunderstandings were addressed through professional explanations.
More critical respondents objected mainly when clients treated generic or inaccurate AI answers as definitive professional opinions.
The two most frequently cited concerns were that AI does not take on-site conditions into account and that it can provide inaccurate or unverified information. Some respondents also said customers may trust a chatbot more than a professional with years of experience.
Mapei said this can result in unrealistic price expectations, unworkable deadlines or demands for technologies that are unsuitable for the specific situation.
One respondent said AI “would solve everything, but it no longer takes responsibility for the consequences and the faults that emerge afterward.”
The comment, Mapei said, captures the central dilemma: the machine provides the advice, but the contractor remains responsible for faulty execution.
Construction professionals themselves are also increasingly using artificial intelligence.
Some 36% of those surveyed use AI at least occasionally, while 27% have tried it once or twice. Some 13% use AI weekly and 7% daily, while 17% have never used it.
“Professionals primarily use AI to search for professional information and to carry out assistant and administrative tasks. For many, it has already partly taken over the role of Google, and it appears throughout almost the entire construction process,” Markovich said.
Some 44% of respondents use AI to search for professional information about materials, construction technologies and manufacturers’ recommendations.
Another 22% use it for cost calculations, determining material requirements or preparing quotations, while 21% use it to identify technical problems and troubleshoot faults.
Some 11% use AI to learn about new technologies and for professional training, while 10% apply it to planning workflows.
AI is also used for content creation, including social media posts and videos, by 18% of respondents, while 17% use it for marketing. Some 16% use it to draft emails, messages and quotations for clients, and the same proportion use it to prepare work logs, records and other administrative documents.
Mapei said most construction professionals accept that customers use AI to gather information, collect ideas and better understand planned work.
The dividing line, according to the company, comes when AI is treated not simply as an information source but as a virtual technical inspector replacing an on-site assessment and professional experience. Insisting that a contractor follow AI advice regardless of local conditions could ultimately result in the very outcome customers are trying to avoid: poor-quality workmanship.
Producing journalism that is worthy of the name is a costly business. For over 30 years, the publishers, editors and reporters of the Budapest Business Journal have striven to bring you business news that works, information that you can trust, that is factual, accurate and presented without fear or favor.Newspaper organizations across the globe have struggled to find a business model that allows them to continue to excel, without compromising their ability to perform. Most recently, some have experimented with the idea of involving their most important stakeholders, their readers.
We would like to offer that same opportunity to our readers. We would like to invite you to help us deliver the quality business journalism you require. Hit our Support the BBJ button and you can choose the how much and how often you send us your contributions.
