How Contractors Are Embracing Technology: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities [INFOGRAPHIC]

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The con­struc­tion and home improve­ment indus­tries are evolv­ing rapid­ly, with tech­nol­o­gy play­ing a crit­i­cal role in shap­ing oper­a­tions and strate­gies. How­ev­er, not all con­trac­tors are adopt­ing tech­nol­o­gy at the same pace. By under­stand­ing the dynam­ics of adop­tion rates, moti­va­tors, and bar­ri­ers, man­u­fac­tur­ers and retail­ers can bet­ter align their offer­ings to meet con­trac­tors’ needs and dri­ve engage­ment. Here’s a clos­er look at the trends and insights from HIRI’s recent Con­trac­tor Tech­nol­o­gy Adop­tion Report.

Efficiency and Growth Drive Adoption

The desire to increase effi­cien­cy, remain com­pet­i­tive, and boost prof­itabil­i­ty are key dri­vers for con­trac­tors adopt­ing new tech­nolo­gies. High-tech users, in par­tic­u­lar, report sig­nif­i­cant sat­is­fac­tion with the tools they’ve adopt­ed, cit­ing com­pet­i­tive advan­tages as a major benefit.

While reduc­ing costs is less impor­tant to high-tech users, it remains a pri­ma­ry moti­va­tion for low-tech users. Mod­er­ate-tech users are dri­ven by a mix of stay­ing com­pet­i­tive and cost reduc­tion. Regard­less of their tech adop­tion lev­el, more than two-thirds of con­trac­tors agree that ven­dor sup­port plays a crit­i­cal role in their deci­sion to adopt new technologies.

Mobile Apps Dominate Usage

Mobile apps have become the go-to tech­nol­o­gy for con­trac­tors, with 48% using them for on-site work. These apps are fol­lowed close­ly by sched­ul­ing and time-track­ing tools, esti­mat­ing and bid­ding soft­ware, and account­ing and invoic­ing software.

Inter­est­ing­ly, high-tech users lead the way in adopt­ing project man­age­ment soft­ware, with 56% report­ing its use. In com­par­i­son, only 14% of low-tech users and 29% of mod­er­ate-tech users cur­rent­ly lever­age these tools. This dis­par­i­ty sig­nals a poten­tial for broad­er adop­tion of project man­age­ment soft­ware as its ben­e­fits become more evi­dent to mod­er­ate and low-tech firms.

Collaboration and Peer Insights Propel Technology Adoption

When it comes to dis­cov­er­ing new tech­nolo­gies, con­trac­tors rely heav­i­ly on peer and pro­fes­sion­al net­works, ven­dors and sup­pli­ers, and social media plat­forms. Low-tech adopters are par­tic­u­lar­ly reliant on peer net­works, while high-tech users pre­fer video tuto­ri­als and in-per­son work­shops for train­ing and support.

Man­u­fac­tur­ers and sup­pli­ers should invest in acces­si­ble and engag­ing dis­cov­ery meth­ods, such as social cam­paigns, peer refer­rals, and ven­dor-led work­shops. Tai­lor­ing train­ing for­mats to user pref­er­ences can fur­ther enhance adop­tion rates.

Mechanical and Landscaping Contractors Lead the Way

Adopt­ing and updat­ing tech­nol­o­gy is becom­ing stan­dard prac­tice for many con­trac­tors. Accord­ing to the report, 70% of con­trac­tors update their tech­nol­o­gy at least annu­al­ly. Among these, land­scap­ing con­trac­tors stand out, with 42% adopt­ing new tools every six months or less and anoth­er 41% mak­ing annu­al updates.

In con­trast, small­er firms and exte­ri­or pro­fes­sion­als tend to lag behind in adop­tion rates. These groups often face unique chal­lenges that slow their abil­i­ty to embrace new tech­nolo­gies. For man­u­fac­tur­ers and retail­ers, offer­ing tar­get­ed resources such as case stud­ies or cost-ben­e­fit analy­ses could help small­er firms bet­ter under­stand the val­ue of invest­ing in technology.

Overcoming Barriers to Technology Adoption

Despite the ben­e­fits, con­trac­tors face notable bar­ri­ers to tech­nol­o­gy adop­tion. High costs and sat­is­fac­tion with the sta­tus quo are com­mon deter­rents across trades. Addi­tion­al­ly, trade-spe­cif­ic chal­lenges vary:

• Land­scap­ers cite dis­rup­tion to their busi­ness process­es as a sig­nif­i­cant concern.
• Remod­el­ers often strug­gle with find­ing the time to imple­ment and learn new technologies.
• Mechan­i­cal trades­peo­ple report the high­est lev­els of sat­is­fac­tion with their exist­ing methods.

Man­u­fac­tur­ers and retail­ers can address these bar­ri­ers by offer­ing cost-effec­tive solu­tions, free tri­als, and robust ven­dor sup­port. Pro­vid­ing spe­cial­ty-tar­get­ed strate­gies can also help con­trac­tors over­come trade-spe­cif­ic challenges.

Future Tech Investments Look Promising

The out­look for tech­nol­o­gy adop­tion in 2025 is opti­mistic. Approx­i­mate­ly 54% of con­trac­tors plan to adopt new tech­nolo­gies in the com­ing year, with larg­er firms show­ing even greater inten­tion to invest. Top pri­or­i­ties for con­trac­tors include mobile apps, tools lever­ag­ing gen­er­a­tive AI, and project man­age­ment and esti­mat­ing software.

To cap­i­tal­ize on this momen­tum, man­u­fac­tur­ers and retail­ers should pri­or­i­tize cre­at­ing tai­lored train­ing for­mats and strength­en­ing ven­dor sup­port sys­tems. Ensur­ing acces­si­bil­i­ty and con­sis­tent fol­low-up can build con­trac­tors’ con­fi­dence in adopt­ing new technologies.

Preparing for 2025

As tech­nol­o­gy adop­tion accel­er­ates, under­stand­ing the vary­ing needs and chal­lenges of con­trac­tors is more impor­tant than ever. By address­ing bar­ri­ers, sup­port­ing dis­cov­ery, and pro­vid­ing tar­get­ed solu­tions, man­u­fac­tur­ers and retail­ers can posi­tion them­selves as essen­tial part­ners in con­trac­tors’ success.