Construction technology experts from CE‘s 2025 Top Tech Firms list share their answers to some of this year’s top questions below:
What are some examples of real-time collaboration tools reducing rework and eliminating delays across distributed teams?
Steve Antill
Chief Revenue Officer
Foundation Software
Payroll is innately challenging for contractors because it involves unique requirements specific to the construction industry. Whenever manual methods are used, errors and rework are part of the course. And that’s prior to considering mandatory compliance with labor laws. Integrated digital tools are the most effective solutions for establishing accuracy and eliminating do-overs.
Reducing Rework With Integrated Payroll, Time Tracking and HR Solutions
To be confident in their payroll, contractors must first be confident in their labor hours.
Using some type of mobile time-tracking app that integrates directly with payroll software means that hours are collected straight from the field, as work is happening, and then uploaded into the processing system. This greatly reduces any errors because there is minimal manual entry and eliminates discrepancies since employees can digitally approve their timecards and paystubs prior to payday. It also gives the office much greater visibility over the jobsite. Additionally, adding HR solutions to this workforce management platform streamlines data exchanges. Contractors can feed new hire info into the payroll program without much admin interference. This connectivity ensures accurate calculations and compliance.
Finding the Right Solution
Many payroll providers exist, but it’s important to look for software that covers what construction companies need most. While researching, check that vendors can manage certified payroll reporting, union tracking and multi-state processing. Demo the integrations too to make sure they’re legitimate.
Dustin Stephens
Vice President, Construction and Real Estate
Sage
Real-time collaboration tools are transforming construction in several ways, including by reducing rework and delays. Three areas where these tools have had a significant impact are preconstruction, accounting, and operations.
Preconstruction: Setting a project up for success begins by winning the right work at the right price. Integrated AI-enabled bid leveling platforms deliver the insights you need to feel confident that you have the right mix of subcontractors to submit a competitive bid and optimize project results. Real-time collaboration tools enable teams to remain in sync from day and so they can identify potential issues early, before building even begins.
Accounting: Cloud-based accounting platforms deliver real-time financial insights, so teams always have visibility into their financial health. Whether you need a high-level overview or to drill down into a specific component of a project, you can get the information you need with the click of a button. And integrating these solutions with other business critical tools ensures that everyone is looking at the same numbers. You can even set up automated alerts and notifications to get the right information to the right people immediately so you can take action quickly to prevent costly errors and budget overruns.
Operations: Integrated cloud-based and mobile project management tools ensure your teams in the field always have access to critical project data so they can make informed decisions. Knowing everyone has access to the latest version of every document eliminates version control headaches or having to wait for the office to share a document. These tools also ensure all decision makers can monitor project progress in real-time and easily collaborate and communicate with team members so they can quickly course correct as needed.
Providing teams with the end-to-end tools needed to stay connected and complete their jobs more efficiently is a win-win, resulting in happier people and better results.
Kishan Patel
Chief Product Officer
HCSS
Due to the complexity of construction projects and the wide range of stakeholders involved, data and workflows often remain siloed. Real-time collaboration tools are helping contractors reduce rework and eliminate delays by ensuring everyone works from the same, up-to-date information. One example is the use of digital plan management tools, which eliminate PDF handoffs and outdated drawings. Instead, they provide a single source of truth, where both the office and the field can view and mark up the latest plans instantly, preventing costly mistakes often caused by version confusion.
Mobile field reporting is another area that adds a layer of efficiency. Directly capturing logs, hours, equipment usage and quantities from the jobsite gives immediate visibility into progress while feeding data into payroll, accounting and cost tracking. This eliminates duplicate entries, speeds up decisions and provides managers with real-time insights into productivity.
Collaboration can also extend to issue tracking and RFIs. Crews can log questions, photos or design conflicts in the field and escalate them to the office for faster resolution and fewer delays. Additionally, cloud-based scheduling strengthens coordination by elevating conflicts and cascading changes so the right resources show up at the right job at the right time.
The common thread across all these tools is integrated communication, which is embedded into project records rather than lost in calls, emails or texts. This triggers the right workflows and enhances decision-making so that, ultimately, projects can move forward faster with significantly stronger outcomes.
Jake Macholtz
CEO
InEight
We all know the dismal stats about construction projects that finish late and over budget. And we’ve all been told that real-time collaboration tools are the fix, but delays and rework persist.
No fix in construction is easy or simple. How can it be in this challenging, complex field? But I know that real change is possible—InEight customers prove it every day. Here are some powerful examples from our customers, who have worked hard and seen results:
InEight customers’ real-time collaboration starts in pre-construction. Brasfield & Gorrie bid $8.4B in projects using InEight software last year, improving accuracy and transparency. Pattern Energy gained efficiency by using InEight to analyze complex schedules on North America’s largest renewable energy project.
As projects progress, poor document control practices mean profit-killing delays, but excellent practices mean speed.
Using InEight Document, Graham reports, teams collaborate across projects of any size; the software lets Graham’s own processes be the star. The Australian state of Victoria uses InEight for a years-long transportation megaproject, keeping their many stakeholders aligned. Tractebel cut its document review time by 80% and told us about the value of working in real-time with employees and contractors.
Project controls offer another chance to use real-time collaboration to beat the odds on delivery.
AECOM based its award-winning Program Control Engine on InEight, transforming its work portfolio-wide. Sundt shifted to real-time work with help from InEight Project Controls, which “helps with collaboration across the different business units,” Sundt said. Kiewit used InEight on the South Fork Wind project; 80 users could be in the system at any moment. On a project that generated 4000 checklists and 2100 punch lists—and took place partly at sea—“collaboration was seamless,” said the completions manager.
If you’ve ever felt resigned about the state of things, let our customers inspire you.
How are tech innovations improving employee onboarding and training?
Connor Watumull
Cofounder and CEO
Miter
First impressions are everything. That’s why top contractors are investing in their employee onboarding experience, especially in today’s red hot labor market.
New tech innovations are helping contractors uplevel the onboarding and training experience. Top HR solutions offer a fully digitized experience so new hires don’t need to make a trip to the office just to fill out paperwork. Built-in messaging allows teams to quickly send texts to individuals or entire teams. They can share links to forms and important updates instantly—and new hires can complete and sign everything, from I-9s to W-4s, right from their phone.
Streamlining the onboarding process is just the first step. During a new employee’s first few weeks, they should also get a sense for your mission and culture. Why do you exist? Why does their work matter? What are the values of the organization?
New employees also want to know how you’ll support their growth and their career. What skills do they need to learn to be effective in their role? Top contractors ensure new hires have access to training that will help them develop skills and succeed, easily accessible from mobile devices for learning on the go.
Advancements in HR technology make it easy for contractors to provide robust learning libraries, with top solutions even providing a wide selection of pre-built training courses as well as the option to develop custom courses that address specific needs. Real-time reporting enables companies to monitor training progress, track course completions and quickly identify skill gaps to help improve jobsite performance.
How can workforce planning tools help contractors navigate a changing labor market and shifting project scopes?
Jay Martin
CEO
AlignOps
Contractors today are navigating a perfect storm of labor shortages, rising material and tool costs, and unpredictable project demands. In this environment, workforce planning tools are no longer a nice-to-have—they’re essential for adapting quickly and protecting profitability.
At AlignOps, we see leading contractors using BusyBusy to capture accurate, real-time labor data that keeps rising labor costs in check, prevents time theft and strengthens job costing.
ToolWatch delivers visibility into tools and equipment, helping firms reduce waste, avoid costly overbuying and maximize utilization when every dollar matters.
SafetyReports enables safer jobsites and stronger compliance, reducing the risk of fines, downtime and injuries that disrupt schedules and budgets.
FleetWatcher provides critical insight into hauling and material efficiency, empowering leaders to cut cycle times, lower fuel spend and keep projects moving despite escalating input costs.
When used together, these solutions give contractors the clear, connected visibility needed to see where resources are going, how teams are performing and where to make the most impactful adjustments. This empowers leaders to anticipate labor gaps, reallocate crews and forecast needs with confidence. The outcome is stronger bids, fewer delays and tighter control over margins.
Workforce planning is no longer about simply filling shifts—it’s about building resilience, ensuring safety and driving profitability in a volatile market. Contractors that embrace these tools are positioning themselves to deliver safer, more efficient and more profitable projects while keeping their teams productive and engaged.
Joel Hoffman
Director, Product Management—Projects and Construction
Acumatica
Workforce planning tools, like modern ERP systems, empower contractors to navigate a changing labor market and shifting project scopes by optimizing operations, enhancing employee engagement and fostering adaptability. These tools provide end-to-end visibility, enabling real-time resource allocation and decision-making to address labor shortages and evolving project demands. By automating manual tasks, they free employees to focus on strategic, value-driven work, boosting job satisfaction and productivity.
Flexible work options, such as remote or hybrid roles and flextime, can be managed seamlessly through ERP platforms, meeting employees’ demands for work-life balance and personal wellbeing. These systems also support competitive compensation, benefits management and professional development, which are critical for attracting and retaining top talent.
Moreover, ERP solutions create stability by streamlining operations, enabling data-driven decisions, and fostering innovation through new roles and upskilling opportunities. They also prioritize purpose by building collaborative environments, recognizing achievements and empowering autonomy with role-based dashboards.
By leveraging workforce planning tools, contractors can create a workplace that aligns with employee needs, ensuring they remain competitive in a dynamic labor market while delivering successful project outcomes.
What digital tools are streamlining preconstruction risk assessments and bid strategy development?
Shir Abecasis
CEO and Founder
FIRMUS
General contractors are continually looking to unlock efficiency and risk mitigation gains across the preconstruction phase—from estimation, bidding, preconstruction and quality, to early procurement processes and operations handoff. Firmus’ advanced AI-powered design analysis tool is custom-built to deliver the industry standard of accuracy, speed and value—earning trust from the ENR Top 400 Contractors, leading owner developers and forward thinking architects across the country.
“We’ve entered a pivotal moment in construction tech where AI can drive an immense amount of value. Our platform’s ability to deliver efficiency and insights with AI is fundamentally transforming the preconstruction process,” said Shir Abecasis, CEO and founder of Firmus. “Our model produces proprietary outcomes and is not just leading but defining the preconstruction AI agent category.
How can construction firms start integrating AI responsibly without overextending their teams?
Laurent Charpentier
Chief Executive Officer
Yooz Inc.
The easiest way to start integrating AI into your organization is to focus on areas where AI will immediately remove friction and amplify your team’s productivity rather than add a new complexity.
One area that is a good place to start is in finance and the back office, meaning start with implementing a strategic tool such as AI-powered AP automation. Manual data entry, chasing down invoices and matching POs aren’t strategic tasks, but they take enormous amounts of your team’s time. By automating these processes with AI-powered financial automation, you’re not overextending your team, you’re actually creating more bandwidth for them.
In using AI and technology to cut waste and improve visibility, you’re enabling your team to work on higher-value work like cash-flow planning, vendor relationships, and supporting the business.
The best path is to start small in one function where the ROI is clear, then scale and implement AI into other areas. In this manner, implementing AI doesn’t become a burden, but an accelerator for efficiency and capacity.
Ariela Wagner
Founder
SunRay Construction Solutions LLC
AI isn’t about replacing people—it’s about making them faster, more accurate and more valuable. The construction industry is finally moving away from paper stacks and disconnected spreadsheets toward fully integrated software. For the first time, we’re seeing construction software companies get their systems truly working together, and AI is accelerating that shift.
The firms doing this well aren’t chasing every flashy AI trend—they’re targeting the processes that will move the needle the fastest. That means automating repetitive compliance work, eliminating data entry errors and identifying payment risks before they become problems.
At SunRay, we’ve transformed lien and waiver management from a reactive, paper-heavy process into a proactive, fully integrated workflow. Our platform uses AI to centralize notices, waivers and authorizations to invoice, so contractors get paid faster, keep projects moving and protect their rights without bogging down their teams.
The smartest approach isn’t to overwhelm staff with multiple new systems at once, but to embed AI directly into the tools they already use every day. This makes adoption seamless, builds confidence quickly and proves ROI without creating resistance.
Integrating AI intelligently means thinking strategically: Start small, show results, and expand from there. When construction companies focus on AI that solves real business problems—rather than adopting technology for technology’s sake—they not only modernize operations but also give their teams the capacity to focus on higher-value work. That’s the future of construction tech, and it’s already here.
How are contractors addressing rising cyberrisks introduced by third-party vendors and cloud-based platforms?
Woody Chamberlain
President
eMars
Encryption is the answer to safe sharing and moving of digital information. However, encryption must be used for information that comes into and goes out of a computer. Encryption is the process of transforming readable information, known as plaintext, into an unreadable, scrambled format called ciphertext. The primary purpose of encryption is to secure data, ensuring that it remains confidential and can only be used by authorized parties. eMars uses encryption for all of its information, providing the utmost security for it’s users.
“Security is tantamount at eMars,” say President Woody Chamberlain. eMars is used by approximately 50,000 construction companies that do business with the federal government. These construction companies must follow the 31 compliance issues of the Davis Bacon Act. eMars makes dealing with the Davis Bacon Act worry free via it’s web-based service.
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