Projects often face multiple schedule adjustments late in the game. A shift to install now may require crew rescheduling and equipment juggling, often on tight notice. This volatility can reduce crew utilization by up to 20%, adding tens of thousands of dollars to labor costs per project

The Scale of the Challenge

INDUSTRY DATA POINTS PAINTS A STARK PICTURE

• According to a 2024 McKinsey report, construction productivity has increased only 1% annually over the past two decades, lagging behind nearly every other sector. Poor coordination and fragmented workflows are cited as key drivers.

• The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) found that 45% of contractors cite project delays caused by material and equipment shortages.

• A study from FMI Corporation reported that the average subcontractor spends up to 15 hours weekly just managing project logistics and coordination efforts.

• Research by Procore found that nearly 60% of subcontractors say poor communication is their biggest pain point causing rework and lost labor hours.

• Denis Waitley once said, “Expect the best, plan for the worst, and prepare to be surprised.” In construction, that perfectly sums up the daily reality—no matter how well you plan, schedule shifts and supply hiccups demand constant adaptability
  

The construction industry continues to face enormous pressure from soaring costs, labor shortages, and intense schedule complexities.

For subcontractors—the backbone of every project—these challenges multiply daily in the form of missed deliveries, daily schedule shifts, and fractured communication between suppliers, general contractors, and crews.

Core Coordination Challenges for Subs

Schedule Volatility and Labor Impact

Material Delivery Delays & Docs Bottlenecks

Missing or late material deliveries derail workflows across the board. According to a 2025 AGC survey, 38% of subcontractors reported delivery delays as the #1 cause of field idle time. Compounding this is the administrative burden of chasing down proofs of delivery, reconciling invoices, and managing paperwork—with one study estimating that an average subcontractor spends 10% of office hours on document reconciliation alone (PlanGrid, 2024).

Fragmented Comms. & Manual Follow-ups

With subcontractors often coordinating among dozens of vendors, general contractors, and internal teams, communication silos proliferate. Status updates are fragmented across emails, calls, spreadsheets, and disconnected software, making it easy for critical tasks like change order approvals or supplier re-quoting to fall through the cracks.

How AI Can Address Coordination Chaos

Fragmented Communication and Manual Follow-ups

While digitization moved the industry away from physical files, AI promises to advance construction coordination by handling complexity at scale and reducing the manual firefighting subcontractors face.

• Predictive analytics can forecast material shortages and labor impacts weeks ahead, enabling proactive mitigation (Deloitte, 2025).

• Intelligent agents automate vendor status follow-ups, instantly flagging late or missing deliveries and accelerating dispute resolution.

• AI-driven scheduling tools dynamically update crew assignments based on real-time project changes, reducing schedule volatility impact.

• Natural language processing allows instant querying of project data—enabling subcontractors to get immediate answers on order statuses without combing through spreadsheets or emails.

Preparing for the Future

Industry leaders agree

AI adoption is not optional but critical for survival.

As Turner Construction’s Chief Innovation Officer James Barrett recently said: “Artificial intelligence will transform our industry in the next 10 years more than any other technology in the past 100 years.” The gains in productivity and profit will be enormous—but only for those who act before getting left behind.

Subcontractors need to embrace AI-enabled coordination tools not as futuristic perks but as everyday necessities to reduce wasted labor, strengthen schedules, and improve cash flows in an increasingly complicated landscape.

SUBSCRIBE

Subscribe to be updated about latest news and blog posts and to follow what is happening in a magical land of Bali.