Research note · September 2026 · about 5 minutes · this is the thinking behind what Cutting Hedge builds
If you have a nagging feeling that every other trades business has quietly got AI working for them while you haven’t got round to it — the numbers say otherwise. Comfortably otherwise.
The short version
- Nearly 70% of construction project managers and quantity surveyors think AI could add real value. 1% have actually scaled it.
- UK construction sits at 13% adoption against a 35% all-business average.
- The top barrier isn’t cost. It’s fear of making mistakes (30%), then lack of skills (27%). Cost comes third.
- Nobody has surveyed Irish sole-trader tradespeople on any of this. So I’m doing it.
The gap between believing and doing
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors surveyed more than 2,200 construction professionals in 2025. Nearly 70% of the project managers and quantity surveyors among them believed AI would help them deliver greater value. And the share who had actually scaled it across their projects?
1%
One percent. Meanwhile 45% reported no AI use at all.
That is not a rounding error. It is the whole story. Most of the professionals surveyed think this is worth doing, and almost nobody has done it.
What the numbers actually say
| Source | Who they asked | What they found |
|---|---|---|
| RICS, 2025 | 2,200+ construction professionals worldwide | 45% no AI use. 1% scaled it. ~70% of project managers and QSs saw potential value. |
| ONS, 2026 | UK businesses with 10+ staff | Construction at 13%, against a 35% all-business average. |
| Google / Amárach, 2026 | 400 Irish SMEs | 80% think AI could help. A third of micro-businesses use none. |
| OECD, 2024 | SMEs across member countries | Only 29% of users apply it to core work. The rest is peripheral. |
Two things stand out. Construction sits well behind other industries — 13% against 35%. And even among businesses that count as adopters, most use is peripheral: drafting an email, tidying a description. Very few have anything running that touches how the work actually gets won or done.
Why — and it isn’t what you’d guess
The Irish research asked small businesses directly what was stopping them. Cost came third.
- Fear of making mistakes — 30%
- Lack of skills — 27%
- Cost — 24%
- Not knowing where to start — 16%
Read that again, because it reframes the whole thing. The biggest barrier isn’t money and it isn’t scepticism. It’s the entirely reasonable worry that something automated will send a wrong price to a customer, or fire off a message that makes you look careless. That’s not technophobia. That’s someone who understands that their reputation is the business.
RICS found the same shape from the other end: lack of skilled people (46%), integration problems (37%), poor data quality (30%). Nobody is saying “this couldn’t help me.” They’re saying “I can’t see a safe way in.”
So you’re not behind. There just isn’t a decent on-ramp.
Most of what’s marketed at trades businesses asks you to change how you work, learn a new system, and trust it with customers on day one. For a one-van operation with a reputation built over years, that’s a bad trade. Sitting it out has been the rational choice.
But “wait and see” and “do nothing” aren’t the same thing, and there’s one problem worth solving now.
Start with the phone you couldn’t answer
You’re up a ladder, or you’ve a hedge trimmer running, or you’re halfway through a job you can’t step away from. The phone goes. By the time you ring back that evening, they’ve booked someone who picked up.
Nobody needs a study to recognise that. It’s the most common way a small trades business loses work, and it’s the one thing that can be fixed without changing anything about how you do the job itself.
The version that works isn’t a robot answering your phone and trying to hold a conversation. When automated voice systems mishear an address or a name, they make things worse, not better — and given that fear of mistakes is the number one barrier, that’s precisely the wrong place to start.
The version that works is quieter. A missed call triggers an immediate text: sorry, on a job, what do you need and where are you? The answers land somewhere you can see them. You ring back when you’re down off the ladder, already knowing what the job is. (For the numbers behind this, see what missed calls could be costing you.)
The rule worth holding onto: AI prepares, organises, drafts and triages. You approve anything that costs money or goes to a customer. Every part of your reputation stays where it is — with you.
What we decided to build — and what we ruled out
Reading the research is the easy part. Here is what we concluded from it, including the things we decided not to offer.
| Decision | Why |
|---|---|
| Start with missed-call text-back | It solves a problem every trades business recognises without changing how the actual work gets done. |
| No autonomous voice agent | When automated voice mishears a name or address it makes things worse. With fear of mistakes the number-one barrier, that is the wrong first product. |
| No all-in-one platform | Integration problems affect 37% of the industry, and most small-business AI use stays peripheral for good reason. One working thing beats ten half-connected ones. |
| No promises about extra revenue | The published evidence on automated follow-up ranges from no effect to a 23-point lift depending entirely on context. Anyone quoting you a single number is guessing. |
| Owner approves anything that matters | Your reputation took years. It should not depend on software making a judgement call at 7am. |
What this research can’t tell you
Being straight about the limits of the above, because it matters.
The ONS figures cover businesses with ten or more staff. The RICS survey went to chartered surveyors and project managers at commercial firms. The Irish study was commissioned by Google, who sell AI, and measured opinion rather than spending. Not one of these studies asked a sole-trader plumber, electrician, builder or landscaper in Ireland what they actually do.
As far as I can find, nobody has that data. Which is a strange gap, given how much of the Irish economy is exactly those people.
So I’m collecting it
I run a gardening business. I’ve lost jobs to missed calls myself, which is how I ended up down this road in the first place.
I’m running a short survey asking Irish tradespeople where their week actually goes — calls, quotes, follow-ups, chasing invoices, all the parts that aren’t the job. It takes 6–8 minutes, and leaving your contact details is optional.
Not a sales pitch, and no obligation to hear from me again. I’d just rather build something based on what tradespeople here actually say than on a survey of quantity surveyors in another country.
Keep reading
- 10 practical ways AI could help Irish trades businesses
- How AI-ready are Ireland’s trades businesses?
- How much could missed calls be costing your trades business?
- The human side of AI in the trades: how trust is built
Sources
- RICS — Optimism high for AI in construction, but skills shortages and integration challenge adoption (2025)
- Office for National Statistics — Artificial intelligence in UK businesses: 2023 to 2026
- Carlow County Council — 80% of SMEs say AI can transform their business, but lack of skills keeps adoption rates low (Google / Amárach, 400 Irish SMEs)
- OECD — How are SMEs using generative AI?