Year in Review: 7 Things The Construction Industry Taught Me in 2025
There’s a moment from earlier this year that still sticks with me. I was on stage at Kahua’s Enabling Innovation conference and just so happened to say something that was no longer accurate.
A few minutes later, I was being called out.
That day it hit me: 2025 hasn’t just been a year of new technology. It has been a year of clarity. Clarity about what we as an industry still misunderstand, what we still mishandle and what we need to get right if we’re going to build better for the next decade, not the last one.
So, after a bit of reflection, here are seven lessons that surfaced this year.
1. When it comes to AI, no one really knows what they’re talking about.
If there was one major theme at conferences this year, it was AI hype hitting maximum volume. Every booth, every demo, every pitch promised “AI-powered insights” or “predictive everything.” But the truth underneath the noise was much simpler: Very few organizations actually have the data foundation needed for AI to matter.
Research showed that only a fraction of owner data is structured enough for machine learning. Project information still lives in texts, emails and spreadsheets. And poorly structured data increases hallucination rates by more than 20%.
In 2025, we learned that real AI doesn’t start with algorithms. It starts with architecture.
That’s why consolidation, configuration and asset-centric modeling matter. AI isn’t magic; it’s the output of data discipline. You can’t bolt intelligence onto fragmentation. You can’t expect predictions from a system that barely understands itself. And you definitely can’t build trust in AI without transparency and validation.
In 2025, we learned that real AI doesn’t start with algorithms. It starts with architecture.
2. Security in your tech stack is not optional.
Another lesson that landed hard this year: Cybersecurity can’t be a footnote anymore.
We saw major public agencies taken offline by ransomware. We watched contractors deal with vendor-related breaches. We saw how generative AI expands exposure by increasing how much data moves through tools, integrations and workflows. And the industry was forced to reckon with the fact that construction is no longer “too small” or “too obscure” to be targeted.
Cybersecurity can’t be a footnote anymore.
More than 70% of organizations reported a cybersecurity incident in the last year, and more than half originated from third-party tools. That’s a sobering statistic, especially for an industry that relies heavily on integrations and partnerships.
This is why FedRAMP matters. Why data governance matters. Why controlled access, audit trails and full lifecycle security matter. Owners are feeling the pressure, and 2025 showed us that security is now a core requirement of every technology decision and not an optional feature for the IT team to worry about.
3. Out-of-the-box is no longer “80% of the way there.”
Back to what I said on stage. Turns out the 80/20 rule (as it pertains to construction software) finally died this year, and honestly, it was overdue.
Flexibility is not a luxury but rather the new baseline.
Construction workflows have become too specialized, too owner-driven and too interconnected to fit neatly into a rigid, pre-set box. Delivery models shift by project. Governance requirements shift by program. And reporting structures shift by stakeholder. A static workflow simply can’t stretch far enough to keep up.
While I used to believe out-of-the-box platforms aren’t getting teams 80% of what they need, in most cases it’s closer to 60%. And that gap widens with every new requirement an owner introduces.
The organizations seeing real progress in 2025 were the ones choosing configurable, adaptable platforms that molded to their processes instead of forcing their processes to mold to the software. Kahua’s PaaS approach proved that flexibility is not a luxury but rather the new baseline.
4. The “one-size-fits-all” mantra was a detour, not a destination.
This might still be the most controversial lesson, but it’s also the most important: Construction was never built for a single, uniform solution. The nature of capital projects makes that model impossible to sustain.
Owners need long-term, asset-focused systems.
Contractors need fast-moving, execution-focused systems.
Subs need task-focused, survival-focused systems.
This year, the tide turned toward federated data with connected networks, instead of centralized kingdoms
Those don’t collapse neatly into one tool, and forcing everything into one place causes more friction than alignment. As I shared earlier this year in The Data Wars, this mindset didn’t unify construction. It divided it. It pushed teams into all-or-nothing choices and fueled a decade of vendor empire-building.
This year, we saw the tide turn toward federated data with connected networks instead of centralized kingdoms. The right data, in the right structure, available to the right people, governed by the right rules.
That’s the future, and 2025 made it crystal clear.
5. Construction is suffering from digital transformation overload.
If there was one emotional theme this year, it was fatigue. Not from work, but from systems.
Teams were juggling nine or more software platforms, dozens of dashboards, hundreds of notifications and completely different expectations across stakeholders. And yet, despite all that technology, they still struggled to answer the most important questions: “Where are we really at?” and “What’s changing?”
Transformation is not about adding more technology. It’s about orchestrating it.
Digital transformation without alignment becomes digital noise. Too many tools increase friction. Too many dashboards obscure clarity. And too many overlapping initiatives break trust in the process.
The lesson here is simple: Transformation is not about adding more technology. It’s about orchestrating it. Where governance was strong this year, adoption was strong. Where alignment was weak, even great tools failed.
6. Asset-centric is the future of project management.
This shift has been building for years, but 2025 was the year it became impossible to ignore.
Data has to live with the asset, not the project team.
More owners embraced lifecycle thinking. More agencies adopted asset-based structures. More contractors recognized that construction must connect to operations, not end before them. And more programs realized that data has to live with the asset and not the project team.
This is where Kahua’s architecture shines. Asset-centric modeling gives teams continuity instead of handover chaos. It ties cost, schedule, risk, contracts, changes and documents back to the thing that actually matters: the asset you’re delivering, maintaining and stewarding for decades.
Project delivery will always matter. But asset longevity is where the real value lives.
7. Real innovation demands courage.
This final lesson isn’t so much technical as it is cultural.
In every workshop, every meeting, every transformation program I was part of this year, the same truth kept surfacing: technology doesn’t fail because it’s hard. It fails because people are afraid.
Technology doesn’t fail because it’s hard. It fails because people are afraid.
Afraid to change the process that helped them survive.
Afraid to choose a new platform in a career-defining decision.
Afraid to disrupt the comfort of the familiar.
Afraid to ask for help when alignment drifts.
But the organizations that made real progress in 2025 had leaders who were courageous. Leaders who were willing to simplify. Willing to rethink. Willing to experiment. Willing to admit when something wasn’t working. And above all, willing to bring their teams along with empathy rather than mandates.
Innovation has never been about ideas. It has always been about courage.
Believe It or Not, We’re Closer Than We Think
If 2025 taught me anything, though, it validated for me the belief that construction isn’t stuck. It’s transforming.
Progress may seem slow at some times and uneven at others, but it is undeniably moving forward.
Owners are asking smarter questions. Contractors are demanding cleaner data. Agencies are pushing for stronger governance. And technologists are finally building platforms that reflect how the industry truly works.
We’re not chasing perfection. We’re building maturity. And every lesson we learned this year brings us closer to the connected, resilient, asset-focused future this industry deserves.
The future isn’t something we’re waiting for.
It’s something we’re building. Together.
