PlanRadar have surveyed 1,728 construction professionals across 14 countries on the realities of managing construction projects, and have published the report: Managing Project Changes in the Age of AI.

Managing mid-project changes, such as RFIs, change orders and variation requests, is the second most cited day-to-day challenge for construction project managers globally, second only to keeping projects on schedule. This report examines how those changes affect project outcomes, where accountability breaks down, and what the data shows about the growing performance gap between teams that have adopted digital and AI tools and those that have not.

Key insights by chapter

Mid-Project Changes: The Impact on Budgets and Timelines

  • Delayed approvals and slow responses are the most common challenge in managing mid-project changes, and nearly three quarters of respondents report that approvals are often received after agreed timeframes.
  • 1 in 4 respondents estimate delayed approvals typically add more than a month to project timelines, this becomes more than twice as likely among those where approvals are almost always late.
  • 2 in 3 respondents report that mid-project changes lead to budget overruns in many or most of their projects.
  • More than a third of respondents fail to recover most additional change related costs, with overruns absorbed rather than redirected to the responsible party. But this is not inevitable, where respondents can easily track ownership of change requests through the approval process, nearly 7 in 10 successfully recover the majority of additional change-related costs.

Scattered Records: The Hidden Risk Behind Claims and Disputes

  • Nearly two thirds of respondents report fewer than 5 % of their projects escalate to formal dispute, yet only 5 % say they never need to reconstruct project history for disputes or claims. The operational burden of reconstruction falls on almost every team, regardless of whether issues formally escalate.
  • Nearly 8 in 10 respondents report that at least half of their documentation lives across unconsolidated communication channels (email threads, text messages, phone calls), yet those who can easily locate documentation are twice as likely to feel confident demonstrating which party was responsible for delays and cost impacts when disputes arise.
  • The consequence is measurable. Where respondents report a lack of confidence in demonstrating which party was responsible for delays or cost impacts as a result of mid-project changes, the risk of above-average dispute escalation is 75 % higher than among those who feel very confident

Digital Adoption: Strong Returns for Adopters

  • More than half of respondents have already adopted a central digital tool to track mid-project changes, and of these adopters, 4 in 5 report improved ability to control costs or protect project margins. Benefits also extend to faster approvals and responses, directly addressing the most common pain point in managing mid-project changes.
  • For those yet to adopt, the data is clear: non-adopters are 1.3 times more likely to experience month-long project delays and 1.7 times more likely to report difficulty locating documentation when preparing for claims and disputes.
  • For those already on the digital journey, AI is adding a further layer of gain. More than a third of digital adopters already have integrated AI functionality. Two thirds of these respondents report saving at least two hours per week per project on administrative tasks.
  • For the half yet to adopt, the barriers are primarily organisational and commercial, rather than technical, suggesting the gap is one of organisational will rather than technical readiness.

AI Readiness: The Productivity and Retention Cost of Waiting

  • Project managers show strong belief in AI to reduce or streamline their workload, with 58 % believing AI could help across their biggest day-to-day challenges, rising to 65 % for administrative tasks.
  • That belief is grounded in a real and significant burden. Nearly half of respondents spend 11 or more hours per week on administrative tasks, equivalent to more than one full working day every week spent on tasks they believe AI could help reduce.
  • AI has emerged as a clear retention driver, yet organisations are failing to act on it. More than half of respondents say they would be more likely to stay with their current organisation if it significantly increased investment in digital tools with AI capabilities. And yet, nearly half report no current plans to invest.
  • The barrier to AI adoption is not about jobs, it is about trust. More than half of respondents cite accuracy and trust in AI recommendations as their primary concern yet, fear of job displacement ranks lowest of all.

To read the report in full visit: https://tinyurl.com/5x3ayk9p