How we help you
Integrate systems and transform your raw data into decisions that deliver stronger pipelines and project profitability.
Put real-time insights into jobs and cash flow at your fingertips.
Create a data strategy that builds value for today and the future.
Connect your ERP and other operational systems.
Augment your team with experienced data professionals.
Turn disconnected systems into profitable insight
Wipfli’s data analytics for construction services help you build the strategy, infrastructure and teams you need to access the complete picture of your business. We make your data actionable so that you see greater value and faster, more confident decisions.
Explore our services
Empower your teams with self-service tools that put real-time insights at their fingertips.
Wipfli’s construction data dashboards are built for the way your teams operate. You get real-time insight into margins, cash flow, WIP performance and job health — all from one connected view. Give field and office teams visibility into the numbers that matter most, with the ability to explore trends, identify issues early and make decisions without waiting for a manual report.
As part of our dashboard services, we help you:
- Define requirements with business stakeholders.
- Design wireframes to help ensure user adoption.
- Develop dashboards in various tools.
- Deploy and educate the end user community.
Common use cases for our data dashboards include:
- Financial reporting, budget management and cash flow visibility
- WIP/job profitability
- Sales and contracting
- Safety and compliance monitoring
- Home warranty and defect analysis
- Procurement and supply chain management
- Sales and marketing
- Employee scorecards
- Asset management
Construction firms face unique integration challenges, requiring greater direct connectivity between their ERP and other operational systems.
Wipfli leverages our experience with tools such as Boomi, MuleSoft and Procore Connect to help you overcome construction data integration complexity and make data flow cleanly. We help build the foundation you need to create a decision-ready layer to your data and lay the groundwork for advanced analytics.
Our data integration services can help you:
- Establish an integrated data foundation for high-impact areas such as job costing and cash flow visibility.
- Model and integrate data from multiple systems to create a single source of truth.
- Implement best practices for data governance
Whether you’re preparing for AI adoption, improving the accuracy of WIP and job cost reporting, or strengthening data governance, Wipfli helps you define a practical, phased roadmap for your data strategy. Our approach aligns data initiatives with industry-specific processes, helping deliver value today while building a scalable foundation for growth.
Our construction data strategy consulting helps you:
- Assess your current data environment to identify gaps, risks and improvement opportunities across your office and jobsites.
- Introduce proven best practices for data management, reporting and analytics that support informed decision-making.
- Develop an enterprise data management roadmap aligned to your long-term financial and operational goals.
- Plan for all future components — including people, processes and technology — so your organization is prepared to scale efficiently.
Staffing full-time roles for the specialized skills to build strong data and analytics for construction can be costly, time-consuming and difficult to scale. Wipfli’s fractional data services offer a flexible alternative that gives you access to seasoned data professionals at the level your firm needs.
Our skill sets include:
- AI engineers
- Dashboard specialists
- Governance specialists
- Application development resources and teams
- Dedicated data engineers
Insights and resources
ARTICLE
Data lakehouses: The key to scalable AI in construction
Artificial intelligence has the potential to transform the construction industry. From accelerating estimates to improving jobsite safety, AI can enable construction firms to work smarter and faster while reducing risk. But to move beyond isolated AI tools and toward enterprise-wide use cases, construction leaders must realize that AI is only as good as the data it can access. Connecting data through modern data lakehouses needs to be a strategic priority. Keep reading to learn how data lakehouses bolster AI initiatives and how you can start using them. How do data silos hinder AI use in the construction industry? Construction firms often maintain separate systems for: ERP and accounting Estimating Scheduling Project management Bidding RFIs and change orders Time tracking Sales and Marketing Internal document management AI tools can’t reach their full potential and deliver measurable ROI if they can only access a partial amount of your business’s data. For example, a tool might have access to SharePoint documents, email conversations and meeting notes but be locked out of ERP data, project schedules, procurement systems or job costing information. AI typically does not recognize when it’s working with only partial data. It will still produce answers that appear polished and authoritative. But with incomplete data, how valuable are those answers? What is a data lakehouse? A data lakehouse is a centralized platform that integrates data from systems used across the business. By bringing together structured data, such as financial records, schedules and project costs, together with unstructured data, such as emails, RFIs, contracts and project documentation, a data lakehouse allows data to be accessed and analyzed from a single source. This removes the need for people and AI systems to search across multiple systems or manually connect information. If correctly implemented, a data lakehouse makes your company’s data available in one place, in one language at one time. How does a data lakehouse benefit construction companies? The value of a data lakehouse isn’t just centralized data. It’s what becomes possible when data are centralized and organized into logical and informational models. When information from all your systems and documents can be analyzed together, AI gains the context it needs to deliver more meaningful insights. Examples of how a data lakehouse can benefit your construction company include: Budget versus actual performance When estimates and reality capture are combined with actual project financials, change orders and other project data, leadership teams gain a better understanding of project health and future projections. Schedule and procurement risk Project delays rarely occur in isolation. A delayed subcontractor, late material shipments and a compressed schedule can create cascading risks across a project. In a connected environment, AI can identify these downstream impacts early, helping teams intervene before minor issues become major disruptions. RFI cost and schedule impact RFIs frequently affect budgets, schedules and project outcomes. The challenge is that the impacts often surface weeks after the initial issue appears. When RFIs, schedules, budgets and change orders are connected, AI can highlight the true ripple effects of open issues and help project teams prioritize responses based on business impact. Enterprise-wide visibility Many contractors operate projects as independent units with limited visibility across the organization. A connected data foundation allows firms to identify trends across their entire portfolio, including: Subcontractor performance patterns Procurement opportunities Resource allocation conflicts Margin erosion risks Emerging project issues The ability to see across projects creates opportunities for better decisions at both the project and executive levels. How can AI that uses data lakehouses be used in construction? When AI leverages a data lakehouse, it delivers value both in the office and onsite for construction companies. AI systems with robust data can improve: Estimates AI can analyze previous bids, identify comparable projects, highlight pricing anomalies and help teams evaluate potential risks before a proposal is submitted. Estimating capacity can be a growth constraint. AI can help reduce bottlenecks by making institutional knowledge more accessible and speeding up routine analysis, allowing experienced estimators to focus on higher-value decision-making. Engineering Engineering and project teams are increasingly using AI to review specifications, compare design documents, identify inconsistencies and accelerate review processes. Generative AI tools can also help draft responses, summarize technical information and provide quick access to historical project knowledge. Safety Safety was one of the earliest areas where AI gained traction in construction. AI tools can analyze photos, videos and safety documentation and inform field crews of the protocols required for specific job sites. PDF and project document organization Construction firms are swimming in PDF documents. RFIs, specifications, contracts, submittals, drawings and other documents exist almost entirely as PDFs. AI can help extract information from unstructured documents, summarize content and answer questions about project records. It can also connect these documents to project schedules, financial data, procurement records and other operational systems. How to get started with a data lakehouse The successful use of a data lakehouse isn’t just about technology. It’s also about having clear business objectives. When getting started, your business needs to: Know what is to be accomplished Before investing in a data lakehouse, define the business problems you are trying to solve. Do you want more accurate estimates? Better project forecasting? Improved visibility into project profitability? Faster executive reporting? Many firms find success by starting with a focused pilot project, demonstrating value and then expanding capabilities incrementally. A clearly defined use case helps prevent costly investments in technology that isn’t needed. Find the right partner Your expertise is building, not designing AI architectures or data platforms. Find a partner with experience in the construction industry that can help your business evaluate technology options, prioritize use cases and avoid costly missteps. The best partners do more than implement technology. They take the time to understand your business, processes and goals. Communicate goals and processes Technology alone cannot fix inconsistent business processes. Organizations should clearly define how work is performed, what data is required and how success will be measured. Strong processes and governance help ensure AI systems are using reliable and consistent information. The responsibility of understanding how information is used throughout your company’s business process should fall on your CIO or IT Director. Understand this isn’t just an IT project Construction firms should treat this effort as an organizational initiative rather than an IT project. Success depends on aligning business and information leadership, operations and technology around shared objectives and ensuring everyone understands how connected data will support better business decisions. Learn more Level up your build: AI strategies for growth 5 strategies to help contractors overcome interest rate uncertainty For construction companies, better cash flow management starts with clear visibility R&D tax credits for the construction, architecture and engineering industries
RESEARCH REPORT
The state of technology in the construction industry
Technology is the investment. Technology maturity is the advantage. Construction executives are seeing an increasing value in technology for lowering costs, streamlining operations and leveraging data and analytics, according to data collected in Wipfli’s second state of technology in the construction industry report. And the organizations creating the greatest value aren’t necessarily buying more software — they’re building more mature technology environments. Wipfli surveyed 308 construction and real estate executives to understand their technology progress, pain points and strategic priorities. In this year’s survey, we learned: Investment intent is high. Virtually all leaders (94%) said they plan to add or replace at least one software tool in the next 12-24 months — and most are planning several. Twenty-eight percent of executives said four or more technology changes were under consideration. Construction project management, preconstruction and contract management, and CRM and marketing tools were the leading candidates for addition or replacement. Technology volume often obscures technology maturity. While 59% of executives reported full or extensive integration in their organizations, less than a third (30%) met the broader criteria for high technology maturity. “Executives often mistake adding systems for technology maturity,” said Brad Werner , who leads Wipfli’s construction and real estate industry practice. ROI is not guaranteed. Construction leaders cited employee adoption, implementation costs and integration as their biggest infrastructure challenges. Those practical barriers often determine whether technology investments deliver meaningful business value. Technology maturity is becoming the next competitive advantage. Organizations with the strongest technology maturity consistently outperform those with disconnected systems and fragmented technology decisions, according to Werner. “We see a growing performance gap between firms that build mature, integrated technology environments and those that accumulate tools,” he said. Learn where construction and real estate leaders are investing in technology — and how to turn those investments into measurable business value. Download the full report for additional findings, plus insights from Wipfli advisors.
ARTICLE
Executive summary: The state of technology in the construction industry
Technology is the investment. Technology maturity is the advantage. For the second consecutive year, Wipfli surveyed construction and real estate executives to understand their technology progress, pain points and strategic priorities. This year’s research shows that the organizations creating the greatest value aren’t necessarily buying more technology — they’re building more mature technology environments. DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT
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Wipfli’s construction advisory services combine decades of industry experience with a team that can provide clarity on the decisions that shape your future.
