{ "question": "How many home service contractors use AI?", "answer": "About 25% of residential contractors said they currently use AI, in ServiceTitan's 2026 Residential State of the Trades survey of 1,000 residential contractors, published in April 2026. Census data for all US construction firms is lower: 16.1% used AI in the survey collected 5 to 18 October 2026, up from 7.4% in November 2025. Housecall Pro's smaller survey found 48%.", "period": "2026", "key_numbers": [ { "value": "25%", "label": "Residential contractors currently using AI", "note": "ServiceTitan, 2026 Residential State of the Trades, Apr 2026; the release says 'about 25%'", "stat": "home-services-marketing/residential-contractors-ai-use" }, { "value": "16.1%", "label": "US construction firms that used AI in the last two weeks", "note": "Census BTOS, collected 5-18 Oct 2026" }, { "value": "48%", "label": "Home service pros who actively use AI", "note": "Housecall Pro, 248 pros, May-Jun 2026", "stat": "home-services-marketing/home-service-pros-active-ai-2026" }, { "value": "66%", "label": "Contractor AI users saving at least three hours a week", "note": "ServiceTitan, 2026 State of AI in the Trades, May-Jun 2026", "stat": "home-services-marketing/contractors-ai-save-3-hours" }, { "value": "11%", "label": "Contractors with high or complete trust in their AI tools", "note": "ServiceTitan, 2026 State of AI in the Trades, May-Jun 2026", "stat": "home-services-marketing/contractors-ai-high-trust" } ], "tables": [ { "id": "estimates", "title": "How many contractors use AI: the main estimates", "columns": [ "Survey", "Who was asked", "When", "Using AI" ], "rows": [ [ "US Census Bureau, Business Trends and Outlook Survey", "US construction firms with employees", "5-18 Oct 2026", "16.1%" ], [ "ServiceTitan, 2026 Residential State of the Trades", "1,000 residential contractor owners and managers", "Published Apr 2026", "About 25%" ], [ "Housecall Pro, AI in the trades", "248 US home service pros, its customers and industry contacts", "May-Jun 2026", "48%" ], [ "US Census Bureau, Business Trends and Outlook Survey", "All US employer firms, for comparison", "5-18 Oct 2026", "24.6%" ] ], "row_ids": [ "census-construction", "servicetitan-residential", "housecall-pro-pros", "census-all-firms" ], "note": "Each row is the publisher's own figure. Census asks whether the business used AI in any business function in the last two weeks. ServiceTitan reports contractors currently using AI; Housecall Pro reports pros who actively use AI in their business. ServiceTitan's about 25% comes from its 2026 Residential State of the Trades survey; its later 2026 State of AI in the Trades survey (May-Jun 2026), the source of the results and trust figures below, gives no overall AI-use share." }, { "id": "servicetitan-2026", "title": "Trades contractors and AI: results, reasons, barriers and trust (ServiceTitan, 2026 State of AI in the Trades, May-Jun 2026)", "columns": [ "Finding", "Share", "Asked of" ], "rows": [ [ "Save at least three hours a week", "66%", "AI users" ], [ "Report improved profitability", "47%", "AI users" ], [ "Report increased revenue", "43%", "AI users" ], [ "Prefer AI built into their core platform", "61%", "AI users" ], [ "Cite difficulty hiring as a reason for experimenting with AI", "37%", "Contractors" ], [ "Cite providing off-hours support as a reason", "34%", "Contractors" ], [ "Cite reducing operating costs as a reason", "33%", "Contractors" ], [ "Barrier: understanding how to use AI in their business", "44%", "Contractors" ], [ "Barrier: lack of clear use cases", "43%", "Contractors" ], [ "Barrier: integration with existing software", "40%", "Contractors" ], [ "Barrier: high purchase cost", "17%", "Contractors" ], [ "Place high or complete trust in their AI tools", "11%", "Contractors" ], [ "Report little or no trust in their AI tools", "58%", "Contractors" ] ], "row_ids": [ "save-3-hours", "better-profit", "more-revenue", "built-in-platform", "hiring-reason", "off-hours-reason", "cost-reason", "barrier-know-how", "barrier-use-cases", "barrier-integration", "barrier-cost", "trust-high", "trust-low" ], "note": "1,017 verified US residential and commercial trades contractors (HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing and more), fielded 26 May to 15 Jun 2026 by Thrive Analytics for ServiceTitan; margin of error plus or minus 3.7 points for the total sample, wider for AI users. Released 29 Sep 2026 as The Update: 2026 State of AI in the Trades, a different survey from the Residential State of the Trades behind the about 25% figure. High purchase cost fell 12 points from the previous wave (1,032 contractors, Oct-Nov 2025; question wording lightly revised between waves).", "source": "servicetitan" }, { "id": "housecall-pro-2026", "title": "What home service pros do with AI (Housecall Pro, May-Jun 2026)", "columns": [ "Finding", "Share", "Asked of" ], "rows": [ [ "Use AI for customer communication", "52%", "AI users" ], [ "Use AI for building estimates and quotes", "51%", "AI users" ], [ "Say AI helps them plan and report on the business", "43%", "AI users" ], [ "Say AI helps them respond faster and lose fewer leads", "40%", "AI users" ], [ "Say AI has contributed to revenue growth", "68%", "AI users" ], [ "Expect to use AI even more over the next year", "84%", "AI users" ], [ "Are not familiar with AI tools for their trade", "52%", "Non-users" ] ], "row_ids": [ "hcp-communication", "hcp-estimates", "hcp-reporting", "hcp-faster-leads", "hcp-revenue", "hcp-more-next-year", "hcp-not-familiar" ], "note": "248 US home service pros (HVAC 28%, plumbing 14%, electrical 10%, general contracting 10%; 69% owners or founders), online sample of Housecall Pro customers and industry contacts. Housecall Pro says to read the results as directional, not a population estimate.", "source": "housecall-pro" }, { "id": "residential-survey", "title": "Residential contractors and AI (ServiceTitan, 2026 Residential State of the Trades, published Apr 2026)", "columns": [ "Finding", "Share" ], "rows": [ [ "Currently using AI", "About 25%" ], [ "See AI as an efficiency engine", "74%" ], [ "Believe starting early creates a competitive advantage", "73%" ], [ "Early adopters reporting increased productivity", "48%" ], [ "Early adopters reporting time savings", "45%" ] ], "row_ids": [ "res-using-ai", "res-efficiency", "res-early-advantage", "res-productivity", "res-time-savings" ], "note": "Survey of 1,000 residential contractor owners, executives, general managers and directors by Thrive Analytics for ServiceTitan, released 7 Apr 2026. Field dates are not given in the release, and it does not say the sample is US only.", "source": "servicetitan" }, { "id": "history", "title": "US construction firms using AI, Census BTOS, every other wave since November 2025", "columns": [ "Collected", "Construction firms using AI", "Standard error (points)" ], "rows": [ [ "17-30 Nov 2025", "7.4%", "0.80" ], [ "15-28 Dec 2025", "8.7%", "1.01" ], [ "12-25 Jan 2026", "10.1%", "0.72" ], [ "9-22 Feb 2026", "9.4%", "0.79" ], [ "9-22 Mar 2026", "9.6%", "0.72" ], [ "6-19 Apr 2026", "10.1%", "0.68" ], [ "4-17 May 2026", "9.5%", "0.77" ], [ "1-14 Jun 2026", "12.6%", "0.72" ], [ "29 Jun-12 Jul 2026", "13.9%", "1.07" ], [ "27 Jul-9 Aug 2026", "14.9%", "0.78" ], [ "24 Aug-6 Sep 2026", "16.0%", "0.90" ], [ "21 Sep-4 Oct 2026", "17.2%", "0.72" ], [ "5-18 Oct 2026", "16.1%", "0.79" ] ], "row_ids": [ "btos-2025-11", "btos-2025-12", "btos-2026-01", "btos-2026-02", "btos-2026-03", "btos-2026-04", "btos-2026-05", "btos-2026-06", "btos-2026-07", "btos-2026-08", "btos-2026-09", "btos-2026-09b", "btos-2026-10" ], "note": "Census Sector file, construction (NAICS 23): homebuilders, heavy and civil engineering and specialty trade contractors such as plumbing, HVAC and electrical firms together. Only waves asked with the 'any business function' wording, which started with the 17 Nov 2025 collection; every other wave is shown, plus the latest. The dip from 17.2% to 16.1% in the last two waves is within the standard errors. Census's download files now label this question 'Super Intelligence or SI (formerly referred to as Artificial Intelligence or AI)'; we keep the AI wording, but if Census has changed the question itself, not only its label, later waves may not compare directly with earlier ones.", "source": "census-btos" } ], "sources": [ { "name": "Business Trends and Outlook Survey", "publisher": "US Census Bureau", "type": "official", "url": "https://www.census.gov/" }, { "name": "ServiceTitan trades research (State of AI in the Trades, residential and commercial reports)", "publisher": "ServiceTitan", "type": "vendor", "url": "https://www.servicetitan.com/" }, { "name": "AI in the Trades report", "publisher": "Housecall Pro", "type": "vendor", "url": "https://www.housecallpro.com/" } ], "content_changed_on": "2026-10-31", "page_url": "https://digitaltreed.com/statistics/home-services-marketing/contractor-ai-use", "csv_url": "https://digitaltreed.com/statistics/home-services-marketing/contractor-ai-use.csv" }