AI in construction is here. The real question is how we use it.

The latest SNS Insider report on AI in construction puts numbers behind what everyone in AEC is already feeling. According to their forecast, the AI in construction market is expected to reach 33.31 billion dollars by 2033, with a compound annual growth rate of 26.38 percent.

Those numbers are impressive, but the more important question is why this is happening and what it means for people who plan, design, and build the homes we live in.

I am Maor Greenberg, co-founder and CEO of Spacial, and I see this shift play out every day with the architects, builders, developers, and homeowners we serve.

The problem is friction, not a lack of tools

On every project, there is a gap between design, engineering, and permitting. Drawings move from architect to engineer to plan checker through a series of disconnected workflows. Each handoff creates room for misalignment, missed assumptions, and slow responses.

Most “AI in construction” tools focus on small pieces of this picture. They help with takeoffs, detect clashes, or summarize code. Helpful, but they do not change the lived experience of trying to get a real project permitted and built.

The real opportunity is to remove friction at the system level. That means connecting design, engineering, and permitting into one coordinated path instead of a series of restarts.

How we think about AI at Spacial

At Spacial, we work from a simple principle. AI is here to coordinate and validate. Licensed engineers are here to own the judgment and the stamp. Both are required if you want real change without adding risk.

Our approach looks like this:

• AI reads and structures the design data from day zero.

• It tests options, checks against code and AHJ requirements, and highlights conflicts early.

• Our in-house engineering team then reviews, corrects, and finalizes the sets.

• Every plan leaves our hands as a coordinated, code compliant structural, MEP, and energy package, stamped by a professional engineer.

At Spacial, we are the engineering team for our customers. AI coordinates the work, and our in-house licensed engineers review, sign, and stamp every set so there is one firm, one workflow, and one point of accountability from design to permit.

One partner, one workflow, one stamp

For architects, builders, developers, and homeowners bringing projects to life, the biggest gain is not in any single feature but in the model. You do not need one vendor for design tools, another for code research, and a third for filing. With Spacial, engineering and permitting live under one roof:

• One partner responsible for coordinated sets.

• One workflow from design intake to permit ready plans.

• One stamp that reflects both AI powered checks and licensed review.

This is where AI makes the most difference. When coordination happens inside the same team that signs the drawings, you reduce back and forth, protect design intent, and move through approvals with fewer surprises.

What the next decade looks like

If the SNS forecast is right, the next ten years will see an enormous amount of capital and attention flow into AI for construction. Some of that will chase efficiency in narrow workflows. Some will focus on speculative automation.

The teams that actually win will be the ones that match strong professional judgment with truly connected tools. Homeowners and developers do not care if a model runs in seconds instead of minutes. They care that the project gets approved, built safely, and delivered on time.

That is the standard we hold ourselves to at Spacial. AI is not the headline. It is part of the infrastructure that lets our engineers deliver better work, faster, with fewer points of failure for our customers.

Closing thought

AI in construction is not a distant future. It is already shaping how projects are engineered and approved, city by city and permit by permit. The question is not whether AI will be used, but whether it will be used in a way that keeps responsibility clear, results dependable, and the people on the hook visible by name.

At Spacial, we built the company around that idea. Our AI agents read drawings, codes, and constraints from day zero, surface issues, and coordinate structural, MEP, and energy decisions early. Then our own licensed engineers review the work, make the final calls, and stamp every set. One partner. One workflow. One engineering team that carries the responsibility.

My view is simple. Keep licensed engineers at the center, and give them tools that can see more, coordinate more, and anticipate more than any human alone. Build a continuous path from design to permit, instead of a handoff between disconnected vendors. When we do that, the growth curves in the market reports stop being abstract numbers. They show up on the ground as homes that move through plan check with less friction and more confidence, built at the scale families actually need.