62% of Commercial Contractors Have Piloted AI. Only 15% Can Prove It's Working

This series has leaned on ServiceTitan's 2026 State of AI in the Trades report more than once — it's the best data we have on residential trades. This fall, ServiceTitan published a second, separate report focused on commercial contractors, and it surfaces a gap that's arguably more important than any adoption number we've covered so far.

The Numbers

ServiceTitan's 2026 Commercial State of the Trades report surveyed 1,020 commercial owners, executives, and general managers — primarily mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) trades — in July 2026:

• 62% have piloted or deployed AI
• 33% are actively using or have embedded AI across the business — up from just 15% naming AI a top technology priority in 2025
• 59% of contractors using AI report a positive impact
• Only 15% report a significant positive impact with a clear, measurable ROI

Sit with the gap between those last two numbers. Nearly six in ten AI users feel like it's helping. Fewer than one in six can actually point to a number and say "here's what it's worth."

"Piloted" Isn't the Same as "Measured"

This is the same pattern we've seen across every trade in this series, just quantified more precisely than before: adoption is outrunning proof. A contractor turns on an AI scheduling tool or a call-answering agent, it feels like it's helping, and that feeling becomes the evidence — because nobody set a baseline before flipping the switch, and nobody's checked the actual numbers since.

Alex Kablanian, ServiceTitan's SVP and GM of Commercial & Construction, put it plainly: "Technology, including AI, has an important role to play in helping contractors operate more efficiently." True, but "an important role" and "a measured, proven return" are two different claims — and the report's own numbers show most contractors are still operating on the first one.

Why This Gap Is the Real Opportunity

If you're a contractor sitting in the 62% who've piloted something, the question worth asking isn't "should I add more AI." It's "can I actually prove what the AI I already have is doing?" That's a measurement problem, not a technology problem — and it's exactly the kind of gap a diagnosis-first approach exists to close: set a real baseline, track the number that matters, and know within 60-90 days whether a given tool earned its keep or not.

The businesses that figure out how to measure this now — not the ones that adopt the most tools — are the ones who'll be able to make confident decisions about where to invest next, instead of guessing based on how a tool feels to use.

Source: ServiceTitan, "2026 Commercial State of the Trades," survey of 1,020 commercial contractors conducted by Thrive Analytics, July 10–28, 2026. Full announcement via GlobeNewswire

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