ServiceTitan survey finds 62% of commercial service contractors have tried AI and 15% of users report clear ROI

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 07:39:00 -0400

ServiceTitan released its 2026 Commercial State of the Trades report on September 24, 2026. Thrive Analytics ran the survey for ServiceTitan online from July 10 to July 28, polling 1,020 owners, executives and general managers at commercial service contractors, most of them mechanical, electrical and plumbing firms working on commercial buildings. ServiceTitan says 62% of those firms have piloted or deployed AI, and that 15% of the contractors using it report a significant positive impact with clear ROI. The workflows in question are service scheduling and dispatch, where respondents expect AI to matter most, and the invoicing and collection cycle that the same survey tracks.

What it does

The report covers the service side of MEP work, meaning maintenance agreements and repair calls. ServiceTitan sells field service and construction software and now describes its product as an agentic operating system for the trades, so the sponsor has a stake in the AI answers. (An agentic system is software that carries out a chain of steps by itself, for example booking a technician and then sending the invoice when the job closes.)

The full report sits behind a download form. This post works from the press release and the report’s landing page, which carry the headline figures. The table below collects the AI questions.

AI questions in the 2026 Commercial State of the Trades survey
Survey answer	Asked of	Share (%)
Have piloted or deployed AI	All 1020 respondents	62%
Actively using AI or have embedded it across the business	All 1020 respondents	33%
Name AI as a top technology priority	All 1020 respondents	33%
Report a positive impact from AI	Contractors using AI (count not published)	59%
Report a significant positive impact with clear ROI	Contractors using AI (count not published)	15%

Source: servicetitan.com

Watch the bases. The first three rows cover all 1,020 respondents. The last two cover only “contractors using AI,” and ServiceTitan does not say how many respondents that is.

These figures are most useful to a service manager choosing where to pilot a dispatch tool, or to a CFO weighing a software budget against cash flow. Respondents picked scheduling and dispatch (37%) and predictive maintenance (31%) as the areas where they expect AI to have the greatest impact. The release also names estimating, remote diagnostics and customer inquiries, without shares.

Where respondents expect AI to have the greatest impact
Area	Share expecting AI's greatest impact here (%)
Scheduling and dispatch	37%
Predictive maintenance	31%

Source: servicetitan.com

Evidence so far

Every figure here is self-reported. Respondents said whether AI helped, and nobody measured hours or dollars. The release gives no margin of error and does not say how Thrive Analytics recruited the panel.

The 15% figure depends on a base the release leaves open. There are two readings:

If “contractors using AI” means the 33% who are actively using it or have embedded it, about 337 respondents, then 15% of them is about 5% of the full sample.
If it means the 62% who have piloted or deployed it, about 632 respondents, then 15% is about 9% of the full sample.

Under either reading, fewer than one respondent in ten reported a clear return. The landing page says “only 15% can point to a clear, proven return on investment so far,” and does not restate the base.

The year-over-year comparisons come from ServiceTitan’s annual survey of commercial service contractors, which drew on the same kind of MEP-heavy sample in May 2025. The 2026 release reports three of them.

Changes ServiceTitan reports against its 2025 survey
Survey answer	2025 (%)	2026 (%)	Change (points)
AI is a top technology priority	15%	33%	18
Improving cash flow is among the top three business goals	28%	40%	12
More than half of commercial customers are on service or maintenance agreements	42%	46%	4

Source: servicetitan.com

One of those comparisons does not match last year’s release. The 2026 release puts the 2025 share of contractors with more than half their commercial customers on service or maintenance agreements at 42%. ServiceTitan’s July 14, 2025 release reported 63% of contractors with more than half their customer base on preventative maintenance agreements. The question wording may have changed between years, and the gated reports would show that, but neither public release explains the difference. Treat the rise from 42% to 46% as unconfirmed.

So, on cash flow, 40% of respondents now rank improving cash flow among their top three business goals, up from 28% in 2025. Increasing net profit margins ranks first at 42%, and acquiring new customers trails at 29%.

Business goals in the 2026 survey
Business goal	Share of contractors (%)
Increase net profit margins	42%
Improve cash flow	40%
Acquire new customers	29%

Source: servicetitan.com

The billing questions measure the time from finishing work to getting paid. Eighty-two percent send invoices within three days of completing work, yet 96% wait at least 15 days to be paid and 30% wait more than 30 days. The 2025 release reported averages instead, two days to invoice and 28 days to get paid, so the two years cannot be lined up question by question.

Invoicing and payment timing, 2026 survey
Billing and collection	Share of contractors (%)
Send invoices within three days of completing work	82%
Wait at least 15 days to be paid	96%
Wait more than 30 days to be paid	30%

Source: servicetitan.com

The field questions describe records that are missing at the job. Sixty-nine percent cite warranty coverage and agreement details as a top obstacle for technicians. The 2025 release put the lack of fast access to warranty and service agreement data at 70%, parts availability at 57% and retrieving service and repair history on site at 55%. The 2026 release names parts and service histories as challenges and gives no shares for them.

Obstacles for technicians in the field
Obstacle for technicians in the field	2025 (%)	2026 (%)
Warranty coverage and agreement details	70%	69%
Parts availability	57%
Service and repair history on site	55%

Source: servicetitan.com

ServiceTitan ran a separate survey this year of more than 1,000 commercial construction leaders at commercial building firms, released March 30, 2026. It reported that 38% of contractors saw measurable business impact from AI, up from 17% in 2025, with cost estimation and budgeting (24%) and bid management (22%) as the leading uses. Only 20% ran on a single platform. The samples differ, so the March figures describe a different population from the September ones.

ServiceTitan's March 2026 survey of commercial construction firms
Survey answer	2025 (%)	2026 (%)
Report measurable business impact from AI	17%	38%
Apply AI to cost estimation and budgeting		24%
Apply AI to bid management		22%
Run the business on a single platform		20%

Source: servicetitan.com

How to measure it on your projects

Scheduling and dispatch topped the list, so a dispatch pilot is where most respondents expect a return. Track first-time fix rate, the share of service calls closed on the first technician visit with no return trip for parts or information. It ties to the field obstacles in the survey, since a technician who arrives without the warranty terms or the unit’s service history usually has to come back.

Capture the baseline before the pilot starts:

Pull 90 days of closed work orders from your service system.
Divide the calls closed on the first visit by all calls closed.
Record the reason for every return trip.

Run the tool on one branch or one service agreement portfolio for the same 90 days, then compare the rate and the reasons. If the pilot is on invoicing, track calendar days from work completion to cash received for each invoice, and count how many cross the 15-day and 30-day marks the survey uses. If your service system has no return-trip reason field today, add one on a single branch this month.

Availability and cost

The full report, titled 2026 Commercial Service Market Report on ServiceTitan’s site, is a free download after a registration form. The release does not give pricing for ServiceTitan’s own AI features.

Specialty Contractors | Construction Metrics

ServiceTitan survey finds 62% of commercial service contractors have tried AI and 15% of users report clear ROI

What it does

Evidence so far

How to measure it on your projects

Availability and cost