Navigating in an unsteady market environment

The construction industry is at a turning point. After years of growth, sales teams are now facing intense competition. Where full order books and stable margins were once guaranteed, many companies are now struggling with declining project volumes and falling profitability.

Two challenges in particular are currently shaping project sales in the construction industry. We will examine these challenges in more detail below, along with how an AI-supported approach called revenue engineering can help solve them.

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‍Challenge #1: Fewer projects lead to declining sales.

Market reality: Fewer orders and lower margins.

Ten years ago, the construction industry was inundated with projects. For years, sales and project volumes steadily increased and the industry boomed. However, the mood has significantly deteriorated. Rising material and energy costs, shortages of raw materials and skilled workers, and long delivery times have taken their toll.

Although the worst seems to be over, skepticism remains. According to the German Construction Industry Association, 38% of construction companies surveyed by the Ifo Institute in September 2025 complained about a lack of projects. In residential construction, the figure was as high as 47%.

This shows that competition for new projects remains fierce. Many companies continue to rely on traditional and often outdated sales channels, such as public tenders or personal networks. This causes them to miss out on lucrative, high-margin opportunities. At the same time, the profitability of individual projects continues to decline.

However, even though the market as a whole is in decline, thousands of new construction projects are launched every year. However, only a fraction of these projects are noticed by many companies. 

In practice, sales teams often capture less than 10% of all relevant projects in their target region, leaving the majority undiscovered.

Without real-time visibility and targeted prioritization, teams invest their time in projects with low potential, while the truly attractive opportunities remain invisible and untapped.

Solution: Greater Visibility Through Revenue Engineering

Revenue engineering is the strategic process of identifying suitable project opportunities early on and converting them into measurable results. Key elements include early project discovery, project data deduplication and enrichment, and project scoring for correct prioritization. These steps ensure that the right projects are always being worked on to increase revenue.

AI-based project recognition identifies new construction projects in real time, often weeks or months before they appear in public tenders.

Project scoring is also crucial. Algorithms evaluate which projects best fit your portfolio based on factors such as project type, region, budget, and construction phase. This enables sales teams to:

• Identify projects earlier in the planning phase
• Prioritize the most promising opportunities
• Deploy resources in a targeted manner

This means no longer just finding any project. It means finding exactly the right one and doing so faster than the competition.

With this level of transparency, revenue engineering can transform the problem of "fewer projects" into a strategic opportunity by shifting the focus from quantity to quality.

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Challenge #2: Sales chaos instead of structured processes

Many companies struggle with an increasing degree of unstructured processes in their day-to-day sales activities. Three reasons in particular stand out repeatedly.

The "Fog of War": Why Pipeline Transparency Often Fails

Even companies that identify enough projects often struggle with sales chaos.

Pipelines are often confusing, CRMs are outdated, and responsibilities are unclear. The result is that neither management nor sales has a clear picture of the status quo of projects. The main reasons for the lack of transparency are:

1. Faulty CRM setup
   Many systems are incomplete or inconsistently maintained. Different data fields, missing information, and unclear reports make it impossible to have a clean pipeline.
   
   
2. High manual effort
   Employees have to maintain data manually, often twice. This additional work leads to data entry being neglected, as the effort involved is often daunting for employees. Revenue Engineering saves approximately 2.5 hours of manual work per day, which, at an hourly wage of approximately $30 per sales rep, translates to $17,000 in savings per year or time for something else.
   
   
3. Lack of added value
   If employees do not see any direct benefit from the CRM, they will hardly use it. The system becomes an administrative platform rather than a growth driver.
   
   

The result is confusion over the pipeline: no one knows which projects are active, who is responsible for what, or where opportunities are being lost.

‍Duplicated leads 

Another common problem is data duplication. Many companies obtain project information from different sources or regions. This often results in the same project appearing multiple times in the system under different names or IDs.

The consequences are:

• Multiple employees contact the same customer.
• Reports are distorted.
• Time and energy are spent on coordination instead of sales.
  
  

Over time, this "data noise" adds up, resulting in a significant loss of efficiency and a noticeable impact on sales.

‍Incorrect responsibilities. When the right person isn't working on the right project

Equally critical is the incorrect assignment of projects.

This is especially true in larger sales structures with internal and external sales teams or key account management, where it is often unclear who should be responsible for which project. Projects end up in the wrong team, are tackled twice, or are left untouched entirely.

A lack of data processes and incorrect assignments can lead to missed opportunities. Therefore, it is essential that the right employee is assigned to the right project.

‍Solution: From chaos to clarity with AI

Revenue engineering provides a solution by:

• AI-supported deduplication cleans up data sources across all regions and systems.
• Automated routing ensures that each project is assigned to the right employee depending on the region, customer type, or project size.
• Transparent dashboards provide everyone involved with a clear overview of the pipeline, responsibilities, and progress.
  
  

These steps create a structured, scalable sales process that continuously improves itself. The result is less manual work, greater efficiency, and more time to build customer relationships and win projects.

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Conclusion: From Uncertainty to Predictable Growth

Although project sales in the construction industry have never been more complex, it also offers tremendous potential for those who work in a data-driven and structured manner.

Those who overcome the two central challenges of "lack of projects" and "sales chaos" can transform uncertainty into growth.

Revenue engineering aims to achieve this by providing real-time market data, clean processes, and AI-supported analyses that can generate scalable revenue, even in difficult market phases.

Building Radar offers the most powerful revenue engineering technology on the market. It was developed to provide full pipeline transparency, automate processes, and focus consistently on the most profitable projects.

Building Radar is a strategic partner for companies that don't want to leave their sales success to chance.

Are you ready to take your project sales to the next level?

Find out how Building Radar's revenue engineering solution can help you find the right projects faster, structure your sales processes, and ensure sustainable growth.
Click here to schedule an initial consultation.

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Relevant Resources

• Building Radar Official Website
• Building Radar Features
• Building Radar Construction Projects
• Building Radar Tenders
• Building Radar Reference Customers
• Building Radar Insights
• Building Radar Revenue Potential Calculator

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