Geoff CuddLast updated: October 28, 2026
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A construction company sells its data to AI by licensing records from completed projects: drawings, specs, RFIs, submittals, change orders, daily logs and site photos. Buyers such as Mercor and Polyshares scope the files, strip out personal information and pay a one-time license fee.
Mercor lists construction companies at $115,000 to $1 million per license, and Polyshares has published a $300,000 deal with a general contractor. The catch is that you don’t own every page in your project files, so the rights check comes first.
For the full process across every industry, start with our guide to how to sell your company’s data to AI companies.
Key takeaways
- AI buyers want complete records from closed-out projects, tied to site photos, video or drone surveys.
- Mercor’s construction listing pays companies $115,000 to $1 million and takes firms with 50 to 2,000 employees.
- Polyshares paid $300,000 to a general contractor and $450,000 to a roofing company, both for perpetual exclusive licenses.
- Under the standard AIA A201 contract, the architect owns the drawings, and the contractor may use them only to build the project.
- Worker names, client addresses and subcontractor pricing all need to come out before anything is delivered.
What construction data do AI companies want?
That list comes from Mercor’s construction company listing, read October 28, 2026. It sorts the records into what the license covers and what adds to the payout:
| Record type | Examples | Mercor’s view |
|---|---|---|
| Project documents | Drawings, specs, RFIs, submittals, change orders, daily logs | Core of the license |
| Site imagery | Progress photos, video, drone surveys, tied to a project | Core of the license |
| Inspection and closeout | Inspection reports, punch lists, correction letters | Core, and “especially useful” |
| Models and plans | BIM and Revit models, schedules, estimates | Adds to what you earn |
| Marketing photos only | Finished-job shots for your website | Not a fit |
Mercor names the systems it pulls from: Procore, Autodesk Construction Cloud, Revit, AutoCAD, Bluebeam, Primavera P6 and DroneDeploy. If your projects live in those, the export is mostly their job.
Bids and estimates count too. Mercor lists estimates as a plus, and Endless Data says it licenses quotes, work orders and handover notes, which suits specialty contractors who run on service tickets more than drawings.
Why is construction data in such demand?
Most public construction content is marketing: finished-job photos and project summaries. It doesn’t show why a detail changed, what the inspector flagged or how a schedule slipped.
A project file shows all of that, with dates. That’s the kind of step-by-step work with a known outcome that AI labs can’t get from the open internet, as our explainer on what AI training data is covers.
Mercor’s pricing backs it up. Of its 24 listings, only consulting firms start higher, at $150,000. Construction’s top end of $1 million sits below manufacturing ($1.5 million) and law firms ($1.2 million).
Mercor’s construction referral fee has dropped. It was $92,500 on October 26, 2026, including a $37,500 promotional bonus, and $50,000 by October 28. That fee is what Mercor pays someone who refers a company, not what the company earns.
Who buys construction company data, and what do they pay?
| Buyer | Company size | Published pay | License |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mercor | 50 to 2,000 employees | $115K to $1M, by project count and imagery | Not stated on its pages |
| Polyshares | No minimum stated | $100K to $2M+; $300K general contractor, $450K roofer | Perpetual exclusive in every published deal |
| micro1 | 30+ full-time employees | Tiers from $100K to $2M+ | Not stated on its pages |
| Endless Data | About 30+ employees | Up to $4M | Non-exclusive by default |
Mercor is the only one with a page written for contractors. It names general contractors, specialty subcontractors, architecture and engineering firms, inspectors and property managers as fits, and rules out “small crews without project documentation.”
Polyshares’ case studies list the general contractor at $300,000, a roofing company at $450,000 and a solar company at $275,000. All three were perpetual exclusive licenses, so those companies can’t license the same records again.
micro1 doesn’t list construction by name, but its data partnerships page takes project histories and operations records. You can apply to micro1 here.
Our list of companies that buy business data for AI covers each buyer’s terms in more detail.
Can you sell project files when the owner or architect holds rights to the drawings?
The AIA form calls drawings, specs and models “Instruments of Service.” Section 1.5.1 says the architect and its consultants own them, and contractors, subs and suppliers can’t claim copyright in them.
Section 1.5.2 limits the contractor’s use to executing the work, and bars other uses without written consent from the owner, the architect and the architect’s consultants. A public copy of the 2017 form is on the City of South Bend’s records site.
Your contract may differ, so read the one you signed. What you generally do create yourself:
- Daily logs, RFIs you wrote, and your side of the correspondence
- Your estimates, bids and schedules
- Site photos and drone footage your crew took
- Your shop drawings and as-builts, if your contract doesn’t assign them
- Safety reports and punch lists you prepared
Owner contracts can restrict even these. Mercor asks every construction company, “Do any owner contracts restrict project data?” Have an answer, project by project, before the first call. Design-build firms and architecture practices that own their designs are in a stronger position.
What about data from subcontractors and suppliers?
Sub pricing is the biggest risk. A competitor’s bid numbers turning up in a training set is exactly what a confidentiality clause is written to stop.
Manufacturer product data in submittals is usually published material, but it adds little value and carries copyright questions. Leave it out unless the buyer specifically asks.
Check your subcontract and purchase order templates for confidentiality and data-use language, then apply the same rule to every project. Our post on whether selling company data to AI is safe covers NDAs and third-party data in more depth.
How do you remove client names, addresses and worker information from project files?
Construction files carry more personal information than most owners expect:
| Where it hides | What’s in it | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Certified payroll | Worker names, wages, often Social Security numbers | Exclude |
| Injury and incident reports | Health details tied to named workers | Exclude |
| Daily logs | Crew names, visitor names, phone numbers | De-identify |
| Site photos and drone video | Faces, license plates, house numbers | Blur or crop |
| Contracts and correspondence | Owner names, home addresses, emails, signatures | De-identify |
| Residential project files | A homeowner’s address, floor plan and photos of the inside | De-identify, or exclude if you can’t |
Mercor says it signs an NDA, runs the export and removes or protects personal information. Its company page says the process is automated and no AI lab sees your raw data.
Don’t take the website as the deal. Write the exclusions and the de-identification method into the license, as our AI data licensing agreement checklist explains.
Residential work needs the most care. A floor plan plus interior photos plus a street address identifies a family’s home even with the name removed.
How much project history do you need?
Completeness matters more than count. A job with drawings, every RFI and change order, daily logs, photos and a closed punch list is worth more than ten jobs with only invoices.
Mercor’s first question to a construction company is “How many completed projects do you hold records for?” Count yours before you apply, and note which ones have photos or drone surveys organized by project.
Open jobs don’t count yet. Buyers want the outcome, so a project still under construction is half a record.
What are the steps for a contractor, start to finish?
- Count your closed-out projects. Note which system holds each, such as Procore or Autodesk Construction Cloud, and whether photos and drone surveys are filed by project.
- Read the owner and architect contracts. Look for instruments of service, confidentiality and data-use clauses. Mark the projects you can’t license.
- Sort what you created from what you received. Your logs, RFIs, estimates and photos are in. Architect drawings and sub pricing are out unless you have written consent.
- List personal information to exclude. Payroll, injury records and residential client details first.
- Apply to more than one buyer. Mercor’s construction listing has an apply link, and Polyshares says its intake takes about two minutes, with an offer within one to two weeks.
- Have a lawyer review the license. Pay attention to exclusivity, the term and what you warrant about owning the files.
- Let the buyer export, de-identify and deliver. Mercor says payment typically lands two to four weeks after signing. Polyshares pays net 30 to 60 after the data is approved.
Our guide on how much company data is worth to AI helps you judge whether the first offer is low.
This isn’t legal advice. Have a lawyer review your owner contracts and any data license before you sign.
Common mistakes when selling construction data to AI
The most common mistake is licensing the architect’s drawings as if they were yours. These are the others:
- Sending certified payroll or injury reports along with the rest of the project file
- Leaving subcontractor bid pricing in the export
- Offering marketing photos instead of project-tied site imagery
- Counting open jobs as finished records
- Signing a perpetual exclusive license with the first buyer, before you’ve heard a second offer
- Forgetting residential addresses and interior photos when you de-identify
- Reading Mercor’s referral fee as what your company gets paid
Frequently asked questions
Can a construction company sell its data to AI companies?
Yes. Buyers such as Mercor and Polyshares license records from completed projects, including RFIs, submittals, change orders, daily logs and site photos. You can only license what you own or have consent to share.
How much do AI companies pay for construction data?
Mercor lists construction companies at $115,000 to $1 million per license, depending on project count and imagery. Polyshares has published a $300,000 general contractor deal and a $450,000 roofing deal.
Can I sell the architect’s drawings from my projects?
Usually not without consent. Under the standard AIA A201-2017 terms, the architect owns the drawings and specs, and the contractor may use them only to build the project.
What construction records do AI buyers want most?
Complete files from closed-out projects: drawings, specs, RFIs, submittals, change orders and daily logs, matched to site photos, video or drone surveys. Inspection reports and punch lists are especially useful.
How big does a construction company need to be to sell its data?
Mercor’s construction listing takes companies with 50 to 2,000 employees. micro1 asks for 30 or more full-time staff, and Polyshares doesn’t publish a minimum.
Do I need to remove worker names from project files?
Yes. Exclude certified payroll and injury reports entirely, and de-identify worker names in daily logs and faces in site photos before delivery.
