Electrical Contractors NAICS 238210

Jun 9, 2025 - AI Helps Streamline Operations for Home Services

• Some home-services firms are leveraging AI-enabled tools to increase the accuracy and efficiency of scheduling, customer service, and other operations, according to The Wall Street Journal. One startup, Netic, offers AI-enabled software that can answer and return customer calls, predict maintenance needs based on weather or emergencies, and schedule and prioritize work orders. AI adoption in the home-services trades is being led by private equity firms active in roll-up consolidation in fragmented services industries, including electrical, plumbing, roofing, and HVAC. Integrating AI, which is often compatible with customer relationship management software, can help private equity firms manage their portfolios of home-services firms, boosting efficiency and profits. Large, independent home-services firms are also investing in AI.
• US residential construction spending declined in April compared to March amid a reduction in the number of new single-family developments and rising inventories of unsold new homes, according to Reuters. In a Reuters survey of property industry experts, 90% of respondents believed the Trump administration’s tariff policies would drive up costs and result in fewer homes being built. A housing strategist with Morgan Stanley said, "Looking ahead through the rest of this year and into 2026, we don’t expect mortgage rates to come down much — at least not through the third quarter of 2025 — so affordability will remain pressured.”

• So-called “missing middle” medium-density housing, which includes duplexes, townhouses, and other smaller multifamily properties, has gained in popularity over the last several quarters, according to the National Association of Home Builders. Multifamily properties in the missing middle (2 to 4 units) have generally been out of favor since the Great Recession, but they are experiencing a resurgence. In the first quarter of 2025, there were 5,000 construction starts for housing properties with 2 to 4 units, which was flat compared to a year earlier. However, over the past four quarters, the number of missing middle residential construction units reached 23,000, marking a 53% increase over the four quarters before that period. The missing middle segment’s gains may be limited absent zoning reform that allows for increased density.
• Utilities and grid operators are grappling with a flood of speculative interconnection requests for data centers that may never be built, according to Utility Dive. Grid optimization software firm Camus Energy estimates there are between five and 10 times as many interconnection requests as the number of data centers being built. US data center load growth forecasts often diverge widely. A 2024 projection by the RAND Corporation estimated the AI sector would boost power demand by 347 gigawatts (GW) by 2030. In April 2025, Schneider Electric cited other sources that estimate growth will be less than 100 GW. Speculative requests by data center developers make it challenging for grid operators and utilities to plan for future power needs. To reduce the risks of overbuilding, some utilities are introducing standardized large-load interconnection processes, and others are requiring data center developers to shoulder more of the upfront costs.