Control is the new growth: Swiss construction industry focuses on cost control and coordination

The focus in the Swiss planning and construction industry is shifting away from «more resources» towards more controllability. This is shown by the Revizto Market Survey 2026, which was published in April 2026 and is based on a survey of 2006 participants from eight countries - including the USA, the UK, Switzerland, Germany, France, Australia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The respondents included CIOs, project managers and BIM and VDC directors.

The overarching message of the study is clear: control is the new growth. Increasing project complexity and a noticeable pressure to coordinate make transparency, standards and binding processes the decisive lever - especially where cost deviations and reworking put pressure on margins.

Switzerland: Lack of commitment slows down digitalization

A central pattern relates to digitalization: it is not resistance in the teams that is primarily holding back, but a lack of commitment. Swiss respondents cite the lack of clear policies or mandates as an obstacle to the introduction of new technologies with above-average frequency - 31% compared to 27% globally. At the same time, employee resistance in Switzerland is lower than the global figure: 20% compared to 24% worldwide. The picture that emerges from this is clear: the willingness to change is there - what is missing is a clear framework.

Budget variances as an industry standard

Despite slight shifts in the overrun bands, cost deviations remain widespread. In Switzerland, 48 percent of respondents report average budget overruns of between 6 and 10 percent, with a further 42 percent reporting overruns of 11 to 20 percent. Only 3 percent state that they close with a minimum cost variance of no more than 5 percent - in a global comparison, this figure is 8 percent. Switzerland therefore performs the worst in terms of budget and cost control among the countries surveyed.

At the same time, there is a clear interpretation when it comes to rework: Swiss participants cite poor communication and coordination more frequently as the cause of rework - 44% compared to 41% globally - and attribute rework less frequently to pure execution errors: 24% compared to 33% globally. This indicates that rework is increasingly understood as a controllable process and collaboration problem.

Marcel Wyss from the Hälg Group for building technology and integral facility management sums it up: «The results of the Revizto 2026 report confirm what we experience in daily practice: Planning quality is the decisive lever. Efficient construction begins with correct and complete planning. The better the planning is completed, the more smoothly construction and prefabrication can be implemented. High planning quality reduces errors, lowers costs and opens up new opportunities for innovative production and construction processes.»

CIO perspective: governance, license costs and AI realism

Control« is also becoming the key currency at CIO level. Concerns about data sovereignty are high overall, but are more moderate in Switzerland: Only 10 percent of Swiss respondents say they are »very concerned«, compared to a global average of 24 percent. When it comes to license inflation, Switzerland also remains below the global figure: 51% report increased software costs, compared to 66% worldwide.

The pragmatic approach to the topic of artificial intelligence is particularly striking: Swiss CIOs cite «no clear use case» as the biggest obstacle to the use of AI with above-average frequency - 20% compared to 11% globally. This means that AI fails in Switzerland less due to technical hurdles than due to a lack of strategic anchoring.

Arman Gukasyan, CEO of Revizto, summarizes the findings: «The figures clearly show that if you want to grow in 2026, you first need to create controllability - through clean governance, transparent collaboration and clear standards. In Switzerland, acceptance is less of a problem than commitment. When mandates and processes are in place, coordination becomes measurable - and costs become more predictable again.»

Source and further information: https://revizto.com