UMIP Inc., a Dallas-based infrastructure research and technology company, released findings from its March 2026 online survey of AEC design-build executives across commercial construction. The research was designed to take the pulse of the industry on the challenges professionals face managing building documentation throughout the full lifecycle of a commercial asset.

The results from the survey, presented to more than 2,500 industry professionals, paint a stark picture: missing and fragmented infrastructure records are not an occasional inconvenience — they are a pervasive, costly, and structurally embedded problem that the built-environment industry has yet to solve.

Key Survey Findings

•  Documentation gaps are near-universal: Only 13% of respondents describe their asset documentation as fully or mostly complete, while 79.7% report significant gaps or largely scattered records.

•  Missing records are a daily reality: 41.5% of respondents encounter missing or inaccessible records monthly, 33.7% weekly, and 14.1% say it is a persistent, ongoing problem.

•  Project timelines suffer significantly: 41.1% of respondents say missing records added 11%–20% to the duration of their last project, and a third report 21%–30% additional time.

•  The financial toll is systemic: Nearly two-thirds estimate that 4%–7% of annual revenue or budget is lost to inefficiencies caused by missing documentation. Another 17.9% place that figure above 7%.

•  Unplanned costs are routine: 60.8% of respondents regularly incur unplanned costs between $50,000 and $250,000 due to missing records, with 9.1% reporting frequent impacts above $250,000.

•  Ownership transitions are the biggest failure point: 87% have personally worked on a project where records were lost during an ownership or management transition — 65.7% say this has happened multiple times.

•  The industry knows it is falling short: 66.8% believe the industry is significantly behind in addressing record continuity, with another 10.4% saying the challenge is not even recognized as a priority.

Strong Appetite for Asset-Centric Digital Identity

Despite widespread unfamiliarity with the concept of “persistent digital identity” for built assets — 40.3% of respondents said they were hearing the term for the first time — enthusiasm for the idea was immediate and overwhelming. Once described, 88.5% of respondents rated a permanent, platform-independent digital identity for every building as “extremely” or “very” valuable.

Respondents identified the top levers needed to drive improvement as a universal, platform-independent identifier for each asset (27.6%), followed by insurance incentives or premium discounts (22.6%), and industry-wide data standards (14.8%). Technology platforms alone ranked low, signaling that tools must be paired with standards, identifiers, and economic incentives to move the needle.

Executive Commentary

“This research confirms what practitioners in our industry have felt for years but rarely quantified: missing building records are a silent tax on every project, every transition, and every capital decision. When nearly 80% of experienced professionals report significant documentation gaps — and the majority are routinely absorbing five- and six-figure unplanned costs as a result — that is not a workflow problem. That is a structural failure in how our industry manages asset knowledge. At UMIP Inc., we believe every building deserves a permanent, platform-independent identity that travels with the asset, not with the software or the ownership group. This survey tells us the industry is ready for exactly that.”

— Trevor Vick, CEO, UMIP Inc.

Survey Methodology

The UMIP Inc. State of Infrastructure Documentation Survey was conducted online in March 2026 and presented to more than 2,500 AEC design-build executives and professionals across commercial construction. Respondents represent a broad cross-section of the industry including architects, design professionals, construction project managers, general contractors, facility managers, insurance underwriters, and real estate professionals. The majority of respondents have more than six years of industry experience and work on mid-size to large commercial or institutional properties.