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Currie & Brown Construction Certainty Index: Benchmarking construction delivery
Confidence is essential to keep construction projects, and the broader construction pipeline, moving. When delivery feels uncertain, investors and stakeholders are more likely to delay decisions. They may scale back or stop investing in new technology or construction methods.
But before we can fix the problem, we need to understand it. You can’t manage what you don’t measure. That’s why we’ve developed the Construction Certainty Index. It’s a new way to measure how prepared organisations feel to deliver construction projects successfully.
It’s the first Index of its kind. Rather than looking backwards, it focuses on forward-looking confidence and the effect of risk. It uses global, cross-sector data to reveal how confident organisations feel to deliver projects on time, on budget, and aligned with their goals for safety, sustainability, and stakeholders.
What the Index measures
The Construction Certainty Index scores organisations across five key pillars:
- Time and budget—confidence that projects will be delivered on time and on budget
- Risk—how much external risks like inflation, policy, and labour are affecting projects
- Sustainability—how predictable and viable sustainable projects and future investments feel
- Technology adoption—optimism in construction-related technology adoption and belief that uncertainty is a driver
- AI impact—confidence in AI use and its potential to improve outcomes and manage risk
Each area is scored from 0 to 100, allowing for comparison between regions. A high score shows strong delivery confidence and lower exposure to risk. Together, the scores provide a data-driven picture of where organisations are strong, where they’re vulnerable, and what’s needed to build greater certainty.
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Construction certainty by sector
Construction certainty by region
*NB Regional indices made up from the countries below plus an additional 8 where sample sizes were too small to display independently.
Construction certainty by country
Please see appendix for explanation of weighting, full methodology, and detailed sector breakdown by region.
What the Index reveals
The narrow spread in Index scores suggests a universal truth: no region or sector is immune to uncertainty. While some markets are adapting faster than others, the challenges are strikingly consistent: delays, risk, labour pressure, and unpredictable costs. This makes a strong case for urgent, systemic change across the built environment.
— Across the board, confidence levels are more similar than different.
— Certainty is highest in the Renewable energy sector, with a score of 62. Healthcare, Hospitality and Education cluster near the bottom at 54—a modest 8-point difference.
— Country-level gaps are slightly wider: India and China top the list at 61, while France scores 49. All others fall between these two ends.
These results point to a global challenge. Many organisations don’t believe that they can deliver projects on time and within budget. They feel exposed to external risks. And they are unsure whether rapid advances in technology will help or hinder their ability to manage those risks.
Right now, the industry is running with its laces untied—and that’s not good enough.
Improving certainty isn’t about eliminating all risk. That’s unrealistic. Instead, it’s about building resilience—having the people, technology, data, and mindset to be able to navigate uncertainty and deliver successfully, even when challenges arise.
The Construction Certainty Index helps organisations see where they stand. It highlights where support is needed and where to start building a more resilient future.
“ The construction industry has got used to delivering bronze-level performance. Delays, cost overruns, and project cancellations are seen as inevitable. But that mindset is no longer acceptable. While other sectors are innovating, digitising, and lifting productivity, construction risks being left behind. This is an industry that underpins the wellbeing of societies and the strength of economies. It shouldn’t just be in the race, it should be going for gold.”