Construction company records and AI training: a UK guide

Construction runs on records. Every project produces programmes, method statements, inspection records, requests for information, variations, valuations and payment notices, and much of it is required by law or by the contract. Few industries keep such a detailed account of how work is planned, checked and paid for.

It is also a sector of small firms. At the start of 2025, construction had 885,000 small and medium-sized businesses, 16% of all UK SMEs and more than any other sector (Department for Business and Trade).

This guide covers contractors and specialist trades registered under SIC codes 41100 to 43999, from general builders to electrical (43210), plumbing and heating (43220), roofing (43910) and scaffolding (43991) firms (Companies House). For the basics, start with our UK guide to selling company data to AI developers.

What construction firms hold

• Safety records. The principal contractor "must prepare and then update the construction phase plan throughout the project". Excavations, scaffolds, ladders and fall arrest systems "must all be inspected at specified times" (HSE). Firms also keep RIDDOR injury reports.
• Project records. Programmes, site diaries, method statements, drawings and requests for information (RFIs). An RFI is "a formal question asked by one party to a contract on a construction project to the other party" (Designing Buildings).
• Commercial records. Tenders, valuations, variations, daywork sheets, payment notices and pay less notices. The Construction Act sets the rules for these notices, except on work for a homeowner who lives in the property (Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996).
• Higher-risk buildings. In England, the client keeps the golden thread for these buildings, including the "construction control plan" and the "change control plan and log". The principal contractor must use "the record-keeping system provided by the client" (GOV.UK). These are client records, so they stay out.
• Business records. Email, job management and field service software, estimating, accounts and HR.

Who owns the records

Records your own staff create belong to the company, unless an agreement says otherwise (CDPA 1988, s11(2)). So do the databases they build (1997 Regulations, reg 14(2)). Work by subcontractors and freelancers usually stays theirs unless they assign it in writing (IPO).

The building contract then decides who owns design work:

• JCT Design and Build Contract 2024. Copyright in the contractor's design documents "shall remain vested in the Contractor" (clause 2.38.1). The employer gets a licence to copy and use them, "Subject to all sums due and payable under this Contract to the Contractor having been paid" (clause 2.38.2) (Find a Tender, Ashfords).
• NEC4 Engineering and Construction Contract. The client "may use and copy the Contractor's design and documents prepared for the design" for purposes connected with the works (clause 22.1) (NEC4 amendments, January 2023). Where secondary Option X9 applies, the rights over the contractor's design material pass to the client. NEC says that under the same option in its subcontract, ownership "is automatically transferred" to the main contractor (NEC).

Building contracts also limit how project documents are used:

• JCT's Standard Building Contract 2016 says "None of the documents" provided to the contractor "shall be used by him for any purpose other than this Contract" (clause 2.8.4) (Find a Tender).
• NEC says its clause 29.1 "prohibits parties from disclosing information unless necessary to fulfil contract obligations" (NEC).
• JCT's Design and Build Contract also says "Neither Party shall divulge or use except for the purposes of this Contract" the contract documents or the contractor's design documents (clause 2.7.4). The employer may still use them to maintain, repair, advertise, let or sell the works (Find a Tender).

In practice, the records most likely to be licensable are the ones your team created about how you run the work: method statements, site diaries, RFIs and your answers, programmes and internal email. Under JCT design and build terms, even your own design documents may only be used for the contract, so leave them out unless the employer agrees. Check the confidentiality clause in each contract, and remove anything that identifies the client or the project. The employer's requirements, drawings and specifications belong to the client or its consultants, and stay out.

What must stay out

• Worker records. Inductions, competence cards, timesheets, payroll and HR files.
• Accident and health records. Accident book entries and RIDDOR reports describe injuries. Health data is special category data, which the law protects most strictly.
• Biometric and camera data. The ICO gives "processing biometric data of workers" as an example of high-risk processing that needs a data protection impact assessment. It also treats "camera surveillance including wearable cameras for the purpose of health and safety" as monitoring (ICO). Leave out fingerprint and face recognition records from site access systems, and site camera footage.
• Client documents. The employer's requirements, drawings and specifications, and anything the contract treats as confidential.
• Homeowners' details. On domestic work: names, addresses, photographs of homes and correspondence.

What buyers want

• Handshake AI names AutoCAD and ServiceTitan, field service software used by trade firms, among the tools it takes records from (Handshake AI).
• SuperAnnotate lists inspection reports and claims files (SuperAnnotate).
• Labelbox Prism names CAD and SAP among the systems it turns into training environments (Prism).
• Pewter, a US firm that runs data-licensing deals for owners of US firms, lists a "Roofing contractor" at $450,000 and a "General contractor" at $300,000, each for an "Operational record, anonymized before delivery. Perpetual, exclusive license." It labels both as reported by a licensing firm, and says such figures are not independently verified (Pewter).
• Petrarch, a Y Combinator company, says it has already transacted "construction plans" (Y Combinator).

Note the terms in Pewter's examples. A perpetual, exclusive licence usually means you can never license those records to anyone else. Our offer check shows which terms to question.

The strongest construction records show problems being solved: the RFI, the answer, the variation it caused, and how that variation was priced and paid. Years of linked project records hold exactly the kind of step-by-step decisions that buyers say they want.

If the firm is closing or insolvent

Construction had more company insolvencies than any other sector in the 12 months to August 2026: 3,866, or 17% of the cases where the industry was recorded, down 2% on the year before (Insolvency Service). The figures cover England and Wales, and partly reflect how many construction companies there are.

A contractor's records usually sit in several places: project servers, job management software, site devices and staff mailboxes. When a company fails, subscriptions lapse and data can be deleted. Our records deadline check shows how long Microsoft 365, Google Workspace or Slack data has left.

Records are company property, so a liquidator or administrator can license them as part of realising the company's assets. Our guide to company records in insolvency explains how.

Before you talk to buyers

1. Map your systems. Job management, estimating, document management, email and accounts, with the years each one covers.
2. Check your contract forms. Note which projects used JCT or NEC4, which included Option X9, and which had amended confidentiality clauses.
3. Separate the client's documents. Keep only the records your own team created.
4. Remove worker, accident and biometric data. These carry the most risk.
5. Check subcontractor design. Find the signed assignments, or leave that work out.
6. Keep your own full copy. You may need it for defects, claims and adjudication.

Tydex values a contractor's records from basic facts, finds buyers whose criteria fit, and brings you written offers. Get a free valuation.