Construction starts just hit $1.33 trillion.

That’s a 16% jump in June alone, driven by a massive 39% surge in nonresidential building. Manufacturing projects exploded by 304%. Commercial building shot up 78%.

We’re seeing mega-projects like the $10 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Factory and multiple billion-dollar infrastructure initiatives breaking ground simultaneously. The scale is unprecedented.

But here’s what the headlines miss.

This construction boom is breaking every documentation system in the industry.

When Growth Outpaces Infrastructure

The numbers tell a story most people aren’t prepared for. While nonresidential construction explodes, residential building actually declined 1%. Nonbuilding construction grew a modest 2%.

That creates a documentation conundrum.

Material providers suddenly need to track deliveries across wildly different project types. A supplier might deliver beams to a small residential job in the morning, then coordinate massive steel deliveries to a semiconductor facility in the afternoon.

The documentation requirements are completely different. The stakeholders are different. The compliance standards are different.

Most tracking systems weren’t built for this kind of variability.

We know from industry data that 90% of large-scale construction projects are delivered late. Nearly two-thirds of them by at least two months.

When you’re scaling up by 304% in manufacturing alone, those delivery coordination problems don’t just multiply. They compound.

The Real Cost of Paper Systems

Here’s where it gets expensive.

Material handling takes up to 40% of field crew time on a job site. That’s nearly half the day spent on logistics instead of actual construction.

When projects are scaling this fast, that percentage climbs even higher. Crews spend more time tracking deliveries, confirming materials, and dealing with documentation gaps.

The problem gets worse when you realize most construction companies still rely on paper-based proof of delivery systems. Paper documents are time-consuming to manage, easy to lose or damage, and create errors through manual data entry.

That worked fine when construction volume was predictable and steady.

It breaks down completely when you’re dealing with billion-dollar growth spurts.

What We’re Seeing on the Ground

The construction industry is experiencing something we haven’t seen before. The combination of massive volume increases with uneven sector growth creates coordination challenges that existing systems simply can’t handle.

Material providers are struggling to maintain delivery schedules across different project types. Contractors are dealing with documentation requirements that vary dramatically between residential renovations and billion-dollar manufacturing facilities.

Lenders need proof of material delivery for construction financing, but they’re getting inconsistent documentation quality across different project scales.

The gap between what the industry needs and what current systems provide has never been wider.

The Digital Documentation Gap

Here’s what makes this particularly challenging for our industry.

While other sectors moved to digital documentation years ago, construction has lagged behind. Most proof of delivery systems are still paper-based, manual, and completely inadequate for the current growth environment.

We identified this gap when we started ezPOD earlier this year. After spending over a decade in eCommerce and technology, then three years in construction finance, the contrast was stark.

Amazon can track millions of packages in real-time with GPS coordinates, timestamps, and photo confirmation. But try to get the same level of documentation for a lumber delivery to a construction site.

The systems just don’t exist nationwide.

That’s a problem when construction starts are hitting $1.33 trillion and growing. The volume demands modern tracking capabilities, but the industry is still using systems designed for much smaller scales.

Building Systems That Scale

The construction boom creates an opportunity for companies willing to invest in proper documentation infrastructure.

Digital proof of delivery systems can handle variable project types, different stakeholder requirements, and massive volume increases without breaking down. They provide real-time tracking, instant notifications, GPS coordinates, timestamps, and photo documentation.

More importantly, they scale automatically. Whether you’re delivering materials to a small residential project or a billion-dollar semiconductor facility, the documentation quality stays consistent.

That consistency becomes crucial when industry experts are warning about potential slowdowns in the latter half of the year due to trade policy uncertainties. Companies that can maintain efficient operations during both boom and slowdown periods will have a significant advantage.

The Window Is Closing

The construction industry is at an inflection point.

Current growth rates are creating documentation challenges that paper-based systems simply cannot solve. Companies that continue relying on outdated tracking methods will find themselves overwhelmed as project volumes continue increasing.

The firms that thrive during this boom will be the ones that invested in modern documentation systems before the pressure became unbearable.

We launched ezPOD’s open beta in July specifically to help construction companies handle this transition. The app will be completely free during beta while we refine the system based on real-world usage.

Because when construction starts hit $1.33 trillion, your documentation system better be ready to scale with it.

The boom is here. The question is whether your paperwork can keep up.