Construction needs to overhaul the culture of communication | Construction Dive
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The industry should place more value on open, early communication to avoid small problems snowballing into major delays, writes a construction consultant.
An article from Column Construction needs to overhaul the culture of communication The industry should place more value on open, early communication to avoid small problems snowballing into major delays, writes a construction consultant. Published April 15, 2026 By Fulton Cure Share Copy link Email LinkedIn X/Twitter Facebook Print License Add us on Google Getty Images Listen to the article 6 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Fulton Cure is a consultant at Baltimore-based Well Built Construction Consulting, a Baltimore-based firm that delivers strategic consulting, facilitation services and peer roundtables for construction executives. Opinions are the author’s own. I don’t believe it’s controversial to say that there is a communication problem in the construction industry. Missed updates, late surprises and misaligned teams are cited on nearly every project as sources of delay, cost overruns and general frustration. The typical response is to try to “improve communication” by adding more meetings, more reporting or more structure. On the surface, those solutions sound reasonable. But in practice, they often miss the mark. The root cause really is simpler to explain and more ingrained: The construction industry has normalized late communication. On most jobsites, both in my personal experience and based on what I’ve heard from others, issues aren’t invisible. They’re usually caught early by someone. They just aren’t shared early. ...