A new industry study from STACK Construction Technologies quantifies what every glazing GC and window fabricator already suspects: institutional knowledge is walking out the door faster than it can be documented. The findings tie directly to project delays, cost overruns, and — increasingly — worker retention.
The Report That Landed on Fabricators' Desks
On September 22, 2026, STACK Construction Technologies released its 'Construction Knowledge Gap Report', revealing the challenges of knowledge transfer across the construction industry, consequences of unstructured training, and the industry's perceived readiness to embrace modern technology. Conducted with third-party research firm Censuswide, the study puts hard numbers behind a problem that has been quietly reshaping bid quality, installation defects, and warranty exposure across the fenestration and glazing trades.
The headline figure is stark. With the majority — 75% — of entry-level construction workers lacking formal training, the next generation of workers is ready to embrace technology that can streamline processes, make critical knowledge more accessible and easier to pass down, and create greater opportunities for professional development.
The Cost of Undocumented Expertise
For glazing contractors and window installers, unstructured training is not an HR abstraction. It shows up in mis-shimmed frames, missed sealant-tooling windows, and RFIs that a 20-year veteran would never have written. STACK's data traces the operational cost directly.
The survey found 75% of respondents lacked formal training, while 34% said insufficient expertise in the field had contributed to project delays, another 26% said those delays led to costly mistakes, and 21% said a lack of needed expertise could jeopardize long-term client trust.
For a curtain wall subcontractor working under a compressed schedule — or a residential window company running multiple crews across a metro market — those percentages translate into real backcharges, callback labor, and eroded margins.
STACK CEO Viyas Sundaram framed the problem in blunt terms. "A new generation is coming into the trades, and the industry owes them more than a manual and a mentor who's too busy to teach," said Sundaram. "We regularly see new estimators lack the historical context behind past decisions and that missing context can make its way into a new bid, simply because critical knowledge wasn't accessible. Multiply that across every question a new hire encounters in their first year, and the connection to project delays and cost overruns becomes clear."
Retention Now Runs Through the Tech Stack
The study's second major finding reframes the retention conversation. Workforce investment is no longer just about wages and benefits — it's about tooling. Data reveals 4 in 5 entry-level construction workers would be more likely to stay with an employer that prioritizes modern technology.
The generational split is even sharper. Among respondents ages 18 to 25, 90% said they would be more likely to remain with an employer that invests in technology, while that figure was 77% among workers ages 26 to 35.
For a glazing shop competing with adjacent trades for the same limited pool of young workers, that gap is a recruiting lever — and, if ignored, a churn risk.
The AI Adoption Divide
The report also surfaces a leadership-versus-workforce split on artificial intelligence that will feel familiar to anyone who has sat through a fabrication floor rollout meeting. 51% of entry-level construction professionals believe their leaders view AI negatively or simply don't prioritize it; 14% say their leadership believes AI is not useful at all in the trades; 25% say younger workers are pushing for new tools but face resistance from more tenured decision-makers; and 24% of new-entrant professionals see AI as an opportunity to help bridge critical knowledge gaps.
Sundaram's framing narrows what AI is actually good for on a jobsite. "The biggest misconception is that AI works in construction the same way it does in other industries," said Sundaram. "AI can't pour concrete or read a jobsite. Its real opportunity in construction is to capture institutional knowledge and make it accessible for the next generation of workers."
Practical Implications for the Fenestration Trades
-
Estimators and PMs are the highest-leverage documentation targets. The report ties missing historical context in bids directly to downstream delays and cost overruns. Glazing subs and window fabricators should audit whether their veteran estimators' "gut calls" — around lead times, curtain wall unitization risk, water-test failure patterns — are captured anywhere outside their heads.
-
Installer training gaps are a warranty problem. With three-quarters of entry-level workers reporting no formal training, the new AAMA/WDMA 100-26 installation standard and updated water-management details will only be as good as the crews executing them. Structured, digital training is no longer optional for companies chasing FGIA InstallationMasters-level quality.
-
Tech investment is now a retention KPI. If 90% of Gen Z workers weigh employer tech investment in stay/go decisions, then takeoff software, jobsite apps, and knowledge-capture tools belong in the same budget conversation as wages and PTO.
-
Leadership resistance is a documented risk. More than half of new workers already believe their leaders don't take AI seriously. For owners planning succession or acquisition exits, that perception gap is a diligence flag.
The Bigger Signal
The glazing and fenestration industry is entering a period where the workers who wrote the tribal rulebook — how to sequence a hurricane retrofit, how to phase a stick-built curtain wall in winter, when to push back on an architect's sightline — are retiring faster than the industry can replace them. STACK's data suggests the tools to capture that knowledge exist, the incoming workforce wants to use them, and the primary friction sits in the corner office. For fenestration executives budgeting 2027, that's an actionable finding.