This article may be brief, but it does analyse the role of IT in the building industry. It makes mention of CRM uses in this industry, which I would see as the core type of IT technology for this type of business.

Traditionally the building industry has been a little slow in adapting new technology, “safe as houses” so they say. To make matters worse, there are complexities in the way that this type of business operates. Sales of course is an important part of the business, but there is also ongoing client and vendor relationships to manage, project work, legal compliance issues and on-site inspections.

Because of this complexity, IT and CRM in particular would help greatly for these businesses. The tradition of the industry and the workflow quirks unfortunately work against the possible advantages.