Written by Demi
For years, people looked for tradespeople in their local area through word of mouth, a friend-of-a-friend, and Google search. If someone wanted a hand renovating their kitchen, replacing a roof, or finding some material for a DIY project, the journey was pretty simple.
Now, it’s looking a lot different.
Today, that same person might watch bathroom transformations on TikTok before looking to purchase a product that worked well. They might ask AI platforms which underfloor heating system is best for their type of home, compare prices and reviews online, watch installation how-tos on YouTube, and only then will they decide to contact a company to help or purchase the materials for their project.
Google explains modern decision-making as a process where users ‘loop between exploration and evaluation’ rather than moving neatly from awareness to conversion.
With the construction industry characterised by big projects like extensions, heating systems and commercial suppliers, which are often expensive and high-risk decisions – buyers usually spend more time researching and building confidence in their decision.
Social media platforms are becoming part of how people learn, research, and decide. In Ronseal’s DIY report, 26% of 18- 24-year-olds identified social media as the biggest source of their DIY knowledge, compared to just 12% who use Google.
TikTok is one of the platforms that is now used for search, learning, and decision-making – and is often used to find solutions rather than just passively consuming content.
Construction is a visual sector. People want to know how products work, watch installation results, understand what’s classed as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ and learn from people who have experience in the industry – before they spend money.
And there’s a market for it.
Credit: Ronseal ‘The Home and Garden DIY Report 2025’
Construction and DIY content has become massive online, with the #DIY hashtag now containing more than 34.5 million posts on TikTok alone.
Tradespeople used to rely on local advertising, word-of-mouth referrals, and the occasional Yellow Pages listing to grow their business, but now platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube are opening up new ways of discovery and a wider net of audience for tradies to access.
Tradespeople themselves are becoming content creators, building audiences by sharing advice, installations and signs to look out for, product recommendations, before-and-after projects, and just general tradie chat for those in the industry.
A UK tradie duo with decades of experience who used TikTok with pranks and banter, showing daily life on construction sites. They used their authentic experiences to attract followers.
Now they have racked up 104K subscribers on YouTube and 1M followers on TikTok, covering their largest ground-up project, trade insights, supplier collaborations, and showing the standards that British trades should be. They’ve also got the breakfast segment on Fix Radio, reaching over 850,000 tradespeople daily, and their own podcast.
This shows the influence that content creators can have on specific products and brand visibility through demonstrated expertise.
Snagging inspectors who are helping new-build homeowners understand quality that document defects to look out for across social media platforms, racking up 687.3K followers on TikTok, and 146K followers on YouTube.
They have 50 years of experience, which is a big trust signal, and they create content like ‘New Build Developer Tier List’ – effectively ranking developers across the UK, and different properties and what they check for.
These content creators can influence brand perception without partnerships and effectively build or knock trust.
AI volume has now reached 57% of traditional search, and ChatGPT now owns 19.6% of the organic search market.
Instead of traditional search, people are turning to AI more and more for direct or comparative questions like:
With 49% of prompts on ChatGPT sitting in the ‘asking’ category, situating AI platforms as advisors. Construction fits into this segment, as users are often looking for technical guidance, brand comparisons, and product recommendations. Even for cost-effectiveness, 59% of DIYers and PROsumers in the US are interested in AI tools that help track pricing, discounts, and product availability.
Operationally, AI is already being used across cost monitoring, productivity, material procurement, and project management – reducing time spent on decision-making, and helping supplies get to job sites faster.
Recent developments show that businesses such as Hodgson Sayers are collaborating with Teesside University on projects that merge parametric modelling, physics-based simulations and AI into a cloud-enabled Digital Twin made for the needs of an SME contractor.
This can include architects, specifiers, contractors, subcontractors, merchants, distributors, house builders, facilities teams, and procurement professionals. Each one plays a slightly different role in the journey, but they all influence which products and suppliers end up being considered.
A product might be mentioned by an architect, recommended by a contractor, requested by a subcontractor, stocked by a merchant, approved by a procurement team, or included in a tender response. That means brands need to build visibility and trust before the purchasing decision happens.
Before, this might have been driven by existing relationships with businesses, sales reps, networking, or merchant availability. These still have their place, but now specifiers are using digital sources to research and select products, with online product information playing a key role in influencing decisions.
This journey could bounce between seeing products used online, researching brands through Google, asking AI for comparisons or recommendations, checking validity through case studies or reviews, comparing technical documents, and seeing where this can be purchased.
Alternatively, merchants and distributors’ decision-making process can be influenced by demand, availability, margins, supplier reliability, product quality, technical support, and whether customers are speaking about that brand.
This is why putting the user at the centre of your strategy is important. If your brand is visible in search, recommended in credible trade publications, supported by strong product information, and mentioned in AI responses, you have a much better chance of being considered earlier in the journey.
Businesses that start building signals for AI platforms now will be in a much better position as AI technology continues to grow. Roofing contractor share that contractors often navigate both traditional paid lead gen through Google, and emerging AI-driven discovery, but by improving trust signals across your website and those other platforms, such as Reddit, that influence AI platforms, will benefit both.
What once were recommendations from friends and family are now creator recommendations, AI responses, online visibility, and social proof.
Because of this, the brands that make the most impact in 2026 will be the ones that:
Discovery is now multi-platform, and construction brands need to aim for building trust long before they see conversions.
