More builders look to robots to tackle Singapore’s construction labour crunch

SINGAPORE – After more than two decades in the industry, Expand Construction founder Von Lee has a vision: The next generation of physical labourers will not be men, but robots that toil tirelessly in the sun.

Their human operators, said Lee, would control them from afar, in an office sheltered from the elements.

The proliferation of construction robotics has pushed the sector a step closer to Lee’s dream, and towards changes that could ease Singapore’s reliance on foreign labour, which has been becoming more difficult to recruit and retain.

Figures from the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) show that to date, more than 25 types of robots have been deployed across about 60 projects, from virtually no robots at construction sites in 2022.

However, these represent only about 5 per cent of larger construction projects here.

Those in the sector tell The Straits Times that robotics solutions can one day reduce manpower needs, but there are hurdles to overcome first.

The case for robotics

Asked about employing foreign workers, Edmund Ng, founder of Seng Soon Huat Construction, rattled off a long list of considerations.

These include worker levies, accommodation and transport fees, as well as salaries and allowances.

The challenge has been compounded by manpower shortages – contractors say firms here are competing for labourers with other countries – and a lack of interest from locals to join the industry.

In 2025, construction labourers were the top job vacancy among non-PMET roles across all sectors, according to the Manpower Ministry.

As at December of the same year, non-residents accounted for close to four in five of the 566,800 persons working in the sector.

“Frankly speaking, whose son wants to go into a construction site?” said Ng, whose company – a subcontractor specialising in painting – started using robots in 2025.

“The younger generation isn’t interested in this line because it is dirty, hard work. But if work is playing with robots, it might be something that attracts them,” he said.

For Ng, having one worker oversee three painting robots means one person can do work previously assigned to six.

He added: “If one day I am able to hire one local to manage five robots, instead of one foreigner to three robots, that is when there will be real change in the industry.”

It is such advantages that have prompted public agencies to take the lead on robotics use, with some mandating the use of robots in tenders.

The JTC Corporation, for example, has made the use of robots compulsory in its construction tenders since late 2025, while 16 of the 31 Build-To-Order projects tendered by the Housing Board since 2025 will adopt robotics solutions.

“HDB is progressively introducing construction robots to increase construction productivity and reduce reliance on manpower amid a tight labour market,” an agency spokesperson said.

Yang Xue, director at the Land Transport Authority’s (LTA) Lean Office, said the agency’s use of robotics also reduces workers’ exposure to potentially hazardous environments.

For instance, during the construction of Downtown Line Stage 3 – which opened in October 2017 – LTA used robotic shotcrete machines, which spray concrete onto tunnel walls to provide structural support.

It has also deployed drilling robots and remote-controlled robots that break concrete structures, keeping workers away from dust and vibration.

At NS Square, which will have a 10,000 sq m stage – equivalent in size to about 1½ football fields – robots have been able to achieve a level of precision and quality that workers cannot.

This large stage must have a gentle gradient so rainwater can drain off it, noted Alvin Wee, senior programme manager at the Defence Science and Technology Agency.

“If a human has to eyeball it, the margin of error will be large across a big stage, and herein lies the advantage of using robots – they get the gradient right from start point to end point over a large span.”

Barriers to adoption

Despite these advantages, contractors say adopting construction robotics is not straightforward, with barriers such as costs and the nascency of technology standing in their way.

Andy Lu, assistant secretary-general of The Singapore Contractors Association Limited (SCAL) and chairman of its productivity and technology committee, said many firms would like the benefits that robots bring, but they are expensive experiments.

“Even though we may be curious – to buy a $100,000 robot and try, there is a lot of hesitation, because some robots are not proven,” said Lu, who is also chief executive of Wee Hur Construction.

Firms said that painting robots – one of the most commonly deployed robots in Singapore thus far – cost at least $80,000 to purchase, with prices rising to $180,000 depending on features and specifications.

While government grants help offset some of these costs, Lee of Expand Construction said that it may take two to three years for these funds to be disbursed.

Thus, contractors still have pay for robots upfront, which is challenging for firms with tighter cash flow, he added.

Those who have taken the plunge also say not all is smooth sailing.

The majority of Singapore’s construction robots are imported, said Lee, and after-sales support has been weak as suppliers see little upside to investing in such a small market.

He added that with technology advancing rapidly, pricey robots bought today could easily be superseded by newer, better models in a short time.

On the ground, implementing construction robots can also be challenging.

Chua Chia Chiang, planning manager at China Jingye Engineering Corporation (Singapore Branch), recounted how one robot was too heavy for the reinforcement bar it rested on, causing the bar to sag.

Adeline Loo, group director of BCA’s Construction Productivity and Quality Group, noted that Singapore-specific customisations were needed when painting robots were first introduced.

Chua said such tweaks take time and resources, and – depending on the scenario – may result in contractors preferring to use workers to get the job done.

It is for these reasons that Tan Kee Chuan, head of corporate planning at Kajima Overseas Asia (Singapore), said workers currently cannot be fully replaced by robots at the worksite.

Workers are still required on the ground to do touch-up work, such as plastering corners and edges of rooms, while trained operators oversee, make decisions, service and maintain robots, he said.

Growth opportunities

In some ways, Lee’s vision of a workerless worksite has already been fulfilled, but not in Singapore.

At its Naruse Dam project in Japan, Kajima Corporation in 2023 deployed 14 automated dump trucks, bulldozers and vibrating rollers that were controlled by three operators stationed 400km away.

The machines worked in unison to move cemented sand and gravel, at one point working for 70 hours and pausing only to refuel.

SCAL’s Lu said local companies that have used robotics thus far do so because “we see that this is the direction that the industry is moving in”.

He added: “It is better to be in front, because we know the construction sector tends to be very traditional. Things have been moving quickly in the last five years, and companies that do not keep up with the change may be left behind.”

JTC’s Building Projects Division director Kenny Lim said generating demand for robots may lead to more suppliers entering the market and eventually lowering prices across the board.

To minimise costs, HDB has partnered six painting robot suppliers that contractors can buy or lease robots from.

The board is also using an autonomous tower crane in Tengah, under a trial that is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2026, and testing other productivity-boosting solutions, such as robots that can remotely inspect newly built flats.

Public agencies and firms are also exploring more advanced solutions for the earliest adopters.

JTC’s Lim said this could involve robots moving materials overnight between floors of an uncompleted building, such that workers arrive the next morning with everything they need to start work in place.

“It is a perfect scenario – first, there is minimal interaction between robots and humans, so accidents are minimised, and work is not allowed at night anyway, but moving materials does not make much noise, or even require light,” he said.

Justin Yeoh, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, said that if the end goal is to eventually replace human beings on site, robots have to be as versatile and as agile as workers.

“If I design a robot for one specific task, that is it. It may do that task extremely well, but chances are, I am not going to be able to get that robot to do something else,” Yeoh said.

Against this backdrop, contractors such as Ng continue to press on with robotics, in hopes that the winds of technological change will bring with it younger, tech-savvy and local new blood into the industry.

Asked if he has had any success in convincing his son – who is in his early 20s and has seen his father work 18-hour shifts at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic – to be his successor, Ng said his response is: “Dad, come on, no bro.”

“I don’t blame him,” Ng said. “The younger ones have not been exposed to that much stress before, and who knows whether they can take it? If they can take it, they become stronger. If they cannot, what happens? Never try, never know.”

It is in this spirit that Ng’s company uses painting robots.

“If automation is a possibility, we try. Can, can lor. Cannot? We go back to square one.”