AI in the trades: Why many companies are still hesitant and what they are missing
Practical examples from gardening and landscaping show how artificial intelligence is changing marketing, lead generation and visualization.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, one in five companies in Germany is already using artificial intelligence technologies. Within one year, usage has increased by 8 percentage points. But the reality is different in the skilled trades: According to a Commerzbank study, only one in ten craft businesses is already using AI. The gap is large and growing.
From my many years of experience in gardening and landscaping as well as pool construction, I know this reluctance well. Many entrepreneurs know that something is changing. But they don’t know where to start. The entry barriers have long since fallen.
The reality: The trades are lagging behind
The AI-Index Handwerk.NRW shows: Around 33 percent of companies have already tried AI, but a good 67 percent have not. The average value is 1.78 on a scale of 0 to 5. This corresponds to a “digitalized craft business”, but not yet a real user of AI.
58 percent of companies state that they need help with AI. The will is there. What is missing is the concrete entry.
The problem is not the technology. The problem is that many companies do not see what AI can do for them. They think of robots and automation in manufacturing. But the greatest opportunities often lie elsewhere: in marketing, customer acquisition and daily communication.
Where AI really helps in the trades
AI is mainly used by craft businesses for administrative activities such as accounting applications (59 percent) and for creating texts (56 percent). These are good approaches, but they only scratch the surface.
In my work with companies from gardening and landscaping as well as pool construction, I see four areas in which AI makes a real difference:
Marketing and content creation
Today, a landscape gardener must be present on Instagram, regularly publish blog articles and keep their website up to date. Previously, this meant: writing texts, editing images, planning social media posts all in addition to the actual work on the construction site.
With AI, a large part of this work can be automated. A single project photo becomes the basis for an Instagram post, a website text and a newsletter article. What used to take hours is now done in minutes.
Quotation creation and documentation
Creating quotations is time-consuming and prone to errors. AI can generate a complete quotation from a short project description, including a service description, material list and price calculation. Of course, a specialist must check the result, but the basic work is done in seconds.
Lead generation and customer inquiries
Many companies lose potential customers because they cannot answer inquiries quickly enough. An intelligent chatbot on the website can answer initial questions around the clock, record project details and forward qualified leads to the team.
This is not a pipe dream. This works today and costs a fraction of what an additional office worker would cost.
Visualization and customer consulting
In gardening and landscaping, visualization is everything. Customers want to see what their future garden or pool will look like. With AI-supported image generation, photorealistic designs can be created from simple sketches or descriptions.
A pool builder can show his customer what different pool shapes, materials and plants look like even before the first sod is turned. This not only increases the closing rate, but also the average order value.
What keeps companies from doing it
Artificial intelligence can automate recurring tasks, cushion the shortage of skilled workers, overcome bureaucratic hurdles and meet rising customer expectations. Why are so many still hesitant?
The most common reasons I hear: “We don’t have time to deal with it.” “This is only for large companies.” “I don’t understand how it works.”
All three arguments are understandable and all three can be solved. Getting started with AI doesn’t have to start with a large project. It can start with a single application: a tool that generates social media posts. Or a chatbot that answers inquiries. Or an assistant who pre-formulates offers. I have summarized which tool is best suited for the beginning in my article Which AI tool suits me.
The key is to start small and get specific. Not “introduce AI”, but “solve this one problem”.
A concrete example from practice
I have worked on systems with several companies from the garden and pool construction sector that automatically generate content from completed projects. A photo of the finished garden or pool is uploaded, and the system creates an Instagram post, a short blog article and a Google Business entry from it.
The time required per project: ten minutes instead of three hours. The visibility: significantly increased. The inquiries: measurably more.
The special thing: This solution works just as well for a small business as it does for a gardening and landscaping company with twenty employees. The technology scales with it.
The industry is moving – slowly
The craft trade organizations have also recognized the topic. The Mittelstand-Digital Zentrum Handwerk has been offering a free digitalization workshop on the topic of “Artificial intelligence, new problem solver in the craft trades” since March 2025. This shows: The support is there. But many companies do not know that these offers exist.
Industry-specific training courses and networks are often a better way to get started than general digitalization programs. Those who learn with colleagues from their own industry understand more quickly which applications are really relevant.
The right time is now
The use of AI in German companies has increased by 8 percentage points within one year, from 12 to 20 percent. The pace is accelerating. Those who do not get involved today will have to catch up tomorrow.
For craft businesses, this means: The chance to gain an advantage is greatest now. In two years, AI will be standard in marketing. The companies that start today will then have the experience that others still have to build up.
The question is not whether AI will change the trades. The question is whether you will shape this change or run after it.
Would you like to know how AI can specifically help your company?
In a free initial consultation, we will jointly analyze which processes are suitable for getting started and which tools are suitable for your situation.
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AI in the trades, gardening and landscaping, pool construction, marketing automation, lead generation, digitalization of trades