The reputation of construction companies among the general public has strengthened significantly and is at its best level in the history of measurement. According to the Construction and Engineering Trust & Reputation 2026 survey, the industry's overall reputation has now exceeded the moderate reputation threshold for the first time.
This year, the construction industry's reputation score was 3,02, which is above the moderate reputation threshold (3,0). This is a clear improvement from the level in 2024 (2,84), when consumer assessments, especially of the finances of companies in the industry, weakened significantly due to the economic crisis. This time, there was a clear positive development in all components of reputation.
The rise in reputation is a result not only of the development of the industry's operations but also of the long-term investment in communications that RT and its member companies make in cooperation. The industry's reputation is one of the vision-level indicators of RT's strategy, and the goal is to achieve a reputation level of 3,3 by 2028. We have been making systematic progress towards this goal.
Responsibility has been a focus of development and communication, especially in this decade. In recent years, the company's ESG factors have shown continuous improvement. This time, the ESG number was 2,98, while the target level in RT's strategy is 3,1 in two years' time.
In addition, all aspects of stakeholder support in the construction industry increased in this study. The biggest increases were in trust, readiness to support in crises, and positive speech. It can be concluded, especially from the open-ended responses, that the construction industry, which has been in difficulty for a long time, is also gaining sympathy points from the general public.
Reputation has a big impact on the attractiveness of the industry
Despite the current weak employment situation, the employer image included in the reputation and the willingness to apply for jobs in terms of stakeholder support have strengthened. Last year and this year, RT has significantly intensified its attraction work and communications together with member companies. The results of this were also visible in the spring as a significant increase in the number of applicants for vocational training in the field.
The best aspect of the construction industry's employer image is the opportunity to do meaningful work. The significant role of the industry was also evident in the positive open feedback from the survey, which stated, among other things, that construction companies do useful and important work and employ a lot of people.
Finland defeated Sweden
The reputation of the construction industry has been poor both historically and internationally. The Trust&Reputation study was the first to examine the reputation of the industry in a uniform manner in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. The study showed that the reputation is moderate and very similar across the Nordic countries.
In the Nordic comparison, the pain points of reputation in all countries are governance, which describes transparency and ethics, and responsibility. Finland is most affected by the weak economic situation in the sector, which drags down the overall reputation. Nevertheless, Finland narrowly overtook Sweden, where the sector's reputation score was 3,01. Norway and Denmark were both ahead, with Denmark reaching the best reputation score of 3,15.
This is how it was studied
The aim of the Construction and Engineering Industry Trust & Reputation 2026 survey was to investigate the reputation of companies in the sector among citizens. The survey data was collected using an electronic questionnaire from 2 April to 11 May 2026.
The organizations were assessed using Reputation and Trust Analytics' (formerly T-Media) Trust&Reputation research model, in which the organization's reputation score is the average of eight different areas. The areas are corporate governance, finance, leadership, innovation, interaction, products & services, workplace and responsibility. The study used a five-point rating scale (1–5).
A total of 6,098 Finns participated in the study. The target group of the study was Finns aged 15–65 nationwide (excluding Åland). The sample was weighted to be representative of the population by gender, age and area of residence.
More information
Merja Vuoripuro
Director, Communications and Responsibility
merja.vuoripuro@rt.fi +358 40 587 2642Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries (CFCI)