STA Tech Expo 2026: what the exhibitor list says about subcontractor tech

Back office: payroll, accounting, and finance

Four exhibitors sell back-office software to trade contractors. Trayd and Miter both describe certified, union, and prevailing-wage payroll; Trayd adds a general ledger, WIP schedules, retainage, and AIA billing, while Miter adds HR, benefits, and expense management. C/F Data Systems sells STRUCTUREcloud construction accounting with payroll posted to job costs. Cru, from Constrafor, describes a crew of AI agents for bookkeeping, cash forecasting, job costing, materials, collections, and COI compliance.

Of these, only Cru and Miter describe AI on the pages we checked (Miter in its Sept 30, 2026 Series B release). Knowify, a QuickBooks-connected job management tool for trades, announced Knowify AI on its homepage and lists plans starting at $99/month.

Field: time, production, dailies, and safety

Raken and Riskcast both capture field time, production, and daily reports. Riskcast is built for self-perform contractors and cites Posillico and E-J Electric; Raken publishes per-user pricing ($23 and $59 per user per month, billed annually). SafetyClerk focuses on safety compliance, with workers signing pre-shift reviews on their own devices. Kojo covers materials procurement and AP for trades. None of the field-time tools describes AI on its homepage.

AI document agents

Two AI-first exhibitors read project documents: Pelles AI, built for trade contractors from estimating to closeout, and Trunk Tools, whose agents handle bids, RFIs, submittals, bulletin review, and SMS Q&A. Both make large usage claims (Pelles: 3,000+ projects; Trunk Tools: 1,000 U.S. projects), which we have not verified. The expo's own agenda included a panel on using AI on the jobsite and promised a closing segment on how to spot vendor overclaim.

Reality capture and design technology

OpenSpace and Track3D both sell capture-based progress tracking; Track3D says progress data is ready in 6 hours, OpenSpace sells Track as an add-on. GRAITEC and IMAGINiT are Autodesk resellers that also ship their own software and training. Engineta and Abtech (a Leica distributor) were on the floor as services and equipment providers rather than software vendors.