NECA This Week

NTW 8/3: Get your data AI ready, Wendt Award Winner & More

Aug 3, 2026

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Industry News

Procore to acquire DroneDeploy for $845M

The move will combine Procore’s hundreds of millions of drawings and photos with DroneDeploy’s 20 trillion square feet of visual data. By pairing the two tech companies’ capabilities, builders will be able to use cameras, drones and robots to regularly evaluate jobsites and automatically initiate appropriate responses securely, compliantly and in context, per the announcement.

NECA News

Getting Your Data AI-Ready

NECA and ELECTRI International's Seven Points of Clarity Virtual Classroom Series continues on August 6 at 3 PM ET with Data Models Demystified: Beyond the LLM Hype. This session breaks down data models, taxonomies, and structured information in plain contractor language. Participants will see how better data foundations improve estimating, prefab, QA/QC, and closeout and prevent costly fragmentation as AI adoption grows. Register for this session or register the full series (access recordings of earlier sessions) to gain a complete roadmap for implementing AI in your business.

New Research + Wendt Award Winner

We have a few updates from ELECTRI to share! First, a new free research report, Built to Sell: Building a More Valuable Electrical Contracting Company offers a leadership-book style read for contractors looking to grow their company's value year after year, not just near retirement. It covers succession planning and includes a valuation driver checklist and readiness assessment for strategic planning. Second, congratulations to James MacDonald of Miller Electric, recipient of ELECTRI's 2026 Wendt Award. Established in 1998, the Wendt Award is ELECTRI's highest annual honor, recognizing exemplary leadership and service to the electrical industry.

Access the Report

Bid Smarter, Install Smoother: Standby Power Webinar Aug. 6

With your role in CII, winning the project is just the beginning. You tackle some of the hardest decisions on a power project, including how to ensure the lights stay on for your customers when the power goes out. Join Caterpillar in next week’s webinar to learn practical strategies for planning and delivering standby power projects with confidence. Explore key considerations that can help reduce risk, avoid common pitfalls and support better outcomes for both your team and customers.

Give Your Safety Professionals the Training They Deserve

NECA's Safety Professionals Institute (NSPI) delivers the "must know" training for electrical industry safety professionals, covering OSHA, NEC, and NFPA 70E regulations, common workplace hazards, and how to build a culture of safety buy-in. The program includes live webinars, on-demand prework, and three days of in-person training in Washington, DC from Oct. 20-22, 2026, capped off with a capstone project where participants design a safety program tailored to their own company.

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