Speed beats size. But only if you steer.

A tanker takes miles to turn. A speedboat turns in seconds.

That’s the difference between a national surveying firm and a small practice when it comes to AI. One needs committees, procurement and a pilot programme. The other needs a founder with a free Tuesday afternoon.

But speedboats capsize too.The numbers don’t say what you’d expect

If you go by headline adoption, big firms are winning. Government research found 14% of micro businesses (5 to 9 staff) use AI against 36% of large ones. whito

But look at how deeply it’s used and the picture flips. The ONS found 17% of businesses with 0 to 9 employees reporting extensive use, compared with 9% of those with 250 or more employees.

Big firms adopt more often. Small firms use it harder when they do.

Other professions have seen it first

• Accountancy: the former UK chair of EY, Hywel Ball, said smaller, boutique firms are better positioned to incorporate AI into their operations, giving them a competitive edge. His reason was cultural change. It’s hard to turn a tanker accountancyage
• Law: at Legalweek 2026, panelists noted that smaller firms adopt new technology faster than large firms weighed down by approvals, compliance review and legacy systems

So size isn’t destiny. Agility is an advantage. It just isn’t automatic.

Where surveying sits

Nobody has pulled away yet. RICS research this year found the most common stage organisations are at is the early-stage pilot, with embedded use remaining rare. rics

That means the race is still open. And in surveying, most of the runners are small. Some SMEs are flying, usually because the founder is curious and gets stuck in. Many sole practitioners are stuck, and those are the people I hear from most.

Why speed alone won’t do it

Here’s the catch. The small firms moving fastest in other professions are often the least protected.

• In law, more than half of solo and small firms report having no AI policy ncbar
• In architecture, only 15% have formal AI policies in place beale-law
• The biggest barrier isn’t money. For small law firms, finding time is the biggest hurdle to adopting new technology ncbar

Surveying is different in one important way. Since March, there’s been a mandatory RICS AI standard. Skipping governance isn’t an option. That sounds like a burden. I think it’s an advantage, because it forces small firms to build good habits while they’re still small enough to do it in an afternoon.

The opportunity

For most of surveying’s history, size has won. Bigger firms had the panels, the systems, the marketing budgets and the people.

AI changes that. For maybe the first time, a small firm can have a genuine advantage over a national. The tools cost pennies. You don’t need an IT department. You need curiosity and a bit of time.

That time is the investment. A few evenings and weekends learning what AI can do for your practice. Testing it on low-risk work. Finding what saves you an hour, then what saves you a day.

Do that now and you’ll get the time back many times over. And you’ll be months ahead of firms still waiting for a committee to sign off a pilot.

The window is open while nobody has pulled ahead. Small firms are best placed to move through it first.