Abstract As a major contributor to the increasing adverse environmental impact worldwide, China’s construction industry faces major challenges in energy conservation. Improving energy utilization efficiency is an effective method for mitigating energy-intensive problems induced by this industry. Accordingly, this study combined a multiregional input–output model with data envelopment analysis to assess the energy efficiency of China’s construction industry at the provincial level. Results show that the majority of the provincial construction sectors in China are energy inefficient and the performance of energy efficiency is highly related to the level of regional economic development. Scale efficiency is comparatively high in the regional construction sectors, but technical aspects are lagging behind. Moreover, cross-regional energy allocation demonstrates higher efficiency than that of the energy structure. The inefficient utilization of unclean and clean energy can be attributed to the lack of required instruments that can facilitate clean production processes in the construction field. To solve these problems, this study presents corresponding governmental measures and market-driven strategies from the institutional, technical and management aspects. The findings of this study can provide a holistic understanding of the current efficiency status of the construction industry and help decision makers stratify regional energy conservation targets at the industrial level.