Earnings per share (EPS) (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2025	Dec. 31, 2024	Dec. 31, 2023
Numerator
Income from continuing operations	$ 3,790	$ 3,521	$ 3,072
Net income attributable to redeemable noncontrolling interests	(28)	(28)	(28)
Net (income) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests	(9)	(1)	134
Adjustment of redeemable noncontrolling interests to redemption value	(23)	(34)	(24)
Net earnings attributable to common shareholders, basic	3,730	3,458	3,154
Net earnings attributable to common shareholders, diluted	$ 3,730	$ 3,458	$ 3,154
Denominator
Weighted average common shares outstanding – basic (in shares)	673,200,000	683,300,000	723,900,000
Effect of dilutive employee share awards (in shares)	3,800,000	6,200,000	5,300,000
Weighted average common shares outstanding, diluted (in shares)	677,000,000.0	689,500,000	729,200,000
Earnings per share attributable to CRH
Basic (in USD per share)	$ 5.54	$ 5.06	$ 4.36
Diluted (in USD per share)	$ 5.51	$ 5.02	$ 4.33
Antidilutive securities excluded from computation of earnings per share (in shares)	2,627,138	2,140,879	4,677,404