Time Saver Technologies

Case Study: BRATH General Contractors

Brath General Contractors increase revenue by adopting Time Saver Technologies’ Construction Management 365

Customer Quote:

"I am solving tomorrow’s problems because I can see the potential impact of today’s issues and I am able to prioritize their resolution to reduce or eliminate their impact today."

Identifying Information:

Brath General Contractors

www.brathinc.com

Ron Hagood, C.E.O. (512) 244-2293

Customer Profile:

Brath General Contractors is a commercial construction company. BRATH has been doing business in the Round Rock, Texas area for over 30 years. Their annual volume is between 20-30 million dollars.

The Challenge:

BRATH’s construction project teams had so much they were trying to manage and they did not have a way to organize and prioritize these issues around how they impacted a project. This lack of organization cost the team time and money by loss of productivity.

They needed a tool that will enable them to gain control of the project. The project Superintendent executes the day to day activities on the project but the project managers are in charge of keeping the project on schedule. There was a disconnection between the two because the project superintendent drove the project into a different direction than the project’s schedule had it planned. The project superintendent wasn’t able to see the real time updates to the critical path tasks of the project’s schedule. They needed a way to get the two on the same page.

The Project Manager wasn’t able to keep the material procurement process and the product submittals in sync with the project pace. The Project Manager would utilize his gut instincts to determine the timing and priorities of the subcontracts and the material submittal process. The Project Manager would have the project’s progress come to a stop because they would be waiting on material delivery. The design team wouldn’t know what their critical action items were and which ones had critical impact on the overall project. Subcontractors wouldn’t have confidence in the project schedule or where the superintendent had the project going, so the projects never could get momentum. The construction team would spend several hours faxing and managing paper forms of key project information and documents. BRATH’s client wasn’t able to get comfortable that they had control of the project because it seemed that the plan was always changing due to lack of control.

The Solution:

Construction Management 365 is a Web Based Project Management solution built on Microsoft Sharepoint and Microsoft Project Training Microsoft Project Online Project Web App PWA Server technologies. The software gives real time access to the updated project schedule, identifying the current critical path activities. The software synchronizes the project schedule with the submittal log to provide a manageable order date for each material submittal.

Construction Management 365 includes project logs that are organized and prioritized around critical impact. The design team uses the software to interact with the construction team on maintaining the project logs.

Construction Management 365 organizes and prioritizes the outstanding issues on its home page. The software solution provides a place to upload and manage project documents. Subcontractors are given access to the project information. Subcontractors use the software to upload their project documents and communicate with the Project Superintendent about the project schedule. The software solution provides email alerts as project information is updated. The owner of the project is given access to real time project information on the web site.

The Benefit:

BRATH General Contractors was able to increase efficiency in managing a project by giving the Superintendent the ability to identify an accurate schedule and in communication with the project team.

The project manager and superintendent were able to collaborate about the project schedule on-line. The superintendent can get real time commitments from the subcontractors by publishing the project schedule to Construction Management 365.

The design team and the general contracting team improved communication through joint management of the project logs. When the Superintendent logged in and wrote a Request for Information, the Design team received a real time email notifying them of the RFI. The design team could see the issue in the email alert and then they can then log on no matter where they were and provide clarification and answer the RFI.

The design team can log onto Construction Management 365 and see just what submittals are outstanding and see when each one will have critical project impact. They can then browse to the Submittal folder in the Project Documents section and review the submittal, and take immediate action on them.

The design team can upload the contract documents to the project documents section. They can also maintain them online as changes are clarifications are made to the design.

The communication between the Subcontractors was improved by enabling them to log on and see the project schedule. Subcontractors increased their efficiency by receiving immediate schedule updates when their tasks changed. Those subcontractors that had multiple projects across BRATH’s entire enterprise were able to see a customized schedule that showed each project and just that subcontractor’s tasks. They were able to balance their workforce between projects more efficiently.

The Client or Project Owner increased communication with the project team by being able to access all project information. They can log on and see an overview of the project, or they can drill down and see all the project details.

BRATH increased efficiency and execution of their project schedules. BRATH increased their ability to obtain their schedule finish dates by 100%. All issues and scope change items were executed within the original project finish date 80% of the time.

BRATH’s clients have increased confidence in BRATH’s abilities. BRATH has enjoyed an enhanced reputation in the community. In fact, workload from repeat clients increased by 300%.