NPP is sharing this case study directly from Projul.
Sound Construction Services, based out of the Greater Seattle Area, was an industry leader in bathroom remodels and renovations, with a niche focus on tile installation and tile restoration projects. Defying typical growth, Sound Construction Services grew their revenue from zero to $5MM in annual revenue in 5 years – but not without our fair share of stress and headache!
As revenue was growing at an exponential rate year over year, so too were the requirements to support such growth. Our headcount grew significantly – easily doubling – if not tripling – the number of project managers, estimators, field workers, office staff and subcontractors. In year 1, as we were rounding our first $1MM in annual revenue, suddenly, and without warning, the organization and processes Sound Construction Services had relied on began to fall short. Enter Projul.
With such a dramatic increase in work, Sound Construction Services was not prepared to properly scale. Scheduling conflicts, resulting in upset customers, were becoming too common. Sales, something that had never previously been a problem, were suddenly becoming harder to make – despite a significant increase in advertising. Project managers began to feel spread too thin – fires had to be put out every day from lack of proactive problem solving, resulting in under-managed field workers. Field workers, who, without this much-needed management, began spending two to three times as long on projects as originally estimated.
Management at Sound Construction Services was at a fork in the road: Shrink back down to a manageable level or quickly adopt new systems that will properly support this growth.
Approach
Never backing down from a challenge, new systems and solutions were sought to support and maintain growth. Since we weren’t able to find a solution, we decided to create it. We distilled our pain points to a list, and came up with the following requirements:
CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
A database of customers with their respective project information was long overdue. Manila file folders – often found left in vehicles (occasionally found left on job sites) was simply not cutting it. Why limit who could help answer a prospective customer’s questions depend on who was in possession of a physical folder?
Lead Management
Somehow, more advertising spend was directly translating to less customers. Sound’s front office was becoming overwhelmed – often only able to follow up with a lead 2 or 3 times before it slipped between the cracks, buried in new leads.
Estimates
Being in Amazon’s backyard raised the expectations for everyone – Sound needed to find a way to really turn an estimate around same-day to meet expectations and differentiate themselves from their competition.
Project Management
Sound was struggling to find project managers capable of managing field workers, subcontractors, and customer’s expectations. Additionally, change orders were a horrid affair – often not happening, resulting in Sound eating these easily justifiable expenses.
Scheduling
Scheduling 8-10 active projects is a difficult task when having to consider customer timelines, ensure field workers aren’t reaching overtime, and understand subcontractor availability. Something had to make this process more effective, and preferably in a way that anyone could understand it – regardless of familiarity with Gantt charts or Calendars.
Worker Management
Paper time cards seemed inconsistent with expected hours. Workers were often arriving at job sites with the wrong tools for the job, burning working hours out of sheer disorganization. The front office and management needed to know where workers were on a live map in relation to their scheduled projects.
While it took some time, immediately upon releasing the very first version of Projul, we experienced better results than we could have ever expected. Like all problems, you simply need the right tool for the job.
Results
Lead Management: From 1:3 to 3:4
76% of all prospective leads were scheduled for an estimated meeting, up from 33%.
Sales: 160% Improvement
30% of all sent estimates were sold, up from 18% (despite often being 3x the price of our competitors).
Estimates: From 7 days to 1
Average turn around time on an estimate became one day, reduced from 7 days.
Profitability: From 2% to 21%
Average projects jumped from a 2% profit margin to 21%. Significantly beating the industry average of 3-8%.
Schedules: More projects = More revenue
From scheduling 8 active projects at maximum to a whopping 22. Almost 3x inactive projects!
Conclusion
Designed specifically for small to medium sized construction companies, Projul was able to dramatically improve all of Sound Construction Services’ previous pain points. While it took time to develop, test, and release version one, we were able to quickly catch our feet from under ourselves; creating a new foundation that would allow for continued growth that would reach $5MM in annual revenue faster than we could have ever anticipated.