Procore's BIM Helps Bailey-Harris Drive Digital Transformation

The Challenge

Bailey-Harris Construction, a midsize GC in Alabama, wasn’t sure a company their size could benefit from construction software, but in their experience, solely running the business through spreadsheets and emails resulted in poor communication and expensive inefficiencies. When the company started using Procore for project management, along with quality and safety protocols, they would soon come to realize the potential benefits of true digital transformation.

The Solution

Bailey-Harris initially started using Procore’s BIM solution as a way to upload models to the platform. However, when employees saw how many expensive mistakes were avoided by reviewing the 3D models during pre-construction, the company began to take notice. Six years later, Bailey-Harris has implemented Procore solutions across the company and is eagerly in search of the next digital frontier.

The Results

• Bailey-Harris estimates that Procore’s BIM helps them avoid approximately 300 issues per project, for an average savings of $124,500 per project
• By integrating Procore, Bailey-Harris had the ability to publish and send coordinated content to all of their field teams, owners, and specialty contractors
• Bailey-Harris is spending less time repairing communication issues and more time closing out projects

Using construction technology to impact Alabama’s cities and communities

There is a common misconception, amongst GCs, that digitization is strictly for the biggest players. Aside from their ERP, the company was mostly relying on spreadsheets and emails to run their business. The result was an inefficient operation in which time was routinely lost trying to stay in sync. “It was so cumbersome just trying to keep up and make everything match,” says Charles Carl, Senior Design Manager at Bailey-Harris.

Things began to transform in 2018 when the company started using Procore’s Project Management and Quality & Safety solutions; coordination improved for project teams that began to utilize the software.

Then, in 2019, Bailey-Harris discovered Procore’s BIM solution, a new product that let companies put 3D models into the hands of workers and external partners, whether they’re at their desks or out in the field. “We heard there was a module that would let us upload the models to Procore, which was the main reason we originally signed up for it,” says Carl. By consulting with Procore’s Strategic Product Consultant, DJ Phipps, who has now been working with Bailey-Harris for more than six years, they soon discovered just how powerful the tool could be. “We're not a large company. We're not a big deal. But when we talk to DJ, we feel like we are as big as anyone,” says Gordon Chism, Bailey-Harris’ Director of Innovation and Technology.

BIM makes the difference

Chism, who had recently come on board as a project manager, recalls sitting with a specialty contractor who had never used Procore’s BIM solution. Having already looked at the layout as a 3D model, Chism knew there was a potential problem that the specialty contractor couldn’t see. “We're looking at a kitchen layout, and I said, ‘Well, let's look at the model in Procore. There's the cabinet, and we're trying to get here.’ He was like, ‘That is the coolest thing I have ever seen.’” In the end, BIM helped both companies avoid a pricey and time-consuming mistake.

“I don’t care how old you are or how long you’ve been doing this,” says Carl. “We all know how to read plans, but sometimes seeing the visual just makes all the difference in the world.”

As BIM proved effective on more and more projects, Chism and Carl were able to quantify how much it was saving the company. “On average, BIM helps us avoid about 300 issues per project,” says Carl, which he estimates as a savings of over $100,000 per project. Those numbers, as well as the solution’s impact on operations, helped to bolster the company’s opinion of BIM and Procore.

“Just showing how laser scanning and modeling and coordination can help a project really opens some people’s eyes,“ says Chism. “It was like, ‘OK, building is changing, and these models can be incredibly helpful, and we need to move into the future.”

Forging ahead with Procore technologies

The next step for Bailey-Harris was integrating Procore into other departments within the organization. Doing so helped them minimize errors, streamline processes and see the kind of real-time data that helps keep projects on track and on budget. “That was a game changer for the finance team,” says Chism. From there, the company continued to add new Procore solutions and better integrate them across all aspects of the company’s operations and management.

“It’s invaluable to be out on the job site with an iPad and be able to pull up things like the drawing and the submittals, to write an RFI or a daily job text note for my superintendent,” says Chism. “Everything is right there, and it's all going into the system and getting documented. It's just a great communication tool.”

The resulting cultural shift within Bailey-Harris showed an embrace of technology as an essential part of their business. So deep was the shift that Chism was moved from his project manager role into a newly created position in which he oversees technology and innovation for the entire organization. Such a position may be unusual for a company of Bailey-Harris’ size, says Chism, but their experiences with Procore have shown them why smaller players can’t afford to be hesitant when it comes to technology. “As a smaller GC, where everybody is wearing so many different hats, you need to be as efficient and effective as you possibly can,” he says, “and Procore helps with all those efficiencies.”