Boosting efficiency and accuracy with a centralized estimating platform

The Challenge

Canada-based Grimard is involved in multiple complex and large-scale projects with many different stakeholders. They needed a way to efficiently communicate with these stakeholders, share project details with them, receive feedback, and digitize processes that were previously done manually. They also needed a way to accurately estimate project costs. The company needed a way to bring all of its disparate parts together into a single system. They turned to Procore.

The Solution

Procore Estimating gave Grimard a way to efficiently communicate with stakeholders and offer full transparency in terms of project costs and planning. It also allowed Grimard to utilize historical data to make project estimates more accurate. Grimard was able to streamline its bidding process, which made it more attractive to potential clients and helped the business grow.

The Results

• Produced estimates almost three times faster than before using Procore
• Bridged the gap between estimating and construction, providing stakeholders real-time visibility into key project data
• With Procore, Grimard used historical data for accurate estimates, helping them bid more competitively on projects

Finding the right digital estimation solution during difficult times

When the pandemic lockdowns started in March of 2020, Grimard had to decide whether to shut down its operations entirely or implement a new platform with people who were now freely available for work. Grimard had been considering utilizing Procore for some time and decided to make the leap.

"We started looking for a digital estimation solution. We chose a tool called Esticom. One major criterion was the ability to integrate Estimation with our project management platform, which is Procore," says Grimard. "We made the right move, because less than a year after our implementation, guess what? Procore bought Esticom."

Grimard digitized its business to streamline processes for its over 400 annual projects

"I'd say a challenge, which may be even more pressing in the construction industry, is very slow progress towards digitalization. By comparison, manufacturing made the move much earlier. It's always surprising that even some of the world's largest EPCM firms are still using paper and Excel to manage projects," says Grimard.

"Clients are demanding more details. They're lifting quality requirements. And all that for the same cost, obviously. This is putting a lot of pressure on our people and engineering companies, construction companies just like ourselves, the systems, and our people."

Grimard needed to implement a system for real-time communication with shareholders that was centralized and easy to use, and they also needed a place to keep all of the project data so everyone could easily access it. Procore offered the solutions Grimard was looking for.

Procore Estimating helps Grimard get bids out faster

"Everything has to be fast and accurate. Information flows constantly and rapidly, and this is even more true today. It can take three days to open a bid project, print drawings, and manually track all changes––that's not true anymore," says Grimard. "A client wants better visibility with details. As a business operator, we want accurate estimation data, and we want it backed with execution actuals and current material costs. Essentially, we want to close the loop from execution, back to estimation."

Grimard had four requirements for adopting a new estimation system. It had to be efficient and easy to access in the field, have historical actuals to make future estimates more accurate, the ability to connect financials to work processes, and the ability to accurately pass project information between preconstruction and construction teams without delay. Procore Estimating has been all that and more for Grimard.