Transforming construction operations and driving growth

The Challenge

Juneau, a renowned construction company operating across the southern United States, has always done what was needed in order to deliver exceptional results to its clients, making it no shock that they hold 76 awards for excellence. The company began experiencing major growth around 2016, but still relied on paper documentation and large files, along with Excel and Word documents for document management. There was a lack of standardization, especially in areas that varied between projects, such as subcontractor operations. The company struggled with organization, efficiency and data security, and had to resort to individual solutions for file management, and even set up personal servers. Moreover, the company had to tackle connectivity issues in areas with limited internet access. Recognizing the need for a unified platform that could accommodate its growing demands, Juneau partnered with Procore.

The Solution

After implementing Procore, Juneau experienced even more growth, although that wasn’t the company’s original intention. Initially, Juneau wanted a platform that would enhance the lives of its people by making their jobs more efficient in order to improve work-life balance. However, after getting employees across the company to adopt the software, it was also able to take on more projects — and bigger ones, at that. By achieving better collaboration across its teams and streamlining its processes, Juneau has positioned itself for future growth using a tool that can scale alongside it.

From Humble Beginnings to Unparalleled Growth

Juneau's journey began in 1997 when the owners, Nancy and Les Juneau, took a job to build their local elementary school’s new basketball court. Dissatisfied with the construction industry's prevailing practices, they sought to create a company that prioritized client satisfaction, employee well-being, and doing things with integrity. So, the pair purchased the necessary equipment on their personal credit cards, fearful of going over the limit. This leap of faith and dedication to excellence laid the foundation for Juneau's growth. As Jake Landreneau, Director of Innovation and Technology at Juneau, recalled, "If you really focus and take care of your clients and your people and do things the right way, it's going to work out in the end."

Greg Cornwell, Vice President of Operations at Juneau, agrees. He added, “Focusing on people rather than profit is really what it boils down to. It's all about taking care of, not just our people, but all of the people taking care of our clients and trade partners, too. It’s about treating people right, and that includes looking out for their best interests and trying to come up with new ideas to make the roles and lives of people better by being more efficient.” The belief in and adherence to its core values is evident in the company’s success.

From its roots in higher education to multi-family and commercial projects, Juneau's growth has been marked by its expansion into diverse sectors, which has been a direct result of the relationships it has built. Owners trust the company’s quality of work so completely that time and time again, they’ve pulled Juneau into projects that, otherwise, the company didn’t necessarily have the experience for. Landreneau spoke to this, emphasizing Juneau’s unwavering commitment to its core values. He explained, “If you provide clients with a good work environment, give them a good product, and finish on time and on budget, why wouldn't you work with them again? Most of our clients are repeat clients or referrals from repeat clients. Just do a good job and care about what you do.” As such, Juneau has been able to take on challenging assignments, such as building student housing with non-flexible deadlines, and has embarked on ambitious ventures, like constructing environmental centers and doing historic restorations.

As the company’s project portfolio and scale increased, maintaining quality and successful outcomes became paramount. Adopting Procore as a centralizing force has allowed the company to address its disparate systems and need for smoother communication. "Cornwell spoke to this stating, "The last 10 years or so, we’ve made a lot of leaps and bounds From who we were at that time to who we are now is quite different, as well as how we utilize our technology and approach other things."" Juneau's switch to a software platform that provides standardization and centralized data and communication was intended to help provide positive results on every project and increase its employees’ job satisfaction. In fact, Landreneau mentioned that the company hopes to "Reduce and drop site man hours by 50% over the next 20 years," and is well on its way with Procore. Naturally, this has enabled Juneau to take on even more projects, contributing to further growth. Landreneau remarked, “We needed things to be centralized and consistent. And now, we have the oversight needed to be able to efficiently review a project — when a project is set up, it's set up the exact same way. You can't really set it up wrong with Procore. That has definitely enabled us to continue to grow and scale, and refine ourselves.”

Choosing a Scalable Construction Software Solution that Integrates With Your ERP

In order to continue providing high-quality results on time and on budget with each of its projects, Juneau needed a way to streamline operations and keep its employees happy. Landreneau explained, “We wanted a simplified tech stack to benefit the future.” While deciding which construction software solution was right for Juneau, there was one thing company leaders knew for sure — they needed a platform that would grow with them. Juneau was executing $20 million projects regularly, and with its first $100 million project, the company knew it needed a more scalable solution. Landreneau continued, “Procore was, and still is, always improving. People like all of the things that come with Procore. It makes everyone's life easier. And, knowing that it was a platform we could grow with and keep evolving with made it the right choice for us.”

Additionally, the flexibility offered by Procore meant that Juneau could customize the software to be used in the ways that would benefit them most. Dealing with numerous, massive projects that each came with different demands, it was essential that Juneau’s software was able to easily adjust according to those needs, such as integrating with Juneau’s Enterprise Resource Planning software (ERP). After replacing the ERP software it had used for over a decade with Vista — a cloud-based system that could integrate with Procore — the company decided to transfer its data from Sage to Vista before integrating Vista with Procore. Landreneau described the process, saying, “The transition was actually really interesting. We didn’t want to have our projects archived in separate places, so we actually unplugged our ERP from all of our live projects [in Procore]. It sounds scary, and it was a little scary. No one knew about the project. We just told our team to save a copy and send it to accounting the week before. Then, we hit the button and switched them.”

Thanks to Procore’s robust ERP integrations, everything worked out seamlessly during the switch, and now that Juneau’s ERP is fully linked to Procore, employees have more streamlined financial processes that they can accomplish from anywhere. Additionally, the company hopes to integrate its HR software with Procore soon and is confident that the process will be painless with the help of the Procore team. Landreneau noted, “We've always had a good working relationship with Procore. We’ve been working with Procore closely, getting things resolved or adjusted so that they work the way we want them to, and that has been really cool.” For Juneau, choosing Procore meant choosing a comprehensive solution that not only addressed its immediate needs, but also aligned with its long-term growth objectives. As Landreneau said, “You really have to look ahead. A solution may work now, but if your tools aren’t scalable, you’ll get run over.”

Harnessing Competition to Fuel Software Adoption

Historically speaking, switching from one software platform to another has been challenging — especially within the construction industry — which is why Juneau leaders knew that the software they chose needed to be ‘worth it’ to its employees, at the end of the day. Corwell explained, “If we're going to adopt a new technology, it has to make the lives of our people easier. And if not, it's not going to get used.” That being said, the adoption of Procore at Juneau has been a dynamic process. While company leaders recognize that different people have different approaches to their jobs and are careful not to stifle individual creativity, they needed a way to make embracing technology appealing to everyone.

With this in mind, they took advantage of the playful culture and competitive spirit found throughout the company. Juneau divided superintendents and aspiring superintendents into two teams and made a competition of getting Procore-certified, driving engagement with both the software and team members. The competition sparked enthusiasm and caught fire within the organization, motivating participants to earn their certificates and demonstrate their expertise. This initiative not only enhanced proficiency, but also fostered team spirit and a sense of achievement within the company.

Streamlining Operations and Igniting Collaboration

After adopting Procore, Juneau has seen improvements across the board, including organization, efficiency, collaboration and work-life balance. Cornwell spoke about life before Procore, recalling, “We had too many different software solutions doing too many different things. We wanted to combine them into one with the goal of making our people's lives easier, and us more efficient. The way we were working wasn't aligned with the culture that we wanted to have.”

Initially, the primary goal was to enhance employees' work-life balance and allow them to focus on their core responsibilities. However, as Juneau experienced growth, Procore enabled them to handle more work effectively, driving the organization’s development even further. Landreneau affirmed this, stating, "We were able to take on more work. We're seeing a more refined workflow." He then continued, “Being connected helps. Having one place to interact with is just easier because it simplifies your process. Why add more stuff to your stack if you don't need to?”

The control provided by Procore's admin page allows administrators to customize project settings, standardize processes, and leverage data analytics for better decision-making. Landreneau stated “Using the dashboards in Procore, with how simple and easy they are to read, helps keep things moving and stay organized. Similarly, getting external folks integrated is helpful. We help to get them a Procore certification badge to show that they can do the basics and be comfortable on their phone or iPad out in the field, and create trackable data that we can close out. We use it all the time, even in little ways, just to improve. We can automate PM reporting through analytics so that they get reports sent to them instead of having to pull it together themselves. Those little ‘quality of life things’ free up brain cells and allow people to be more creative or take on other initiatives.

Furthermore, Procore’s unified platform has been instrumental in facilitating seamless hand-offs. Easy access to accurate documentation and up-to-date information has quickly become crucial at Juneau. And with all teams, from preconstruction to warranty, utilizing the Procore inbox has vastly improved communication and redundancies have been eliminated. Having a single place to interact and access information has made collaboration much more simple by eliminating unnecessary complexities. Landreneau commented, “Just being able to focus on the meaningful conversations or have quick access to documents that must be resurfaced provides direction and clarity so we can commit and follow through on those agreements, is one of the big things that Procore has supported us with.”

Enhancing Preconstruction Processes

Aside from company-wide improvements, Juneau has found that Procore has greatly benefited its preconstruction team and processes. As Cornwell expressed, "The job starts in preconstruction. If it's set up poorly, you're going to fight it the whole way, and we just can't have that." With Procore, the working relationship between the preconstruction team and other departments — particularly Operations — has become more integrated. Because of that, preconstruction now easily gets valuable input from Operations while in the planning process. Cornwell spoke to this, stating, “We're able to focus on how we’re going to build the project, and it allows us to do it in an organized fashion. We're all looking at the same orange and gray buttons that we're used to seeing in Procore. It gives that team a head start and supports them effectively.”

Moreover, the software also aids in negotiating contracts, managing progress payments, and early procurement, simplifying processes that were traditionally more difficult to accomplish, and enabling them to address challenges and make informed decisions from the early stages of a project. Cornwell mentioned, “We can even provide quick, conceptual estimates just based on a zip code.”

Cornwell emphasized the benefit of improving processes, saying, “Simplifying a process is huge for us because there's so much that goes into what we do as contractors. We're constantly solving problems, so anything that we can do to help make the day-to-day lives of our people easier is really our focus, and that's how we look at technology.” The seamless integration of Procore across departments has enabled a shared understanding, which is vital considering that the preconstruction phases are often longer than the actual construction of a project. Cornwell continued, “In terms of preconstruction, I would say, ‘Thank you, Procore, for not allowing the ‘Death by 1,000 Cuts’ to occur while we're in the honeymoon stage of a project.”