Enhancing productivity and improving financial management

The Challenge

With 20 successful acquisitions in its portfolio, Modigent acts as the umbrella company for a wide array of mechanically-focused specialty contractors across the nation. With so many services and markets to simultaneously manage, the company faced challenges such as coordinating employees’ efforts to successfully complete projects, handling inefficiencies found within its everyday tasks, navigating the labor shortage and supply chain interruptions, and more. As the company and technology options evolved, though, Modigent knew it needed to implement a system that was capable of streamlining its processes across all of its operations.

The Solution

By adopting Procore, Modigent aimed to not only address current challenges, but also to stay ahead of potential problems. Since then, Procore has provided the company with a single software solution that can be accessed anywhere, at any time, allowing Modigent to stay on top of its vast number of responsibilities across the nation. The user-friendly software platform has enabled Modigent to maximize employee productivity and skills, gather and use valuable data for effective decision-making, gain better control over its finances and more.

The Results

• Saved 50% of time on closeout processes, translating to approximately 40 hours per project
• Connected field and office processes within Procore, enabling seamless communication and collaboration
• Achieved improved forecasting through real-time data on costs, billings, and project progress

Navigating the Labor Shortage

Like so many other construction companies, Modigent has felt the impact of the labor shortage and supply chain interruptions. Frank Matz, the Director of Innovation at Modigent, noted, “We're living in a difficult time of labor shortages, material constraints and supply chain interruptions, and we don't have the labor we need to do the projects, period.” Because of this, Modigent had to start allocating its workforce differently. He continued, “We're finding that we need to pull labor back and forth across different projects just because we can see productivity levels on different projects waning, either because of the labor shortage, material shortage, or equipment not showing up on time.”

As a result of taking employees out of the field and placing them in the office to handle administrative tasks, project productivity suffered. With this in mind, it was pertinent the company be as resourceful as possible, which meant selecting software that provided all of the capabilities needed in one, central place, that was also user-friendly. Matz stated, “For the time being, it's learning to do more with less. If we can gain more from one person doing their job, we can do more without as many people.” As such, Procore was the logical solution and since implementing it, Modigent has been able to better navigate the labor shortage. He continued, “We're trying to maximize and leverage technology so that we get the most out of every employee that we have. All we can do is lean on technology such as Procore to help us with those processes and start bringing in-office staff to help with the technology so that we can put our tradesmen back into the field to do what they do best."

In the midst of the labor shortage, however, Matz is optimistic about the enthusiasm and energy that the younger generation is bringing into construction. However, he and others of his generation were initially hesitant about what younger generations entering the workforce would ultimately bring. Matz recalled, We sat around ten years ago wondering, “‘How are we going to handle millennials? They don't want to work; they're lazy.’ But it's not laziness. They just work in different ways — we all work in different ways — and I see a light through technology.” He expanded, “Five years ago, it occurred to me that we’re now working for the millennials. They're our customers.”

The company recognizes the importance of technology in attracting and engaging the younger generation, creating a positive shift in the construction industry's work culture. Matz spoke to this, saying, “The fact that more and more people are exposed to the industry through technology will be the biggest proponent to getting people to join it. I don't believe anybody is going to come into this industry if they see it as archaic knuckle-busting. It's about having a good lifestyle and producing something tangible — something you put your hands on and can be proud of —but not working yourself to death. I see technology as a big part of that.”

Streamlining Financial Processes

When it came to dealing with minute, yet vital financial details, Modigent found itself spending far too much time trying to ensure everything was done correctly. Fortunately, the integration of Procore with Modigent’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, Sage, has been a key factor in streamlining its financial processes and providing the company with better insights into its cash flow. Matz spoke about the integration, stating, “It seems natural that, moving forward with the evolution of different software, integrations will be seamless. Things should talk to each other, and we should get the information that we need. I think Procore has done a really good job of working with other vendors to provide that result. It's worked out really well for us."

As Modigent continues to grow and evolve, company leadership is looking for even more ways to utilize technology and further improve upon its financial processes. As the Director of Innovation, Matz is especially excited to expand upon the company’s technological capabilities. He explained, “There are always new add-ons that we're looking to and as we settle the dust in financials, there’s always something new to keep us moving forward.”

Additionally, Procore's cloud-based platform and mobile capabilities have also enhanced Modigent's financial processes. Field employees are able to easily make important updates via their mobile devices, which can be instantly utilized to improve billing and forecasting. Matz elaborated, “With simple entry from our end-user's, like hours and quantities installed, we’re able to gather the data, connect it to our budget and payroll, then funnel that right back into an estimate comparison and forecasted billing.”

This real-time access to financial data empowers project managers to run projects without delays caused by payroll or payables processing. They have immediate visibility into the company’s committed costs, billings, and project progress through user-friendly dashboards. Matz commented, “The process begins in Procore and ends in Procore. We know exactly where we are as far as forecasting, revenue, and what payables are due that month.”

Saving Time, Stress and Money

In the midst of a labor shortage, the time-consuming, yet necessary busy work was getting in the way of accomplishing other vital tasks and preventing leadership from seeing a clear picture of where the company stood. Modigent was hopeful that Procore would be able to streamline all of those minutiae, everyday details, and was not disappointed. Matz commented, “Only when you get a hold of a good technological source, such as Procore, when you're able to settle that dust, are you able to see the other areas of your business. Only then are you able to really focus on growth, because you start getting rid of all the extra noise. Procore has allowed us to do that, and I think it continues to work in that direction.”

By centralizing all data onto one platform, Procore provided Modigent with the means to gain valuable insights and make informed decisions. Whether it’s tracking the progress of a project in real-time to determine labor needs, tracking production rates to improve forecasting, or using historical data to estimate for supplies to be used in future projects, the company has found Procore to be essential as a specialty contractor. Matz highlighted this, stating, “I believe that Procore can help any construction company, no matter what type — a specialty contractor, a general contractor, an owner — because there are always efficiencies you can gain by having all of your data in one place. The better you can feed that data out to anybody that calls, the more time you have to actually do the projects.” Moreover, Matz called out the fact that having Procore as a specialty contractor has enabled Modigent’s teams to freely access and share data with its customers and general contractors, saving them time, stress and money.

In fact, Matz estimated Modigent’s time savings, from a closeout process alone, to be 50%. He explained, “That probably comes out to 40 hours per project. If you're running $85 an hour, that’s $3,200 per project. If you're running 50 projects a year, that adds up quickly — and again, that’s just on closeouts.” By eliminating inefficiencies and consolidating data, Procore has allowed Modigent to focus on growth and make data-driven decisions. The significant time savings and cost benefits have reinforced the value of the software, enabling Modigent to achieve more with fewer resources. When asked about his feelings on the cost of Procore, he told us, “I don't even stop to think about the cost of Procore. I couldn't hire somebody for that amount to take care of all of the work that Procore is doing for us. There's no way.”