Revolutionizing large-scale project management

The Challenge

As a specialty contractor with a focus on large-scale projects in locations spread across three states, Willmar Electric has its hands full in terms of project management. Between difficulties with communication and accessibility to project data, the company needed a tool that would provide quick access to information about its projects, facilitate communication, and improve efficiency on its project sites. Additionally, they needed the tools to be user-friendly and easily adoptable. After searching through multiple options, Willmar Electric decided to partner with Procore, and has experienced significant improvements ever since.

The Solution

Today, Procore provides Willmar with a software solution that all of their teams can use, bringing necessary information, data, and communication into one, central location. It has helped reduce inefficiencies, improve collaboration between teams, and enable better management of purchase orders and financials. Overall, Procore’s help in increasing Willmar’s efficiency has resulted in cost savings, improved financial management and faster payment.

Smooth Adoption and Rapid Implementation

While searching for a single solution that would help drive Willmar's business goals and outcomes, the company knew that no matter what, it was vital that the software be user-friendly and easy to adopt. Misty Lauer, Vice President of Accounting at Willmar Electric, told us why this was so important, explaining, "We have some folks who are at retirement age and past retirement age who work for us," Misty says with audible warmth. "When we gave everybody iPads, they were a little surprised. They really wanted to stay with their papers. They weren't very trusting of the system. In the first weeks and months of having Procore, after getting off work, they would drive into the office and turn in their timesheets, even though they'd typed everything into Procore. We had to comfort them into trusting the system. It meant showing them that Procore is about helping them do their jobs better. Like changing from a Phillips screwdriver to an Impact Driver. Now they use Procore all the time and wouldn't have it any other way."

Overcoming resistance to tech wasn't the only barrier they crossed with Procore. Implementing and adopting Procore quickly was also quite simple for Willmar. Lauer stated, “The ability to implement the software was very rapid for us, so we were able to go from purchasing the software to using it in our day-to-day operations within a few months.” She then continued, ”I love working with Procore’s implementation team. They're very knowledgeable. They provide us with a different perspective on our processes and help us improve. We've become more efficient in how we do things with the software, and they help us see some of the tools and features that the software provides that we may not have stumbled onto ourselves.”

Streamlined Financial Management for Increased Profitability

As a direct result of better communication on projects, Willmar Electric has been able to streamline its financial management processes, increase cost savings and boost its overall profitability.

Lauer explains, "Procore helps get the data about projects to stakeholders, and financials to our project managers more quickly. We now have visibility into what's happening on the projects, and looking at change orders and pending change orders helps us see what's coming down to the revenue pipeline." This increased visibility into project financials, change orders, and pending items has allowed the company to proactively manage costs, identify potential risks and optimize revenue generation.

The integration between Procore and Viewpoint Vista has been crucial in improving cash flow at Willmar Electric by connecting the construction team with the finance teams. The seamless exchange of real-time data between operations and finance teams has enabled better management of commitments, purchase orders and billing processes. This integration has eliminated purchase order overruns, improved subcontract management and provided accurate financial information for improved decision-making. Lauer highlights the positive impact of Procore on financial operations, explaining, "We can communicate with Finance when the General Contractor or the subcontractor has billed us, and they're out of compliance. Overall, we just have increased communication between teams and because of it, we definitely get paid faster." By having comprehensive information readily available, the company can better budget, predict costs and avoid post-invoice surprises.