Choice Construction Group creates a financially secure future with Procore

The Challenge

With new owners and management in 2016, Choice Construction Group wanted to replace its existing manual administration system and move its construction processes ‘off paper’ and online spreadsheets. It needed a modular project delivery solution capable of tracking and managing costs – plus scaling their business on demand in the future. The time was right to switch to a central suite of tools and digitise its data - centralising its documentation, financials and analytics for easy access no matter the time or location.

The Solution

New leadership included incoming CEO, Shaun Workman, bringing with him an understanding of Tier 1 construction management and Procore experience. He knew that implementing Procore’s modular offering would not only ensure everything would be in one place – it would help solve administrative pressures around the company’s ambitious growth plans. Procore was ideal as it could be rolled out in phases and be used by its subcontractor and trade partner network.

It has further unified its financial accounting with Procore Marketplace additions via integration to Xero, centralised digital safety induction with 1Breadcrumb, and enhanced virtual 3D collaboration with Matterport. Procore has now centralised all of its project management data, effectively removing any manual processes, stand-alone spreadsheets and emails from the communications process.

The Results

• 40% improvement in cost recovery.
• 90% enhancement in safety culture.
• 100% transparency for collaborative data access.

Centralising Project Management on the Cloud

First phase saw Procore Project Management and Quality implemented. As the size of the projects increased and the team became more comfortable with Procore tools, it added Project Financials.

Today everything from pre-construction to project close-out is available in Procore, and there is a concerted drive to utilise all of the Procore tools. The goal is to ensure anyone in the team and its trade partner network can access information onsite on any device and at any time, removing the need to return to the office and delay decision-making.

With its current focus on mission-critical healthcare construction projects in Wellington, Procore helps Choice Construction Group deliver complex construction environments that must remain fully operational. Hospital extensions and adding new operating theatres and plant equipment with multiple trades must factor in the unique needs of onsite medical staff and patients.

“Procore is a benchmark project delivery solution here in Wellington. It fully supports our purpose to challenge, innovate and change how construction is delivered. I’d say it’s a key component of our ability to scale up to deliver projects over 25 times larger than those we could support 10 years ago,” outlined Shaun Workman, CEO of Choice Construction Group.

Building Better Accountability

Procore has transformed the power of data, ensuring transparent project information is available and trackable - holding all staff and trade partners accountable. Now, any previously informal site conversation is recorded and stored, linking data to emails and correspondence. Tracking information is much more straightforward, and automated reporting of items like project hours is now possible.

This includes site safety data and self-reported inspections and observations, providing evidence rather than anecdotes to highlight the need for change.

Boosting the Bottom Line

A significant change for Choice Construction Group is how Procore is helping improve the bottom line. There is now a proper cost recovery coding structure, tracking costs against provision and variations in real-time. This approach helps fine-tune risk parameters, easily linking code overruns to specific trade partners—alerting Choice Construction Group to the need for greater reviews of site outcomes or coding needs before major problems exist.

Identifying these costs against code lists leads to a greater recovery of additional hours against scope changes. Automated financial updates between Procore and Xero ensure greater confidence that all costs are being captured and invoiced.

“Procore’s structured coding system has vastly improved how we identify costs that may have traditionally been lost in normal general coding. Today, we are recovering an additional 40% of our variations, taking us close to a 100% recovery level,” said Shaun.

How Data Analysis Can Benefit Risk and Reporting

Choice Construction Group has continued adding to the Procore platform to extend its project management data analysis capabilities. In 2023 with the team looking to improve their reputation for the delivery of complex health industry projects, they added Procore Estimating, Field Productivity, and Extracts to their delivery solutions.

Today they rely on Procore Estimating to track tenders, review their successful and non- successful outcomes, and maintain an up-to-date tender opportunity list.

To better manage risk and reporting requirements, the team has implemented Procore Field Productivity. This means it can now track labour against budget and costs, identifying risks around budget management and hours remaining on projects.

“Procore gives us clear insights into our performance, benchmarking productivity throughout phases and entire projects. This is new for us, but we expect this level of accountability to be more in demand for our hospital construction projects,” he continued.

Making the Most of Marketplace Partnerships

Choice Construction Group has also further unified its financial accounting with Procore Marketplace additions via integration to Xero, centralised digital safety induction with 1Breadcrumb, and enhanced virtual 3D collaboration with Matterport. Procore has now centralised all of its project management data, effectively removing any manual processes, stand-alone spreadsheets and emails from the communications process.

Innovation at the Core

Today, with Procore, Choice Construction Group has a clearer understanding of the power of data, recording accurate information, automating workflows and reshaping the company's operations. Online learning tools and educational videos from Procore Learning have also ramped up innovation.

The result is capturing advanced virtual information sharing between Procore and Matterport to better support international clients review of New Zealand-based projects. Employing Procore-experienced staff who understand the company and culture, regardless of location, is also proving successful. Helping new team members onboard faster and smoother than ever before. Underpinning the company’s growth mindset with potentially new BIM capabilities within Procore is also a future consideration.

“This is all part of our people-first, stand-together vision," outlined Alice Carmody, Quantity Surveyor and Director. Procore is key to empowering our teams to meet our goals and support each other to achieve a healthy work/life balance, too."