Enhancing collaboration with an all-in-one solution

The Challenge

Scott Construction Group (Scott Construction) used manual paper processes to manage their various projects, leading to siloed data and time-consuming double entry—not to mention potential for human error. As the company grew, the leadership team realized they needed to standardize processes and drive efficiency with software.

The Solution

With automated workflows and intuitive design, Procore consolidated information into one centralized location and offered project stakeholders one source of truth. By streamlining processes, Procore increased field-to-office communication, boosted visibility, and saved hours of administrative work.

The Results

• Procore streamlined deficiency list management, allowing superintendents to save time and prioritize high-value tasks
• Large projects with numerous changes are effectively managed from a single source of truth, ensuring that critical details are tracked and resolved
• Trades can easily scan QR codes to access relevant deficiencies, enhancing communication and minimizing miscommunication and confusion

Saying Goodbye to Manual Processes

Prior to using Procore, Scott Construction's team largely relied on manual paper processes. This included programs like Excel to document and monitor important project information.

"The problem with that is the more times you enter the data, the more chances mistakes will be made," Project and Technology CI Specialist Matt Gore explains. "By inputting data multiple times, the data integrity was reliant on whether the person entered everything correctly."

At the time, teams primarily communicated with each other through email, making tracking project information difficult. In addition, each team managed projects according to their own methods. This had worked for a smaller team, but as the company grew, it hindered collaboration and increased the risk for project delays.

Streamlining Processes with Procore

With a growing project portfolio, Scott Construction's leadership team decided to search for a project management solution that would help standardize processes. In January 2014, they decided to partner with the world's leading construction management software solution: Procore.

"Procore immediately improved workflows and cut down on repetitive or mundane tasks that were done in Excel or Word. It automated a lot of the administrative tasks so now I'm able to do a lot of the things that in the past would have required an assistant. The tools are easy and streamlined, making the administrative work manageable for one person. With Procore, you don't have double entry or manual spreadsheets," says Gore.

Other team members soon began to notice similar efficiencies. By consolidating all project information into one centralized location, Procore not only eliminated double entry, but it also provided one source of truth for all collaborators. Employees could easily access, update, and track important project information instead of combing through stacks of files or emails. Better yet, the tools were integrated with one another, ensuring that data was in real time and readily available.

"It's all in one location, and nothing in Procore is siloed. It's quite impressive how the different tools talk to each other. It's not a group of separate tools—they all complement each other," says Gore.

Making Life Easier for Tradespeople

In its years-long relationship with Procore, Scott Construction continues to implement more features and process improvements that benefit everyone from the team members managing projects to the tradespeople in the field.

In addition to some of the project management tools like Daily Log, which has helped reduce the amount of time employees spend on administrative work, and Drawings, Scott Construction also uses Procore's Tender Management software.

“Once we get beyond the design stage, all of our tendering happens out of Procore,” says Gore. “We use Procore to prepare our bid packages, manage our lists of bidders, and distribute and receive bid packages from subcontractors.”

Integrated project delivery encourages greater collaboration between trades to accelerate the schedule on projects. “We can condense our construction schedules by having trades actually working together rather than having clear delineations,” says Mark Oleniuk, Managing Director, Ontario, Scott Construction Group. “We might have mechanical and electrical working together closely at the early stages of the project, and figure out how trades can follow behind each other to keep costs down and work faster. Procore helps us manage that.”

When the time comes to close out deficiencies, trades benefit from the transparency, accessibility and clarity provided by Procore. Gore says, “Trades say, ‘Thank you for using this, it makes our job easier.’ Instead of them getting an email with a list of everyone’s deficiencies, and needing to go through it and pick out their own, they can just scan a QR code for a particular site and see what they need to fix specifically.”

Building Sustainable Projects in Ontario

Recently, Scott Construction has built a team on the ground in Ontario, bringing its project management expertise to the province.

The expansion presented challenges, but Procore is helping with this too. In British Columbia, the company has deep relationships with tradespeople. “Moving into Ontario, we didn’t already have that base of trade relationships that we do out West,” says Oleniuk. “Procore helps us to be more efficient in finding trades and making those personal connections. That’s been a big, big thing for us in Ontario.”

Scott Construction is undertaking projects in Ontario using sustainable components such as mass timber and geothermal heating. It’s also building rapid housing to help address the housing shortage.

“We’ve been able to hit the ground running, doing work that we’re proud of with partners who believe construction needs to use more sustainable materials and methods,” says Oleniuk. “Procore has enabled us to take on the projects we want to do, thousands of kilometres from where we started.”