Driving project excellence with simplified digital workflows

The Challenge

Rascor is a renowned waterproofing subcontractor with offices worldwide. With a specialism in the development and production of structural waterproofing systems, its Irish and UK team has completed ambitious projects with the likes of luxury Mayfair hotel Claridge’s, New Children’s Hospital, Dublin and major commercial and residential projects across the UK and Ireland.

Rascor has big ambitions for its future and wants to move beyond its reputation as subcontractors. Rascor wanted to embody the professionalism contractors exhibited and not just think of its clients, but its client’s clients. This meant always striving to deliver the best customer experience and project performance to the end user of the final product.

To make this happen Rascor needed to modernise paper-based processes and overhaul its project management system to encourage the visibility and accuracy a business such as theirs needed.

The Solution

Procore was able to bring all of Rascor’s processes online and break down data silos that had formed on disparate devices. Everything Rascor worked on across became housed in one place, accessible by everyone and tethered to projects.

Rascor described its clients’ reaction to a system based in Procore as “a comfort blanket”, giving them confidence in their abilities and in the words of Managing Director Dan Connolly, “putting us on their preferred subcontractors list.”

The Results

• Teams can share project information instantly, enhancing collaboration and reducing delays
• All project data is securely stored in one accessible hub, improving efficiency and accuracy
• A user-friendly solution that expands the talent pool by attracting diverse candidates

The story

Founded in the 1950s, Rascor is a global operation with offices in Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Germany, the UK and Ireland. They have developed a strong reputation as experts in the development and production of structural waterproofing systems that has seen them work with an enviable and varied client list that includes everyone from luxury Mayfair hotel Claridge’s to Dublin’s New Children’s Hospital.

Coinciding with the 2020 purchase and development of its new Ireland and UK Headquarters in Co. Wexford, the Rascor team wanted to go even further and scale up the level of customer experience they deliver. As Managing Director UK & Ireland Dan Connolly says, “We asked how can we make ourselves stand out from our competitors. We knew we needed to invest in our staff, structures, technology and processes. We’ve had a really strong brand since the ‘50s, but now it was the time to really focus on how we could further improve site operations and service delivery.”

For Rascor, reputation is key. “Construction in Ireland is a small world,” Dan says. “Everything we do has to work to reach its utmost potential. This means optimising information management to bring accurate data and quality performance into the complex, compliance-heavy world of waterproofing.”

To bring its processes and standards in line with these ambitions, Rascor used Procore as a touchstone for everyone in the business to ensure that project information remained sacrosanct.

As Dan says, “Before Procore, we used a very basic custom-built app. It was originally intended for a courier firm, and so it meant projects were either open or closed. We knew that in the business of waterproofing, there’s plenty inbetween, and Procore understood this nuance of our business. Our processes were then able to find a serious home to be housed.”

A subcontractor with a main contractor mentality

Managing Director Dan Connolly explains, “For us, we always focus on the end user of the final product. If we only look to our clients - the contractors, then we’re under-serving our work on each project. We knew that if we could change this mindset and bring more of a ‘main contractor’ mentality to Rascor, we would serve to boost our reputation and our profile.”

Procore held the key to this transformation. Rascor would need to produce quality reporting, and ensure projects were visible to stakeholders and all in one place.

“Procore has been the fulcrum we needed,” Dan Connolly says. “Our level of reporting, such as having one version of drawings across all sites, has only gone up with a single hub for project information. The quality of our reporting and our service delivery has greatly improved. Procore has set us apart from where we came from, and is moving us ever closer to where we want to go.”

Aside from the benefits this brought to information management, Procore’s ability to house all project data from multiple sources has the added benefit of helping Rascor build its own profile.

As Dan explains, “Subcontractors don’t traditionally do much marketing. But we knew we only stood to benefit from a good looking website and detailed case studies. Because we have all the information and photos in one place, we’re able to produce these resources easily and professionally. Before Procore, it would have been a very manual task of extracting data from a number of devices and in the busyness of the day creating case studies for marketing became a task that we overlooked.

Rascor is moving its responsibility beyond installation into a much broader, nuanced profile that attracts a new raft of prospects. As Dan says, “In terms of quality reporting our industry has become a lot more professional in recent years and there is a far higher expectation from clients, with Procore we have been able to fulfil these expectations and it has led to new opportunities.”

Ensuring the door is always open

For Rascor, an outsider perspective is important. With the current skills shortage within the industry it sometimes means hiring individuals who wouldn’t normally go into construction because of a lack of perceived experience, it is becoming a necessity to broaden our horizons to ensure we can continue to attract quality candidates. Yet according to Dan Connolly, where others see drawbacks in hiring candidates from different backgrounds, the Rascor team sees benefits.

“We’ve seen people join us from outside of construction and they bring invaluable perspectives.On the face of it sometimes certain careers do not seem like a natural fit for construction however when we focus on skill sets such as attention to detail, teamwork, and being process-driven, we can find some really strong people who may not have an opportunity in our industry in years gone by.”

As Dan says, “We don’t create ceilings, we want to provide our employees with a career path that satisfies the need for progression and reward”. If you have the work ethic and are a strong team player - you’ll do well here! Procore has been vital at embodying this philosophy because its useability levels the playing field for construction pros and those new to the industry. We’ve found Procore to play a huge part in investing our newest team members with confidence and ensuring we can steward them through fresh challenges.”

Whether it’s team members in need of training or upskilling current ones, Procore’s ease of use means processes are quickly learned and everyone remains connected and visible of project information. Employees don’t feel siloed and benefit from collaboration. It also gives them assurance in their performance with feedback on the quality of their work and improvements easily given via the platform.

Procore offers a diverse array of possibilities for Rascor. It helps Rascor’s processes but also its ambitions as they move into a promising future. As Dan says, “We’re only scratching the surface of what Procore can do.”