How Sylvan Turned Multi-Week COR Delays Into 24-Hour Turnarounds Using Clearstory

✅ T&M tag to priced COR turnaround cut from 2+ weeks to 24 hours

✅ Faster payments: CORs submitted and approved in days, not weeks

✅ No more lost tickets thanks to real-time digital capture

When Mike Greco stepped into his role as Project Manager in the Perth Amboy, NJ office of  Sylvan Inc., one thing was immediately clear: the Oil and Gas Industry team was ready for a better way to manage Change Orders. “We were still chasing paper,” he says. “We had field guys filling out carbon copy T&M tags, then trying to get them back to the office, get them priced, logged, and submitted. If a ticket got lost, we were just out the money.”

Sylvan is a well-respected industrial and mechanical contractor tackling large-scale energy, commercial, healthcare, and institutional projects across the country. With multiple crews, complex scopes, and demanding GC schedules, staying on top of out-of-scope work is business-critical. But like most Specialty Contractors, their process for managing T&M Tickets and Change Order Requests (CORs) relied on the industry status quo: manual effort and scattered tools.

“Everything was reactive,” says Greco. “Just like every other contractor out there, we’d be reconciling tickets weeks after the work was done, trying to remember what happened, chasing down signatures. It slowed everyone down.”

Greco had seen the problem before—and knew it wasn’t just an internal issue. “GCs were getting frustrated too. They’d ask for a COR log or ticket backup, and we’d all be digging through PDFs or Excel files. It wasn’t sustainable.”

Fast Setup, Real Results

When Greco first heard about Clearstory, he was immediately drawn to its simplicity. “I didn’t need a two-hour demo to get it,” says Greco. “I saw one screenshot and thought: yep, that’s what we need. A live, shared Change Order Log that keeps everyone aligned.”

Purpose-built to help Specialty Contractors reduce risk and get paid faster on out of contract work, Clearstory’s core product is a shareable, cloud-based Change Order Log that creates instant alignment between stakeholders with powerful tools like a mobile app for digital T&M Tags, built-in Change Order templates, instant pricing, and more.

Implementation was quick. Within a week, Sylvan’s field crews had swapped out their paper pads for Clearstory’s mobile app. “The adoption curve was practically flat,” says Greco. “If you can use a smartphone, you can use Clearstory. Our foremen picked it up right away, and our office team was off and running.”

“We’re getting paid faster, our Change Orders are cleaner, and we’re not losing revenue because of missing or late backup. The amount of savings has been significant.”

Mike Greco

Project Manager, Sylvan

The shift was immediate. “Now when we do extra work, the ticket is created, signed, and priced—sometimes the same day,” Greco says. “We’re attaching photos, logging hours, capturing signatures—all from the field. And by the time the crew gets back to the shop, that ticket is already synced with the GC.”

Greco emphasizes that this isn’t just about internal efficiency. “It’s changed the dynamic with our GCs. They see we’re organized, professional, and easy to work with. That trust matters. It leads to faster approvals—and more opportunities.”

One of the biggest wins? Speed. “We used to have tickets sitting around for weeks waiting to get priced and logged. Now we can have a full COR package submitted in 24 hours,” says Greco. “That’s real-time cash flow improvement.”

Clearstory has become the central source of truth for Sylvan’s Change Orders. “Before, we’d be updating multiple Excel files, checking emails, cross-referencing PDFs,” says Greco. “Now we just log into Clearstory and everything’s there—pending CORs, signed T&M tickets, backup documentation. It’s one click.”

He’s also seeing a difference in how his team manages risk. “We’re not guessing at what’s outstanding anymore. We’ve got visibility into everything—signed, pending, aging. It’s all in one dashboard. You can’t put a price on that kind of control.”

Faster Payments, Stronger GC Relationships

Sylvan now uses Clearstory across the board—for digital T&M Tags and every Change Order. Their rates are built into the platform, so pricing happens instantly. Greco particularly appreciates the analytics dashboard. “The days aging report is a game-changer,” he says. “We can see what’s held up, what’s been approved, what’s missing. That’s how you stay ahead.”

Greco adds that the transparency Clearstory provides has reduced disputes with GCs. “When there’s a signed digital ticket, time-stamped with photos and clear descriptions, there’s not much to argue about,” he says. “It keeps the conversation focused and professional.”

And the results speak for themselves. “We’re getting paid faster. Our Change Orders are cleaner. And we’re not losing revenue because of missing or late backup,” says Greco. “It’s hard to measure exactly how much we’ve saved, but I can tell you it’s significant.”

Even more importantly, Clearstory has become a differentiator. “We’ve had GCs tell us they wish every sub used it,” says Greco. “When they see how organized we are—how easy it is to review tickets and track CORs—they remember that. It puts us in a different league.”

Asked what he’d tell another contractor thinking about trying Clearstory, Greco doesn’t hesitate. “You’re crazy not to,” he says. “If you’re still emailing CORs and using paper tickets, you’re behind. This is the new standard.”

And while Clearstory has helped Sylvan tighten up operations and billing, Greco sees the bigger picture. “It’s not just a tool—it’s a mindset shift,” he says. “You’re not just doing the work—you’re telling the story of the work, in real time. That’s what Clearstory enables.”