How Batson-Cook Used Clearstory to Drastically Reduce Project Risk and Change Order Processing Time

When it comes to deploying software solutions on complex construction projects with dozens of busy Specialty Contractors and a design blueprint in constant flux, first impressions matter. Batson-Cook Construction project manager Linda Whitman recently counted not just one, but two new software pilots on a higher education project in Dallas. 

A scheduling program ended up getting so much push-back on difficulty of use, lack of training, and a clunky and confusing interface that Batson-Cook unplugged it in short order. But Clearstory, the industry’s only Change Order Communication Tool purpose-built to align GCs and subcontractors on out-of-contract work, was hugely successful from day one of deployment. 

“Absolutely loved it,” Whitman says. “And one of the big reasons was that I was working on another project where the PM had left in the middle of the job, and the one laptop where all of the Change Order Requests and documents and logs were saved had gone missing.”

“You can finally see everything that's happening from a Change Order exposure perspective, and that’s one of the big rewards with Clearstory: it’s a single, shared Change Order Log, and you can look at it at any time and know exactly where your project stands.” 

Linda Whitman

Project Manager, Batson-Cook Construction

On that job, Whitman and her general manager ended up spending nearly three months rebuilding the paper trail for 20 lost Change Orders, in addition to adding 20 new Change Orders to the mix, including negotiating with trade partners on CORs signed off by a supervisor who thought he was just approving hours worked. 

“Oh my Lord, just so much time playing catch-up and we had no documentation. Just old email threads going back and forth and signatures on paper tickets that we were bound to even though half of it was scope work,” Whitman says. “So it definitely cost us in that respect. It was a mess.”

Not so on the project where Batson-Cook piloted Clearstory. First of all, there was nearly zero push-back from the same Specialty Contractors that shot down the scheduling software. “Those trade partners just picked up Clearstory and started using it,” Whitman says. “There have not been any subcontractor issues and there’s no confusion because everything is all in one place and it’s incredibly easy to use and understand.” 

That’s because Clearstory was purpose-built by former General Contractors who saw their Specialty Contractors and projects suffering from manual Change Order workarounds and paper-driven processes.

Clearstory’s core product is a shareable, cloud-based Change Order Log that creates instant transparency between stakeholders and features simple but powerful workstreams to capture field-directed extra work, conduct pricing exercises, and streamline Change Order review. 

“The difference between a project with Clearstory and a project without it is night and day, because everything related to Change Orders runs so smoothly with Clearstory,” Whitman says. “The communication is seamless and is all in the cloud-based COR Log, so any other PM can come into my position and instantly know what’s going on.”

Real-time visibility into Change Order risk and exposure also provides Whitman with confidence and certainty during weekly progress meetings with the project owner. Instead of manually requesting and receiving a mixed bag of COR Logs from each of her subs, and then reconciling each of those with her own project financials, Whitman simply clicks into Clearstory for a complete and up-to-date status check across all contractors.

“You just feel like you can finally see everything that's happening from a Change Order exposure perspective and have clarity when you report to the owner where you’re at,” Whitman says. “And that’s one of the big rewards with Clearstory, that it is a single, shared Change Order Log, and you can look at it at any time and know exactly where your project stands.” 

Clearstory’s automated workflows also get high marks from Whitman, who frequently experiences design-driven ASI changes that require communication with dozens of Specialty Contractors to obtain cost impacts. On her current project, ASIs need to be communicated to multiple trade partners, and in the past, that meant sending and following up on multiple different email threads, too.

“Being able to send a single ASI notification to everyone, and they can just immediately mark impact or no cost impact right then and there, versus me hounding them for responses and trying to organize everything is a huge time saver,” she says.

On average, Whitman estimates that Clearstory is saving her five hours every week in Change Order processing time alone. Even without the additional efficiency benefits she sees on ASIs and reporting to the owner, that amounts to 260 hours of Change Order drudgery eliminated on an annual basis. 

Whitman is also confident that her current project will close out with minimal Change Order risk holding stakeholders back or leading to negotiations or detective work to evaluate and validate CORs. “I won’t have any last minute Change Orders straggling in,” she says. “I just don’t see that happening with Clearstory, because everyone knows if they have something all they have to do is upload it into Clearstory to process and approve. It doesn’t go anywhere, it doesn’t get lost in emails. It’s always there.”