Real-Time Visibility Into Change Order Risk

When Adam Diamond joined KC Painting & Coatings in 2023 to lead the commercial painting division, he was psyched to bring on best practices, innovations, and solutions that could help grow the company’s market share across the Southeast.

With KC expanding its focus from tilt-up warehouse jobs into large healthcare and data center projects, Diamond was expecting more trade interaction, more owner-directed design changes, and a lot more Change Orders. “So Clearstory was one of the first things that I gravitated towards, and it’s been fantastic,” he says.

Diamond had experienced Clearstory’s ability to eliminate Change Order risk firsthand as a painting contractor on a large project prior to joining KC. In addition to real-time visibility into risk exposure, Diamond was impressed with Clearstory’s intuitive workflows that eliminated two to three hours of manual prep and organization for every Change Order.

“Our big data center projects can easily have 50 to 60 Change Order Requests just for touch-up,” he says. “Clearstory replaces all of those manual COR processing hours that can be better spent out on the jobsite, working on billing projections, and checking the status of pending Change Orders. So Instead of doing tasks, you're able to plan.”

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. 

Easy Adoption and Immediate Benefits

For a fast-moving, growth-minded company like KC Painting & Coatings, it’s critical for technologies to be easy to use, and Clearstory’s field-tested user interface likewise scored high marks as it was deployed on projects.

“Within one training session, our field teams were out there making T&M Tags,” Diamond says.  “Whether it’s getting signatures or adding pictures or descriptions, if you know how to use your phone, you can start using Clearstory. The take rate was almost immediate and we started to see the benefits almost immediately, too.”

In particular, KC projects have been able to protect the revenue at risk from poorly documented, late, unsigned, or disputed T&M Tickets and Change Order Requests. By eliminating time-consuming and error-prone workflows with built-in digital signatures, pricing tools, and Change Order templates, Clearstory provides consistent, reliable documentation of extra work that speeds stakeholder alignment for COR approvals. 

“Quickly closing our extra work tickets and converting them into approved Change Orders is always going to be a positive return on investment, and anything we can do to build trust with our GCs will benefit our project profitability,” Diamond says. “The timeliness of Clearstory is what is going to safeguard your profitability and allow you to see that return on extra work. You can see the ROI almost instantly.” 

Fast Alignment with GC Customers

Designed to provide value to all project stakeholders, Clearstory is also delivering tangible benefits to KC Painting & Coatings’ GC customers by providing them with real-time visibility into the status of every T&M Ticket and Change Order Request on a project, eliminating the need for PMs to constantly request and reconcile COR Logs in order to account for Change Order risk.

“We’ve had an overwhelmingly positive response from our GCs because Clearstory makes their lives so much easier,” Diamond says. “There's no gaps in your Change Order Requests, there’s no gaps in your Change Order Request Log, and the reconciliation for both sides is that much easier.” 

And with market growth on the radar, Clearstory provides KC Painting & Coatings with a competitive advantage as they continue to build on a reputation for positive project outcomes.  

“If we can provide something that not every painting company is either investing in or committed to or capable of doing yet, it immediately sets us apart,” Diamond says. “Being able to adapt our processes to the modern construction world raises confidence, builds legitimacy, and helps establish KC Painting & Coatings as one of the leading painting contractors in the country.”

About KC Painting & Coatings

Headquartered in Alpharetta, GA with additional offices in Savannah, Alabama, and Texas, KC Painting & Coatings is a leading painting and coatings subcontractor committed to providing a best-in-class project experience for clients across the Southeastern US.