Goal: Streamline the Change Order Process 

Performance Contracting, Inc (PCI) is the largest drywall and specialty contractor in the United States with over 40 offices and 8,000 employees. Given their size, PCI identified the Change Order process as an area of improvement. They evaluated enterprise digital solutions that could provide significant value to capture and accurately track costs, and communicate timely with clients.

Their decision to streamline the entire Change Order request process led them to Clearstory and our Change Order communication platform. PCI’s pilot project had impressive results, and they liked that it was simple to roll out to different offices and easy to use for their team members and clients.

PCI and Clearstory signed a multi-year contract and the tool is being introduced across the entire company. Kevin Ullrich, Project Manager from the San Francisco Bay Area Interior division, walked us through how his team became more productive, increased profitability, and reduced revenue at risk with Clearstory.

Challenges Before Clearstory

Prior to implementing Clearstory, it could take weeks for completed Tags to make their way to the office which made it difficult to clarify any issues. As a result, Tags were rejected for being incomplete, late, illegible, or lost, adding up to a significant amount of lost revenue. Management had no real-time visibility into our extra work revenue and COR revisions with GCs were adding time to the approval process.

Enter Clearstory

Clearstory is the modern solution to Change Order Communication, bringing all Extra Work and cost communication information into one cloud based platform. After adopting Clearstory, PCI saw fantastic results.

Improved Productivity

Kevin estimates that Project Managers save between 2-4 hours each week. “Before Clearstory, it took a long time to put everything together. Now, we see a dramatic reduction in the time it takes between getting a Tag signed on site and a COR priced out and submitted to our General Contractor.”

Increased Profitability

Before Clearstory, Kevin estimates that 15% of their tags were rejected due to being late, impossible to read or lacking proper documentation. He estimates another 5% of Tags were lost and therefore never submitted.

By using Clearstory, PCI reduced lost revenue from lost or rejected T&M Tags by more than 90%. Field staff now complete their T&M Tags using their mobile devices, instantly attach photos and other documentation, then submit them in minutes, virtually eliminating the possibility of Tags getting lost or rejected.

Getting Paid Faster

Managing multiple Change Orders and their cost implications on large projects was a major challenge before Clearstory. PCI has improved it's project visibility and reporting by using Clearstory's Days Aging report, which tabulates the value of outstanding Change Order Requests automatically. Kevin commented, “The Days Aging report is something senior management loves to see, so they can track revenue coming in from Extra Work.”

Better Customer Relations

Clearstory's digital T&M Tags are easy to complete with proper documentation, and signatures can be obtained digitally, improving communication between PCI and their customers. All Change Order Requests are located in one place, so there are no surprises, making the GC’s job much easier. Clearstory also reduces the amount of back and forth communication between PCI and their GC customers. “Back and forth on COR revisions between PCI and our General Contractors has been reduced by over 50%.”