“I get no fewer than 6 new bids each day through PlanHub-some days I’ll get as many as 15. PlanHub has been so important to us by giving us the volume of bids that we need to be a force in the market.”
-Mike Ferguson, Sales Estimator, Wildcat
Summary
Wildcat Striping, Sealing, and Paving is one of the leading asphalt paving companies in the Atlanta area. It offers complete solutions for parking lot striping, sealing, and paving.
Challenges
- Wasting hours customizing bids for multiple companies
- Marketing and getting ITBs for new services/trades
- Growing the customer base and expanding business
Solution
- Centralized dashboard keeps info organized in one view so no more duplicate work
- Bid navigator helps maximize bid efficiency
- Personalized notifications when bids have addendums
- A large pool of contractors that Wildcat can build relationships with
- Instant visibility for new services and trades
Results
- Stable 2.5X higher revenue with opportunity for more
- 100s of hours saved on proposals
- Added new specialties (guardrails, asphalt) and instantly received bids
Challenges
Streamlining Bids and Growing Customer Base
Since 2011, Wildcat Striping, Sealing, and Paving has partnered with PlanHub to find projects in the Atlanta area, access new customers, and win bids on new work. But before PlanHub, project efficiency was a big problem. Individual estimators would choose projects to work on, and personalize each bid for each company. Doing this for dozens of companies made it a long and labor-intensive process. It also wasted a lot of time. If estimators unknowingly began working on the same project, they might waste 2-3 hours per person-time that could have been spent on other Invitations to Bid (ITBs):
“Without a centralized dashboard, everyone is going to pick projects that align with their specialty, right? So each person would pick a bid to work on and they might not realize that half a dozen other people are working on the same project.” Said Mike Ferguson, Sales Estimator at Wildcat.
But there was an even bigger problem. Before PlanHub, Wildcat lacked an easy way to tell contractors about new services and attract ITBs for new types of projects. Wildcat was poised to expand, but getting the word out was difficult.
“When I started at Wildcat, we did striping, sealcoating, and signage. But we saw other opportunities, like guardrail. And eventually, we went full-scale asphalt where we could mill and repave, which is a major plus in this industry” Mike says.
Wildcat didn’t want “one-hit-wonders”. They needed an easy way to engage new customers and nurture those relationships in order to turn them into repeat business.
To help solve all of these issues, Wildcat chose PlanHub.
“Each person would pick a bid to work on and they might not realize that half a dozen other people were working on the same project.” said Mike
Solution
An Efficient Online Bidding Platform That Leads To Better Bids and More New Clients
Through PlanHub, Wildcat has an easy and efficient way to search for new opportunities, bid on work, and build long-lasting relationships with general contractors. The centralized dashboard helps streamline the bidding process while eliminating the possibility of duplicated work. From one single pane of glass, Mike can find projects in his area and submit unlimited bids directly through PlanHub.
“PlanHub allows you to send a single proposal and then they distribute it to contractors. That’s the biggest time saver: not having to individualize dozens of proposals or worrying that two people are working on the same project,” Mike says
PlanHub also eliminates uncertainty. When project scopes are altered, PlanHub automatically alerts Mike and his team to addendums and specifies what needs to change.
He explains, “One project might have 150 drawings. Manually picking out what changed is a nightmare, but PlanHub has done a really good job of eliminating the mess”
But the biggest benefit of PlanHub is that it scales alongside and facilitates Wildcat’s ambitious growth goals. When Wildcat adds new services and trades to its profile, PlanHub instantly “puts the word out” to interested general contractors. Wildcat can then immediately begin receiving ITBs on projects they otherwise might not have seen.
“When we first started working with PlanHub, we basically had three specialties. Then we expanded into guardrail and asphalt. Receiving those additional bids proved that there was significant demand for these services,” Mike says.
Like all subcontractors, Wildcat only has so many hours and so much manpower at its disposal. But Mike says that by offering more diverse services, they’re able to maximize their time and steadily grow bottom-line revenue.
“When you see the demand and you can adjust your business to accommodate, you become a more important customer. When you start adding up those big scopes, obviously you’re increasing your revenue,” he says.
“We developed a one-stop, one-contact approach and I really believe that has increased our business. General contractors know that they can come to us and there’s a variety of things we can do for them,” Mike adds.
PlanHub continues to bring in the new contacts, which Wildcat can then nurture. Whenever they receive an ITB from a new subcontractor, the marketing team immediately reaches out and lets them know that Wildcat will be bidding on the project.
“What PlanHub provides is exposure and the opportunity for repeat business. New customers are so important because they allow us to continue building our base,” Mike says.
Results
Doubled Revenue and a Massive Efficiency Boost
When comparing time spent on bids before and after PlanHub, Mike says that there’s no comparison. Eliminating duplicated labor alone saves Wildcat hundreds of hours.
“Takeoff isn’t hard, but a good-sized job might take 2-3 hours. If it’s a parking deck, it could take a few days. Now imagine you have three people all working on the same project, and look at all the time you’ve wasted,” says Mike.
Being able to send a single bid and keep track of all project changes in one place culminates in even more time savings for Wildcat’s estimators.
“You’re spinning your wheels if you’re trying to keep up with everything manually. If you don’t have a single source that’s providing you the opportunity to send a single bid to multiple people, keep everything in line, and keep you aware of addendums, you’re just wasting a tremendous amount of time. When you look at what we save in labor with PlanHub, it’s significant,” Mike says.
Mike credits PlanHub with enabling Wildcat to increase bid volume and go to market faster with each new service. Contractors who found Wildcat through PlanHub have since become some of the most profitable repeat subcontractor partners.
Mike says, “I get no fewer than 6 new bids each day through PlanHub-some days I’ll get as many as 15. PlanHub has been so important to us by giving us the volume of bids that we need to be a force in the market.”
Since partnering with PlanHub, Mike says that overall annual revenue is up 2.5X vs. their best year pre-PlanHub, but that is not the ceiling.
“When I started, we averaged around $4 million in revenue. Now we’ve leveled out around $10 million. And for a few really, really good years, we closed around $15 million. So a 250% increase would be a low estimate.”
As Wildcat continues to grow and add more trades, Mike knows that he will find new bid opportunities in PlanHub.
“We’re only able to do so much work in a day per person. But as we add more services, we’re able to employ more people and expand our revenue,” he says.
Wildcat has now worked with over 1,000 general contractors and that list keeps growing. Mike can’t imagine achieving their current success if they didn’t have PlanHub.
“I have to imagine that if you’re not using PlanHub, you’re not aware of it. It’s the only platform that will provide you with a single source for sending proposals to everybody that’s involved in a project,” he says.
