“Instead of two projects at a time, we can do five or six — it’s way more productive.” – Robyn Razook Lynn, Estimator, MRI Builders
Summary
Challenges
- Manual processes caused bottlenecks to productivity and growth
- Difficulty tracking and managing bids
- Ensuring the right bid coverage for complex jobs
Solution
- Centralizing project documentation and bid management
- Easily finding and connecting with subcontractors
- Ability to quickly post projects and documentation in public or private Planrooms
Results
- Managing 200% more projects at any given time
- 30% increase in productivity
- Better bid coverage from qualified subcontractors
Challenges
Robyn Razook Lynn, has been working in the construction industry all her life. Now, she’s an estimator at MRI Builders – a local, family-owned residential and commercial construction business based in Thorndale, Texas that has been in business for over 35 years. She wanted to find ways to increase productivity, since estimating has long relied on cold-calling, spreadsheets, and a lot of manual work.
“Reaching out to subcontractors one at a time is extremely time-consuming – especially when you have 37 trades that you’re trying to cover,” she explains. “You have to reach out to a minimum of five or six subs for each trade to get bids. That alone could eat up all of your time.”
“So much of what I need to do is to make sure we have coverage on all of our projects. Do we have enough landscape bids or am I missing an electrical bid? It’s a lot of detail to keep up with,” she continues, “Making those contacts and connections is one of the hardest parts because construction has traditionally been a word-of-mouth, very hands-on industry.”
Solution
PlanHub provided the solution by bringing all the aspects of preconstruction together in a single platform.
Robyn states, “Having an end-to-end platform to put all your project information into and set your requirements has made it so much easier. I get at least 30% more done every day.”
It’s good for growing the business too, because it helps her keep every project on track and organized.
“Instead of handling two projects at a time, we can do five or six — because I don’t have to call everybody one at a time.”
One feature Robyn loves is that she can see who is viewing MRI’s posted projects.
“I can immediately reach out to the right people — whereas I used to have to Google search to find them.”
Another feature she’s found useful is the ability to have either public or private Planrooms.
“Certain types of jobs, like government jobs, require that everyone sign an NDA. A private Planroom lets me require a signed NDA before subs can access the plans — so I know we are in compliance.”
“The ability to prequalify subcontractors is great too, because government projects may need a minimum percentage of certain types of businesses. Having prequalification information helps me make sure we’re getting the right number of the right kinds of bids.”
Results
“I log into PlanHub every day,” Robyn says.
PlanHub has been good for her and for MRI, because it helps everyone be more productive – and it is helping the business grow.
Now, she saves time and is able to keep every project on track and organized with all the information and resources she needs in one place.
“Instead of handling two projects at a time, we can do five or six — because I don’t have to call everybody one at a time.”
As a woman in construction, Robyn says she’s seeing the industry shift.
“It’s becoming easier for women to be heard. Now, I am seeing more women in the offices and in the field than when I started 13 years ago – which I think is amazing!”
Learn more about MRI Builders
