Watch Yates Construction's Nashville project management team talk about how they use Trimble tools to work smarter and faster. 

Customer Profile: 

Ranked among the nation's top commercial and industrial construction companies in the country by Engineering News-Record, Yates Construction is family-owned and provides a wide range of construction and building services. Incorporated in 1964, the company has steadily become one of the nation's top commercial and industrial construction companies. 

Yates Construction's portfolio ranges from civil, federal, healthcare, and manufacturing to retail, education, entertainment, and advanced technology projects. 

Business Challenge: 

Delivering projects on time and within budget hinges on successful project management and the ability to successfully coordinate a complex orchestration of people, materials, documents, and deadlines. 

For most project managers, the pressure is high to stay on top of submittals, RFIs, change orders, materials, inventory, job costs, safety regulations, labor, etc. Without accurate data, overseeing multiple projects, each with unique challenges and countless moving parts, and keeping dozens, if not hundreds, of people informed and on task can be challenging.

"Before a project starts, we are juggling subcontractor availability, project start dates, site logistics and ensuring the availability of skilled craftsmen," says Aaron Tighe, of Yates Construction. "As projects progress, we ensure trades are working together, moving in the same direction and elevating issues that need resolution. Up-to-date information is essential to keeping projects moving and making critical decisions, both impacting profitability."
 

Solutions:


• Trimble Construction One

• ProjectSight

• Viewpoint Vista

• Trimble Connect
   

Benefits: 

• Cost savings 

• On-time or early project delivery

• Single source of truth for accurate, up-to-date data sharing across teams

• Integrated data across Trimble solutions eliminates re-entry 

Yates Construction's strategic initiative to streamline data and empower project managers led the company to Trimble Construction One, a connected stack of Trimble solutions that brings people, data, and workflows across the company together in a shared data environment. 

Today, Yates Construction uses ProjectSight for construction management, Vista as its construction ERP and Trimble Connect, a collaboration and file management tool to give stakeholders access to project files anywhere and anytime.

Moving to cloud-based, connected construction solutions has brought people, projects and processes together like never before. Data flows seamlessly across Trimble solutions, breaking down silos between the office and the field, simplifying workflows and giving project managers the information needed to make smarter decisions faster. 

The integration between Trimble solutions enables project managers to work more efficiently. "Any team member can enter data once, and it populates in both ProjectSight and Viewpoint Vista," said Tony Neuhoff, Assistant Project Manager at Yates Construction. "It eliminates the need to enter information in multiple systems and gives us the peace of mind that everyone, from the office to the field, is working from the most current, up-to-date information."

Whether in the office or the field, the integration between solutions simplifies reporting and provides a 360-degree view of projects and financial data. "The ability to share knowledge across Trimble solutions gives us a significant advantage," said Tighe. "Whether I run a report in Vista or ProjectSight, it is pulled from the same data. Viewing the financials for a job and understanding subcontractor and purchase order costs all in one place enhances productivity." 

For Neuhoff, accessing information in one solution saves time. "Having the project's data in one place is a game changer," he said. "Before, we had to log into one program for costing and budgets and another solution for project management. With the integration across Trimble solutions, we can see an RFI and related costs and understand how it will impact the budget – all in one view." 

Democratizing Data for More Efficient Workflows 

Working from a single source of truth in ProjectSight gives project managers the information they need to stay on budget, work more efficiently and drive better project outcomes. The Trimble Connect collaboration environment allows office and field teams to access, manage and analyze project files and data in real time.

Drawings and information are easily accessible, eliminating the need to search through multiple systems to find answers to questions or address issues. "We have been able to eliminate a step in our process," said Wendy Heath, Senior Project Manager at Yates Construction. "Every document, from drawings and revisions, to RFIs and submittals, lives in ProjectSight. Having it all in one platform has made communication more seamless and eliminates unnecessary work." 

Brad Sheck, Superintendent at Yates Construction, shares how working from a single version of information when making important decisions. "ProjectSight is a powerful resource. I rarely have to any other software for the information I need to do my job. It has changed how we communicate with teams in the office by ensuring we are all working from the most current versions of drawings and contracts."

With ProjectSight, project managers create, track, and update critical documents for work in the field. RFIs can be tagged in drawings to provide context and clarity. "We tag the location on RFIs in our drawings, and when revisions are complete, ProjectSight acts as an as-built that we can use to click backward and drill down to understand changes," said Heath. "It's far less tedious than getting trade partners to come into the office at the end of the day and recall what they changed."

ProjectSight has improved accountability around critical construction processes. "When we tag or link RFIs and submittals in drawings, it eliminates excuses or the possibility that someone missed an important issue," said Jonathan Garcia, Assistant Project Manager at Yates Construction. "The link lets them know an RFI needs addressing."  

Neuhoff agrees. "Assigning RFIs and submittals to the relevant parties has created a sense of urgency to address issues quickly and increases the accountability of team members."

ProjectSight also helps project managers streamline safety observations.

"While we want to deliver projects on time, safety is a top priority," said Sheck. "ProjectSight helps us track safety trends. We take pictures of potential safety concerns and tag the photo to a location on a drawing or send it out as an observation. ProjectSight notifies the tagged trade partner and auto-generates the task to respond. If the partner does not respond, ProjectSight follows up until the task is complete."

Connected Data Keeps Everyone on the Same Page

Connected construction solutions can be transformative for project managers on the front lines of the construction ecosystem. With connected data and workflows powered by Trimble Connected Construction Solutions, Yates Construction has bridged the gap between the office and the field and increased collaborations with project stakeholders. Working from an integrated set of solutions that instantly updates project data across the enterprise and streamlines communication has unlocked efficiencies, helping project managers get more done throughout the day.

"Utilizing the right technologies, we can work smarter and faster," said Heath, "giving us more time to focus on project optimization."