How a 28-person general contractor went from 60% on-time delivery to 95% in just 90 days
General Contracting
28
Phoenix, AZ
Company Overview
Mountain View Construction is a commercial general contractor based in Phoenix, Arizona, specializing in office build-outs, retail spaces, and light industrial projects. With 28 employees including 4 project managers and 20 field workers, they typically manage 15-20 concurrent projects ranging from $50,000 to $500,000.
Typical Project Size: $50K – $500K
The Challenge: Managing Growth with Spreadsheets
By early 2024, Mountain View Construction had a growth problem. Revenue was up 40% year-over-year, but operational chaos was threatening to derail their success.
The Spreadsheet Nightmare
CEO David Chen and his team were managing 18 active projects using:
- Excel spreadsheets for project tracking (each PM had their own version)
- Email chains for subcontractor coordination
- WhatsApp groups for field communication
- QuickBooks for basic accounting
- Printed schedules posted in the office
“Every Monday morning, we’d spend two hours just trying to figure out where we stood,” Chen recalls. “Each project manager had their own spreadsheet system. There was no consistency, no real-time updates, no way to see the big picture.”
The Breaking Point
The crisis hit on a $380,000 office renovation project. What should have been a 12-week job stretched to 19 weeks due to:
- Change orders that took 5+ days to process (by then, work had already started)
- Subcontractor scheduling conflicts that weren’t caught until they showed up on site
- Material orders delayed because PMs didn’t know what was already ordered
- Budget overruns discovered weeks after they occurred
“We finished that project, but barely,” Chen admits. “The client was unhappy with the delays. We ate $23,000 in costs we couldn’t bill because of our poor tracking. And our PMs were working 60+ hour weeks just trying to keep up with the chaos.”
The team’s on-time delivery rate had dropped to 60%. Client satisfaction scores fell from 4.6/5 to 3.8/5. Two project managers quit within a month, citing stress and lack of proper tools.
“I knew we couldn’t scale beyond $10M with spreadsheets,” Chen says. “We needed real project management software, but everything I looked at was either too expensive or too complicated.”
“Our project managers went from firefighting to strategic planning. They actually have time to think now.” David Chen – CEO, Mountain View Construction
The Solution: Unified Project Management in 3 Days
Why Sitewise?
Chen evaluated Procore, Buildertrend, and several other platforms before finding Sitewise:
Procore: $11,000/month + $45,000 implementation fee + 6-month timeline
Buildertrend: Residential-focused, weak on commercial workflows
Sitewise: $3,892/month, no setup fees, 3-day implementation
“The decision was obvious,” Chen notes. “Sitewise gave us enterprise-level project management at a price that made sense for our size.”
Implementation: 3 Days to Go-Live
Day 1: Company setup, user configuration, and industry templates. Sitewise’s commercial contractor template included pre-built project phases, task libraries, and workflows that matched exactly how Mountain View operated.
Day 2: Imported all 18 active projects with budgets, schedules, and team assignments. Trained all 4 project managers on the system. Set up subcontractor portal access.
Day 3: Mobile app training for field teams. Processed first real change order through the system (approved in 45 minutes vs. the previous 5-day average). Go-live complete.
“I couldn’t believe we went from contract signing to fully operational in three days,” Chen says. “With Procore, they wanted six months. We couldn’t afford to be down for six months.”
The Results: Transformation in 90 Days
Month 1: Immediate Coordination Wins
The impact was immediate. With all projects in one system:
Project managers could see:
- All active projects and their current status
- Real-time budget vs. actual spending
- Which subcontractors were scheduled where
- Upcoming material needs across all projects
- Pending change orders and approvals
Field teams could:
- Access current drawings and specs on mobile devices
- Report progress in real-time
- Flag issues immediately
- Coordinate with other crews on site
Project Manager Sarah Martinez describes the transformation: “Before Sitewise, I’d spend 2 hours every morning just getting status updates via phone calls and texts. Now I open my dashboard and see everything instantly. Those 10 hours per week went back into actually managing projects.”
Month 2-3: Process Excellence
Change Order Revolution
The change order process went from 5 days to same-day:
Before Sitewise:
- Field identifies issue
- PM creates change order in Word
- Email to estimator for pricing
- Email to client for approval
- Wait for signature
- Manually update budget spreadsheet Average time: 5 days
After Sitewise:
- Field reports issue via mobile app (with photos)
- PM creates change order in system (auto-calculates pricing from cost database)
- Client approves digitally via portal
- Budget automatically updates Average time: 4 hours
“Same-day change orders meant we could keep projects moving,” Chen explains. “Before, crews would sit idle for days waiting for approval. Now, issues get resolved immediately.”
Schedule Coordination
With shared visibility, subcontractor conflicts dropped 75%. The system automatically flagged scheduling conflicts and sent alerts when dependencies weren’t met.
“We used to have subs show up to job sites only to discover another trade wasn’t finished,” Martinez recalls. “Now everyone can see the schedule. Those conflicts basically disappeared.”
The 95% On-Time Delivery Achievement
By month 3, Mountain View’s on-time delivery rate hit 95%:
Contributing factors:
- Real-time budget tracking prevented surprises
- Faster change order processing kept projects moving
- Better subcontractor coordination eliminated delays
- Proactive issue flagging caught problems early
- Mobile field updates provided accurate status
“The difference is night and day,” Chen says. “We went from constantly making excuses to clients about delays to consistently delivering on schedule. That reputation change has been huge for new business.”
Client Satisfaction Rebound
Client satisfaction scores jumped from 3.8/5 to 4.9/5, driven by:
- Consistent on-time delivery
- Professional change order documentation
- Client portal access to project status
- Faster response to concerns
- Better overall communication
“Clients love the portal,” Chen notes. “They can log in anytime and see exactly where their project stands. No more ‘where are we?’ phone calls.”
Administrative Cost Savings
The efficiency gains translated to direct cost savings:
Before: Office manager + assistant spent 25 hours/week on project administration
After: Same work done in 8 hours/week
Savings: 17 hours/week × 52 weeks × $60/hour = $53,040 annually
Key Takeaways
What Made This Work
“Real-time visibility changed how we manage.” With everyone looking at the same live data, coordination became exponential better. No more version control issues or outdated information.
“Mobile access for field teams was crucial.” Superintendents updating status from job sites meant PMs always had current information. The offline capability meant it worked even in buildings with no cell signal.
“The implementation speed was essential.” Three days from contract to fully operational meant minimal business disruption. “If they’d said ‘six months,’ we probably wouldn’t have done it.”
“Integration with QuickBooks sealed the deal.” Financial data flowing automatically between systems eliminated double-entry and gave real-time project profitability visibility.
Conclusion
Ninety days after implementing Sitewise, Mountain View Construction transformed from a company drowning in Excel chaos to a well-oiled operation with clear processes, real-time visibility, and consistent on-time delivery.
The metrics tell part of the story—95% on-time delivery, 40% better client satisfaction, $50,000 in savings. But the real transformation is qualitative: project managers who can focus on managing instead of administrative work, clients who trust the company to deliver, and a business positioned to scale beyond $10M.
“Sitewise didn’t just give us software,” Chen reflects. “It gave us the infrastructure to scale professionally. We’re now bidding on $1M+ projects we wouldn’t have been able to manage six months ago.”
Total Investment: $11,676 (3 months)
Cost Savings: $13,260 (admin time)
Plus: Improved margins from better project control
Payback Period: Less than 3 months
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