NPW Contracting, Inc., a full-service thermal/moisture protection, restoration, and structural repair contractor in Denver, has just celebrated its 30th anniversary. This family-owned company was established in 1989 and its team has worked on more than a handful of high-profile projects in Colorado. Some of their notable works include work on Denver Union Station, Eagle P3 FasTracks, and the recently opened Gaylord Rocky Hotel.
Although NPW has a team of just 16 people, it is mighty. The team boasts over 100 years of cumulative experience in the industry among their staff. This self-perform contractor prides itself in being able to accommodate large projects on a schedule with its dynamic, experienced team.
NPW’s project manager brought it to the administration’s attention that communication between the field and the office was a regular challenge for their business. That was when NPW realized they needed a better solution to their daily operations processes.
Allocating and Scheduling with Assignar
While we had tried to make do with a series of solutions, including Microsoft Word and SharePoint, they all demanded a great deal of effort from our team. Fillable forms would change completely in formatting from mobile to desktop, we were inundated with emails, and tracking our progress and documents was a hassle. We realized that these solutions were ultimately inadequate.
Adopting Assignar has improved many of our daily functions, especially communication between the field and the office, scheduling and allocating resources, and easily maintaining and managing our compliance. All the while, we have also managed to reduce paper waste and human error on tracking and forms.
“Our previous [scheduling] process was insane. We have a board downstairs that has the guys’ names on it and the dates for the current week and the next week.”—Courtney Lively, Scheduler
Before Assignar, our scheduler, Courtney, had to spend huge amounts of time scheduling out our team and equipment on the basement whiteboard, then sending emails and texts to everyone on the team to let them know their schedule. And when things changed, as they frequently do in this business, she had to nearly start back at square one with reorganizing the schedule and updating everyone again. Using Assignar’s scheduling feature has allowed Courtney to cut down the time that she spends scheduling and updating every week.
Better Communication with Assignar
Our communication is smoother now and our field guys like using the app. Everyone knows where to find the most up-to-date information on their schedules and projects now. They always have the information that they need readily available and in their pocket, rather than having to take time to track it down in their truck or in the office.
“Going paperless has been something that our field employees have been asking for nearly 5 years and I am so happy that we have finally found something that everyone loves and is helping us be more environmentally friendly!”—Helen Madden-Weiss, CEO
We have also replaced our daily paper forms, like our Daily Vehicle Inspection Reports and Daily Work Reports, with Assignar forms. This has cut down our paper usage significantly and makes the information readily accessible from just about anywhere. To add to that, our staff is spending much less time filling out paperwork in the office, which saves our company money at the end of the day and keeps the guys happy. If an inspector shows up on site, our team does not have to sweat getting all the paperwork together. This is big for us in terms of compliance and focusing on our work.
Rolling Out Assignar
To get started, we used a test group of five people, which included a foreman and a few technicians. After working closely with this group for a small amount of time, rolling out Assignar to the rest of the team was easy. While we were anticipating a lot of pushback, especially from older employees, the reality is that everyone was excited about a better solution. Assignar truly does make everyone’s job easier and the team has embraced that.
“At the beginning, I wanted nothing to do with it. Technology and I don’t really get along. But as time went by and I became more accustomed to it, I learned to like it a lot. It definitely makes a lot of things quicker and easier.”—Nick Heimer, Shop Manager
We had looked at other solutions, but what stuck out to us was Assignar’s price and that it is a dedicated construction operations platform. Assignar hosts so many features that we enjoy and use on a regular basis. On top of that, the software is customizable, so it reflects the way that we do business. We loved that we did not have to change our own processes to implement the system.
“Switching to Assignar saves us 110 man-hours and $4,000 per month, per 10 people. That amounts to $48,000 per year.” -Rachel Weiss, Administrative Assistant
If we hire 10 more people, which is feasible this year, our monthly savings will increase to 220 man-hours and $8,000. As our crews become even more proficient with the app, we know these savings could increase, as well.
Today, we not only have greater control over quality and progress, but we also have the time to step back and appreciate our hard work and excellent craftsmanship.”
