Game On: Fieldwire Jumps to #1 on Construction Tech Leaderboard

Have you ever wondered why you enjoy video games so much? Maybe it’s the story, visual effects, or sounds. Whatever the reason may be, the most enjoyable video games have two things in common: they’re easy to use and engage with.

Like every great game, Fieldwire has a story

Myself and Yves Frinault, Fieldwire’s Founder and CEO, both did a stint in the video game industry. Following that, we started Fieldwire and brought with us our knowledge of the gaming industry to change the lives of construction workers in the field. How? By building construction management software that’s easy to use at work.

As a result, we steadily increased volume and now drive more than double the number of downloads as every other major construction technology provider, including PlanGrid, Procore, Autodesk BIM 360, and Oracle Aconex Field — beating them all with the highest app store rating as well!

Any gamer will know that user experience is everything. People don't want to read instructions. They want to jump in and learn on the fly, seamlessly. This is true regardless of whether they’re playing a game on a laptop, smartphone, or tablet — a truth we stand by at Fieldwire.

Transforming construction with great UX

There is a reason why Fieldwire is the highest-rated and top-ranked field management platform for the construction industry!

Instead of exhausting resources on large annual events, we put 100 percent of our energy into building a product we know our end-users need to do work. With user experience and engagement a top priority, our customers can quickly deploy our construction management platform. Just last month, Power Design Inc., one of the country’s largest electrical contractors, announced it had moved 65 percent of its field staff to Fieldwire from PlanGrid in less than two months with zero downtime.

Breaking the rules to drive engagement

There is also a reason why 75 percent of ENR’s Top 400 General Contractors have signed up to use Fieldwire.

Unlike traditional construction software, we believe in the importance of having a freemium model and product roadmap designed for the people doing the real work on construction projects.

Tyler Sosin, a Fieldwire investor, and Partner at Menlo Ventures, says our bottom-up distribution strategy has resulted in the rapid acquisition of individual users, small teams, and, ultimately, entire companies. He said, “Fieldwire combines an efficient bottom-up distribution engine with a unique capacity to expand customers from small crews into large enterprise deals. The result is a cash flow positive company with a really strong growth rate; something we rarely find in the wild but are delighted when we do.”

Already, at just six years old, we host 750,000 projects on Fieldwire and have more than 2,000 unique paying customers, including company-wide agreements with some of the largest construction companies in the world, including Built (Australia), EllisDon (Canada), and Clark Construction Group (USA).

Focused on the field first

Our platform brings a unique focus on labor coordination to help drive productivity on-site. As Yves puts it: “Fieldwire is focused on delighting and delivering value at every level of the organization. It's a simple proposition but it's key to the success of a bottom-up distribution strategy.”

Everything we do is for the craftworker onsite. Fieldwire, as the name implies, exists to connect people in the trenches, or in our case, the field. We want to connect them to the data they would have in the office to do their jobs well, as well as the tools they need to communicate efficiently and document work.

Due to our field-first and user-friendly nature, I believe we have the potential to truly transform the way field crews operate around the world. With more than 20,000 downloads per month and an app store rating of a 4.8, the sky is the limit!

To date, we’ve raised $40.4 million to scale product development and headcount, with a target of 150 employees by summer 2020. Until then, we’ll stay focused on building a best-of-breed construction management platform that makes it easy for crews to track, record, and share project updates, ensuring proactive responses to all things related to quality, safety, and scheduling.

If you enjoyed this blog post and want to know more about our story, check out Fieldwire’s coverage in Crunchbase, TechCrunch, and ConstructionDive. If you'd like to hear more from me in general, let’s connect on LinkedIn.