It’s not every day we get interviewed for The Registry, so when the opportunity arose, we didn’t hesitate to say “yes”!

Registry’s reporter, Meghan Hall, was eager to learn more about our recently released Custom Form Builder. So, we sat her down with our CEO, Yves Frinault, who told her everything she needed to know (and more). Yves talked about the evolution of Fieldwire and the construction industry, the benefits of moving towards an entirely paperless jobsite, and the power and simplicity behind our Custom Form Builder.

Here is the transcript of our interview for The Registry which was published as part of their TechView series.

• Tell me a little bit about the construction industry in general, and how jobsites have evolved with the introduction of mobile technology such as smartphones. What pain points in the industry did you see that inspired you to create Fieldwire?

Pre-2010, construction was essentially like the office pre-computer and internet. Ninety percent of field people were working offline so getting access to information was quite hard. Even more, communication was hard! It was the pain that came with creating punch lists that inspired us to create Fieldwire. Essentially, punch lists are used to document site issues (or punch items) with photos; localize them on drawings, assign them to people, and track them to completion. There are often thousands of punch items on projects so this process pre-Fieldwire was super tedious. We do much more than punch lists, but I would say this was the starting point.

• When it comes to the construction industry, do you believe that it has kept pace with other commercial real estate sectors in terms of the innovation and implementation of technology?

There is no debate that the digitalization of construction has been slower than in other industries, however, it has little to do with people being early or late adopters. There are various structural reasons that have slowed down initial adoption. For example, a construction site is a rugged environment often with bad connectivity, but, more importantly, it’s a temporary setup with dozens of companies involved. This makes it really hard to first reach a consensus on the best technology to use and also invest long-term in that technology.

• Tell me about the launch of Fieldwire’s Custom Form Builder; how does it enhance Fieldwire’s existing offerings?

Fieldwire actually eliminates the need to fill out lots of forms since most of a user’s data is archived automatically. However, we realized that sometimes a form cannot be eliminated. For example, what if an owner wants you to file a form that is unique or custom to them? Well, now, our customers can build that very specific form in Fieldwire, submit it to their client, and continue to use Fieldwire as the core platform. It’s that easy!

• Why do you think the industry has not adopted technologies to go paperless for forms like daily reports, safety audits, inspection checklists, etc. previously?

It’s taken decades for the construction industry to get to this point but I think we’ve finally removed almost every technological hurdle there is. The technology available to site and office teams has been trialed and tested, and the ROI is proven to be positive. It’s now up to the last few people to get on board with the program and embrace a paperless future.

• How successful has Fieldwire’s Custom Form Builder been at encouraging companies to go paperless?

Very successful. There is always that one form that a company absolutely needs and now Fieldwire can digitize that for them. One of our clients was previously scanning an old piece of paper again and again (no one had an original digital copy) and then filing the forms away where no one could easily access them. They created that form digitally in Fieldwire, and now they can easily track the progress in one place for everyone to see.

• How many of Fieldwire’s customers are using the Custom Form Builder, and what has been their reaction to the platform?

Our customers love it. In fact, many of our existing customers upgraded to our Business tier just to get access to the Custom Form Builder, so it’s been really successful from that perspective. What’s interesting is that digitizing forms is usually only the first step in their mind. Most of them plan to extract the data later through our API.

• What downsides exist — if any — to going digital in the construction industry?

Unlike your smartphone or tablet, paper won’t run out of battery and isn’t hard to read in the sun. Paper processes seem fairly effective at first, which is why they’re so hard to displace, but the benefits of going paperless are immense. We save our customers an average of one hour each day (based on user feedback) which is pretty amazing! Just imagine what you could do with an extra five hours every week.

• What technological challenges has Fieldwire faced since its launch? How has the company worked to overcome them?

Fieldwire uses Fieldwire internally — across the whole company including engineering, marketing, sales, and operations — so we’re constantly developing the product to ensure issues with the technology don’t arise. As a company, one of the biggest challenges we’ve faced was learning enterprise marketing and sales as we’re primarily product and engineering focussed.

• How many projects are using Fieldwire today? What are Fieldwire’s plans for future growth?

Used on over 450,000 projects worldwide, Fieldwire has saved projects millions of dollars by powering clear and efficient communication between the field and office staff. The company has grown 5X over the past two years and we only plan to accelerate further with our third office opening in Phoenix this year. Our goal is to power the future of construction through software.

• What are some notable projects for which Fieldwire was used and had a significant impact on jobsite processes?

Fieldwire has been used on many great projects worldwide – from high-rises and hospitals to airports. If I had to highlight a couple, though, I would mention the Moscone Center in San Francisco with Webcor, and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC with Clark Construction. Both are extremely impressive structures!

To learn more about some of the impressive projects Fieldwire has been used on, head over to our Customer Stories page. If you’d like to see our platform in motion and hear more about our Custom Form Builder, please contact us today.

According to Satmetrics, a Net Promoter Score, or NPS, is an accurate indicator of customer satisfaction and predictor of business growth. A company’s Net Promoter Score is determined by calculating the sum of total answers to this question: On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely is it that you would recommend [insert company or product] to a friend or colleague?

To calculate the Net Promoter Score, you must group the answers as follows:

• Promoters (customers who answered 9 - 10): Loyal enthusiasts who will keep buying and refer others, in turn, fueling growth.

• Passives (customers who answered 7 - 8): Satisfied but unenthusiastic customers who are vulnerable to competitive offerings.

• Detractors (customers who answered 0 - 6): Unhappy customers who can damage your brand and impede growth through negative word-of-mouth.

Then, subtract the percentage of Detractors from the percentage of Promoters to get the total Net Promoter Score. In some cases, the NPS can be as low as 0 and as high as 100.

How important is a Net Promoter Score?

To understand the importance of a NPS, think of it as a consumer review. For example, a consumer is more likely to purchase a construction app with a 4.7-star rating in the App Store compared to one that has anything less. That’s because reviews and referrals are taken very seriously and often persuade final decision making in a buyer’s journey. In fact, 92 percent of consumers trust recommendations from others — even people they don’t know — over branded content. And, as it turns out, these include the good, bad, and ugly recommendations. Groove’s survey found that the average American customer tells nine people about a good experience and 16 people about a bad experience. Therefore, the most successful companies or products with positive customer reviews will, in turn, have a high NPS.

What is a high NPS?

It’s important to note that a ‘high’ NPS differs from industry to industry. For example, the average Net Promoter Score for Software and Apps is 31, compared to 62 for Department Stores. A snapshot of all industry averages can be seen below, and a full list of all industry averages can be found here.

While it’s important to compare your NPS to competitors in your industry, it’s also important to compare your own NPS overtime to see if customer satisfaction is improving. At Fieldwire, our NPS score is improving, with almost 50 percent of survey respondents giving us a perfect score in 2018 to put us well above the industry average. A snapshot of company-specific Net Promoter Scores can be seen below and a full list can be found here.

How to improve your NPS

According to Wootric, there is not a single magic solution, but rather three best practices to improve your NPS:

1. Follow-up with Detractors. Your priority should be conflict resolution.

2. Try to engage with Passives. Use software that is real-time to ensure efficient communication with customers.

3. Always thank Promoters. But not too much. Asking customers to continually provide feedback could make them feel smothered and less inclined to participate in surveys.

We’d like to thank our customers who continually send us feedback and ideas which help us improve our product and service even further. Please don’t hesitate to contact support@fieldwire.com to submit a request at any time.

According to the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC), there are 10 times the amount of men in construction as there are women. However, a recent study by the NAWIC found there were 939,000 women working in construction — the highest number on record since 2010. While this is only a fraction of the total workforce, it is still a step in the right direction for women and a reason to celebrate this week!

The focus of Women in Construction Week 2019, according to the NAWIC, is to highlight women as a viable component of the construction industry, and to emphasize the growing number of women with construction jobs.

Here at Fieldwire, we applaud those women as entering a male-dominated industry can be quite intimidating. We know this because many of the female employees at Fieldwire have prior construction experience. Hence why, we love sharing advice for women alike who are new to the industry or considering a career in construction.

Here are our top five tips for women in construction:

1. Learn from the best. Surround yourself with people you admire so that you can absorb knowledge and ask lots of questions. Credibility and accuracy can really help when standing up for yourself and your ideas.

2. Be confident in your knowledge. Don’t let the old-school construction workers talk down to you just because they’re not used to women being on the jobsite. Remember, you are equally as qualified as the men on your team.

3. Never hesitate to ask questions at the risk of looking like you’re unsure of something. Being humble and curious will get you far! For example, ask the electrical foreman on a project about code requirements, materials, and inspections and you’ll end up having a more holistic view of the construction industry.

4. Seek the skills you wish to acquire. Try to put yourself in situations where you can fill holes in your experience and expertise. This can involve shadowing meetings, or asking to take on certain projects and responsibilities. Sometimes, people can be overlooked for tasks because they’re not seen as likely candidates, so keep an eye on what you’d like to be doing and make it happen!

5. Try to go on-site every day. It’s easy to get tunnel vision — burying yourself in RFIs and submittals, and just pushing through your paperwork. But try to take a step back and really understand what you’re building and how the team plans to build it. Lean in on foreman meetings, take daily site walks with your superintendent, and talk to your subcontractors (and not just the ones in the office). Being able to solve problems with first-hand knowledge, as well as technical skill, will make you an invaluable asset. Remember, hard work never goes unnoticed!

If you want to work for a company that values empowerment and gender equality, we encourage you to apply at Fieldwire — just follow this link to submit your application. There are various positions available in all departments across America and Europe! So, what are you waiting for?

Here at Fieldwire, we’re always working to make our platform better for all of our customers who rely on it throughout their days. In our most recent release, we announced the ability to build forms customized to match your exact jobsite processes, all managed within Fieldwire.

While we were creating this new way to get work done on the jobsite, we were also making a number of other product enhancements that make Fieldwire easier to use each day. Here are just a few of the features we think you’ll enjoy from our latest release:

Real-time task dashboard

Our new, real-time task dashboard helps users understand how utilized they are and how busy they’re about to be. You can choose to see a breakdown of your project tasks — by category, assignee, plan, or location — to easily identify which area or user group requires the most attention.

Track the status of plan uploads and processing

As part of our commitment to be the best and fastest mobile plan viewer, we are continually enhancing the process we use to upload plans. In this release, we allow you to see the upload progress status of large files (such as an entire set of hundreds of sheets) and to identify the folders and plans that require your attention (eg. to confirm plan names or resolve version conflict).

Add a project code to any new project

Many of our users create a new project for each jobsite they’re working on and want to use their own internal project codes to sort and filter projects. In this release, we’ve included an optional field for project codes so that you can insert whatever you need to make your life easier on-site.

Search and annotate within any PDF

You’ve always used Fieldwire to add markups and notes on your plans; now you can do so on your other PDF files as well. For example, search a submittal for a key phrase, highlight it in red, and note any issues to interact with your files quickly and easily. This feature is available on web only in this release.

View your 360° photos in reports

We have always included photos directly in your project reports so that anyone can see what happened on the jobsite, regardless of if they’re a Fieldwire user or not. Now, anyone can access your 360° photos as well. Each 360° photo appears as a thumbnail with a link in your construction reports, and when anyone clicks on the link, the full pannable image opens in their browser, with no login required.

Project billing dashboard

Some of our customers allocate the price of Fieldwire back to each project or jobsite that uses it. We’ve made it easier to do this with a simple dashboard available to admins that shows how many users are attached to each project.

Here at Fieldwire, we encourage users to submit their feedback and any ideas they have which could enhance our product even further. Please contact support@fieldwire.com to submit a request. For a full list of new features and enhancements, check out our support page.

Last summer, Fieldwire introduced a whole new way to use Fieldwire: forms. In that release, Fieldwire forms allowed you to consolidate your daily reports, inspection forms, RFI forms, and timesheet forms into one easily searchable platform. But we heard from our customers that they wanted more.

More types of forms and, critically, the ability to modify the forms Fieldwire provides out of the box and build their own custom forms that match the workflows and processes that were already happening on the jobsite.

Today, we’re excited to release a major new set of capabilities for our forms. We’ve added two new types of default forms — safety audit forms and time and material (T&M) forms — as well as the ability to customize any form or build your own that matches how you work.

Fieldwire’s customers are already engaging with the new custom form builder; for example our customer at DC Electric said:

With Fieldwire custom forms, you are no longer forced to adapt your jobsite processes to your field management software. Instead, your software can adapt to your jobsite processes. Either take one of our six existing forms and add, remove, and customize fields so it exactly matches what you need or build a new form from scratch. Sound exciting? We’re running a webinar on February 7th, and you can sign up now to learn more. (Read the custom forms support page)

We’re also excited about our two new out of the box forms:

• Safety audit forms. Safety forms need to be stored in one searchable database to be helpful later. Stacks of boxes of printouts or a jumbled mess of PDFs simply don’t help you if there was any injury or accident on the jobsite. With Fieldwire, complete a safety audit directly from your mobile device and store all of your completed forms in one database. (Read the safety audit forms support page).
• Time and materials forms. Time and materials forms (or T&M forms) were the other most requested type of form, after the safety audit form. You can now record exactly how long a job took and what materials it consumed while in the field, from your phone or tablet, to help you prepare field-originated change order requests in the office. (Read the T&M forms support page).

Since the original release of Fieldwire’s construction forms app, we’ve also added a number of smaller enhancements, including automated weather data and linking forms to specific points on a plan or task. And we’re excited to continue building on the platform this year, including the ability to export and email forms on mobile. Forms is available to our Business customers; if you’re interested in trying it, request a demo or watch our release webinar.

For more information about how to get started, sign up for our release webinar on February 13th with Stéphane Denerolle, Director of Product Management for Fieldwire.

Thank you to all of our customers who have given us great feedback about forms already, like Apex Steel:

Resources:

• Video tutorial walkthrough of custom forms
• New landing page with more information about Fieldwire construction forms
• All of our support resources for forms