Key facts

• Power Design, one of the nation’s leading electrical contractors, migrated off PlanGrid and onto Fieldwire
• They transferred 227 projects, worth more than 1.4 billion dollars, with zero downtime in eight weeks
• More than 100,000 different documents, tasks, and photos — about two terabytes worth — were transferred in the process
• A total of 2,100 users were on-boarded and 2,000 new iPads deployed
• By 2020, 100% of Power Design will be using Fieldwire

“We needed a scalable solution”

With innovation and integrity at its core, Power Design strives to use the best-of-breed construction technology for its large scale and complex electrical projects.

However, until just recently, Power Design was using PlanGrid to manage all of its people, projects, and processes. Brad Moore, Power Design’s VDC Technology Manager, realized some shortcomings with the platform and started vetting Fieldwire to be their next solution.

“We needed a scalable solution and we wanted to work with a construction technology company that we could depend on for a solid product roadmap,” said Brad.

He quickly realized that Fieldwire checked both of those boxes (and more). Brad was so impressed by Fieldwire’s ease of use and ability to help his boots on the ground that he campaigned for immediate buy-in and companywide adoption.

“I started digging around in the backend and looking into Fieldwire’s API to see if it was possible for us to transfer all of our data — about two terabytes — from PlanGrid to Fieldwire. Once I realized we could, we started planning the whole process.”

Planning for a seamless roll-out

Brad was assigned the mammoth task of planning the companywide roll-out of Fieldwire. He had to decide who was going to get the application first, when they were going to get it, and how he would facilitate training in eight different regions across the country.

He said: “We had to onboard 2,100 users — 500-600 of those were on-campus and everyone else was in the field — and deploy 2,000 new iPads.”

To Brad’s delight, this entire process took as little as eight weeks!

In such a short amount of time, Power Design hosted 16 different regional training sessions which lasted a mere two hours each. Following that, they deployed their new iPads and migrated 1.4 billion dollars worth of projects off PlanGrid and onto Fieldwire.

Achieving zero downtime

Brad added that the key to achieving such a seamless outcome was having immediate buy-in from stakeholders. He said: “You also need separate pilot teams if your company is spread out geographically like ours. These people helped calm a lot of nerves in our dispersed teams.”

To secure buy-in from Power Design’s executives, Brad reminded them of their goal to triple in size by 2027; a goal that requiired software that could scale with them. He emphasized the importance of using software that’s designed with a contractor in mind and with task management at its core.

“To be honest, once we got people in the application and using it they were like ‘oh, okay, this makes a lot of sense,’” said Brad.

Uniting dispersed teams

As a result, Power Design was able to connect its various teams in one place. Brad said: “We have a lot more collaboration and transparency with Fieldwire. Everyone, from accounting to the project managers and pre-construction teams, was affected by this decision. So we’re collaborating much better now.”

To learn more about Power Design and why they chose Fieldwire, read Kim Slowey’s latest article for Construction Dive.

Construction technology, according to the Construction Institute, refers to the collection of innovative tools, machinery, and software used during the construction phase of a project. Examples of construction technology include mobile apps, VR headsets, automated machinery, drones, and more! Two of which we’ll get to later…

In a nutshell, technology refers to the products and processes you use each day to efficiently accomplish tasks. When technology is absent, productivity flatlines and projects often get delayed. Hence why there is a push for craftspeople to adopt construction technology at a much faster rate. Although, you shouln’t rush out to buy the latest gadget just because it looks ‘cool.’ Research and evaluate the different types of construction technology available and find something that works for you, not against you.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the whole process, seek professional advice from construction technology companies like Fieldwire that are here to help you adapt to change and progress with real confidence. It’s important you know that while new technology might seem overwhelming at first, it is the key to longevity in this industry. In fact, 70 percent of construction companies that don’t adopt technology will go out of business, meaning it’s more critical than ever before to embrace tech that’s revolutionizing construction.

Here are two examples of construction technology that are changing the way our industry operates.

Construction Technology Example #1: Mobile Apps

With 93 percent of craftspeople already using a mobile device on-site, it’s clear why mobile apps have one of the highest adoption rates in construction. Mobile construction apps give jobsite teams the tools they need to efficiently accomplish tasks. With Fieldwire’s mobile app, for example, craftspeople have the ability to:

• Communicate in real-time to accelerate decision-making and resolution
• View and manage plans from the field even without an internet connection
• Instantly share important data (files and photos) with the office team to ensure everyone is always on the same page

This way, projects can progress without any miscommunication that has real costs — far worse than many construction companies realize. In the U.S. alone, an estimated $31 billion each year and four hours each week is lost to rework caused by miscommunication. Mobile construction apps that support the real-time flow of information have the power to reduce this loss significantly!

Construction Technology Example #2: Drones

No longer just a high-tech military device, drones (or unmanned aerial vehicles) have emerged as an essential part of the construction process. Not yet fully autonomous, but almost there, today’s drone technology can be scheduled at select times to monitor and record site activity across multi-billion dollar construction sites, including Microsoft’s Redmond campus. From capturing aerial videos to transporting equipment and materials, there are many uses for drones across a variety of industries. In the construction industry, the technology has become particularly useful for monitoring project progress and tracking material quantities.

DroneDeploy CEO and Founder, Mike Winn, said the two most broad ways of thinking about how drones are used on a construction site include “understanding construction progress — using drone photos, drone maps, and 3D models to map exactly what’s happened on a construction site, and using drones to help with site modeling — understanding the topology of the land before something gets built.”

With an estimated market value of over $127 billion in commercial applications, it’s clear that drones are making the transition from novelty item to indispensable business tool.

Synchronize and standardize to optimize construction technology

Without standardization, the positive impact of construction technology is lessened. If you have contractors and owners using different software, communication will be disconnected and the prevalence of double data entry will sky-rocket.

In fact, a recent study by Dodge Data & Analytics found that 42 percent of contractors use both the owner’s project management system in addition to their own, which increases the likelihood of risk as contractors duplicate efforts.

Without synchronization and standardization there is a real disconnect on the jobsite. Construction companies should look for technology with open API architecture that can seamlessly integrate with other systems to streamline and simplify daily tasks.

Burnham Nationwide, a building permit expediting and code compliance consulting firm, uses Fieldwire’s open API to integrate directly with its ERP system in order to manage access to each project and set of documents the company is working on.

As investor momentum continues to build for construction technology, examples of construction technology will continue to emerge and propel the industry forward. If you’re excited to start working with construction technology that’s easy-to-use and affordable, please request a free demo of Fieldwire’s mobile app today.

Listen to “The ConTechCrew 189: Service Time, Not Scooter Time with Yves Frinault of Fieldwire” on Spreaker.

Starring in The ConTechCrew’s 189th episode was Yves Frinault of Fieldwire! In this episode, Yves spoke about his professional experience in the military and tech and expressed his strong opinions on amateur scooter riding.

Until just recently, there had been 3 years and 160 episodes between Yves Frinault’s appearances on The ConTechCrew podcast…

And boy have things changed in that time!

Since Yves last spoke with host James Benham, he’s raised a record amount of funding and become a U.S. citizen; news James thought was well worth opening with:

“We’re thrilled to have you as part of the American team and we’re excited to have you back on the show.”

Throughout the latest ConTechCrew episode, Yves spoke about his career in tech, military experience, approach to developing Fieldwire’s app, and more! You can hear all about it online.

Don’t have time? Here is a list of key takeaways, quotes, and insights from the podcast:

• It wasn’t until Yves served a year in the French military that he learned the importance of efficient communication.
• While working in tech at Ubisoft, Yves realized there was a high bar set for products in Silicon Valley. He said: “I realized a product must be enjoyable to use. So when Javed and I started Fieldwire we told ourselves we were going to make a product that’s truly enjoyable for craftsmen on-site.”
• Yves is a strong believer in ‘the Freemium model,’ confirming that there will always be a place for small teams to use Fieldwire for free.

• Fieldwire’s task dashboard is used to track any piece of work that needs to be dispatched and inspected. When talking about Fieldwire’s task dashboard, co-host Rob McKinney told Yves: “It sounds like you’ve taken the two-week lookahead, the project plan, and even some lean methodology and baked it into this new online experience for the office and field to convey productivity and profitability.”
• Yves and his staff use Fieldwire internally to manage and view all of their tasks by priority each day.
• Fieldwire is used on a variety of projects to track and manage the construction of airports, hospitals, highways, and even prefab structures.
• Originally, Yves pitched Fieldwire as ‘the Jira for Construction’ due to its open API which allows one piece of software to integrate with another. Yves said this capabilty is being more utilized as construction companies start to hire in-house developers to build integrations.
• Yves predicts that the convergence of construction hardware and construction software is coming and that it has the potential to take a lot of burden off field-workers.
• By 2025, Yves predicts that 80 percent of Fieldwire’s revenue will come from subcontractors.

• Yves believes there are better long-term financial benefits for skilled craftspeople than Uber drivers, who tend to focus on the immediate deposits in their bank accounts rather than the depreciation of their car.
• Fun fact: Yves is not a fan of electric scooters. He said his co-founder, Javed Singha, once rented a scooter and face-planted in the streets of Oakland, CA.

Want more? Listen to episode 189 to hear more from Yves about founding Fieldwire, plus his fresh-takes embedded apps, scooters, and more!

It’s no wonder Fieldwire’s founders, Yves Frinault and Javed Singha were smiling last week. Raising $33.5 million, and the largest round of the year in construction tech tends to do that to you…

But success didn’t happen overnight.

“It was around 2013 when we quit our jobs to start Fieldwire. I remember saying to Javed ‘let’s give each other six months to see where we can get and if not far, we can look for another job,’” said Yves Frinault, Fieldwire’s CEO.

Javed and Yves, who combined their knowledge of the construction and logistics industry, saw the nascent adoption of smartphones and cloud technology as the perfect opportunity to finally improve the industry through software.

Their goal?

Bring modern productivity tools to craftworkers.

“Fundamentally, we wanted to solve two problems for field workers around mobility and scale. We needed to give them the means to access information at all times, even when they’re offline in the field. We also needed to give them the tools to coordinate work on a large scale, when pen and paper doesn’t cut it anymore,” said Yves.

By focusing on the field and being ambitious every day, Fieldwire grew from a small startup to an international operation, serving customers in five continents.

On September 16, Fieldwire announced it had secured $33.5 million in new financing, bringing the company’s total funds raised to $40.4m. And it’s no surprise the company received such significant financial backing from Menlo Ventures during the current labor shortage crisis.

Fieldwire’s construction management software and app empowers workers to do more with less, so instead of implementing technology to replace skilled workers, Fieldwire helps construction companies retain them — giving craftspeople the time-saving tools they need to progress real work. With 93 percent of construction workers already using a mobile device on-site, Yves says Fieldwire’s mobile-first solution has the potential to truly transform the way field crews operate.

“Only about 30 percent of the time spent by a craftsperson on-site is spent swinging the hammer. Seventy percent of the time is spent doing ‘other things’ ranging from idling to gathering information or coordinating labor, equipment, or material. We optimize that 70 percent by saving our users, on average, an hour per person per day.”

More than just another document management tool, Fieldwire gives everyone — supers, contractors, owners, architects, and designers — the technology they need to manage every step of a project’s life-cycle. From any location and device in the field, jobsite teams using Fieldwire can access plans, coordinate tasks, generate reports, and communicate in real-time. So it’s no wonder it’s the highest-rated construction app used on more than 500,000 projects worldwide.

Instead of using a combination of disconnected tools, various spreadsheets, and paper files to manage each phase of a project, thousands of construction companies rely on Fieldwire. Clark Construction, for example, used Fieldwire to efficiently communicate changes to documents and plans across an 83,000 square foot jobsite in Washington. By implementing cloud-based software that allowed for real-time sharing of information, Clark realized the benefits of having a tool specifically designed for the field. Hence their decision to roll-out Fieldwire company-wide.

“I’ve been in the industry for 30 years. With Fieldwire it really feels that technology has finally caught up on what was promised many years ago,” says Pat Abrams, Construction Executive at Clark.

EllisDon, a billion-dollar construction services company, similarly used Fieldwire for seamless plan management, progress tracking, and communication while working on the $800m Providence Care Hospital project in Ontario. The platform was critical for coordinating as many as 700 workers on-site on any given day.

In Australia, where Fieldwire plans to open its next office, one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing private construction groups, Built, used the platform to manage more than 10,000 plans on a multi-million dollar construction project. As a result, the company selected Fieldwire as its software of choice to be used on all future projects.

These types of success stories are the reasons why ENR Top Contractors like Graham Group also use Fieldwire to streamline communication and reporting, in turn, saving $35,000 in printing costs on a single project.

The profound impact that Fieldwire is having on jobsites all around the world has sparked investor interest right as momentum starts to build for construction technology. While the trillion-dollar construction sector was slow to adopt technology, positive change is finally here.

A major productivity revolution is on the horizon, and with Fieldwire’s recent funding, construction companies finally have an option that puts the field first.

View original content on Yahoo! Finance.

Fieldwire, a leading field management solution for the construction industry, today announced an additional $33.5 million in fresh funding, led by Menlo Ventures with follow-on from Brick & Mortar Ventures and participation from Hilti Group and Formation 8. Menlo’s Tyler Sosin will join Fieldwire’s Board of Directors alongside current board member Darren Bechtel. Fieldwire has raised $40.4 million to date.

Fieldwire bridges the gap between the office and the job site by allowing everyone involved in a construction project to track and coordinate work from any device. The platform ensures proactive responses to all things related to quality, safety, and scheduling. By streamlining communication, Fieldwire saves its users – project managers, engineers, and craft workers – more than 1 hour per day per person on average.

“Fieldwire combines an efficient ‘bottom-up’ distribution engine with a unique capacity to expand customers from small crews into large enterprise deals,” said Tyler Sosin, partner at Menlo Ventures. “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 used across more than 500,000 projects worldwide, Fieldwire’s platform brings a unique focus on labor coordination to help drive productivity onsite. This field-first focus had led to rapid expansion over the past 2 years, with Fieldwire winning company-wide agreements with some of the largest construction companies in the world, including Built (Australia), Clark Construction Group (USA) and EllisDon (Canada).

“Construction represents 10 percent of the world’s GDP, but this immense market is still in its digital infancy,” said Darren Bechtel, founding partner, and managing director, Brick & Mortar Ventures. “Traditionally, construction software has been sold top-down and has only impacted a fraction of construction professionals. By focusing on the craft workers and subcontractors, Fieldwire is deeply changing the way construction works from the field up.”

Fieldwire plans to use the funds to fuel research and development as well as to further international expansion. The company has expanded beyond its San Francisco headquarters, opening offices in Phoenix, Arizona and Paris, France. The growing startup plans to open an additional office in Australia before the end of 2019 and expects to hit 150 employees by summer 2020.

“Our customers face two distinct challenges: finding technology that actually gets adopted in the field, but also forming long-term partnerships with companies that can grow with them and deliver enterprise-level service,” said Yves Frinault, CEO at Fieldwire. “Being a great partner in this industry is often rewarded with deep customer loyalty, so our main goal is to stay equally nimble and customer-focused as the company grows.”

To learn more about Fieldwire, please visit www.fieldwire.com.

About Fieldwire

Fieldwire is an easier way for construction companies to keep everyone organized on the job site. With its easy-to-use mobile applications, Fieldwire saves each user up to 1 hour per day by enabling more efficient information sharing. Construction companies of all sizes use Fieldwire to power clear communication on more than 500,000 projects worldwide. For more information please visit fieldwire.com or follow us on Twitter (@FieldwireHQ), Facebook, or LinkedIn.