Since 1973, James E. Harris Construction (JEH) has worked on the construction and renovation of water and wastewater treatment plants, sewage pump stations, and metering and monitoring installations in North and South Carolina. Managing dozens of projects across county and state lines made field to office communication and project documentation a challenge, so they turned to Fieldwire in 2021 in an effort to digitize their jobsites.
Key facts and numbers
- Up to 60% of Fieldwire subscription is paid for by savings in paper printing
- Fieldwire used on more than 100 projects
- Can set up new projects in 20 minutes using custom templates
Before Fieldwire
Productivity was slow and communication was disorganized before JEH started using Fieldwire to manage their construction projects. Paper plans were printed, had to be transported to jobsites, and had to be reprinted every time revisions were made or plans got lost.
There were binders and filing cabinets full of paper plans, and finding documents or tracking progress was a time consuming process that often slowed down projects by hours or even days.
After being exposed to a digital jobsite program while working with a GC, project manager Josh Cole stumbled across Fieldwire in the app store, downloaded the software and began using the free version to upload plans and documents. He invited a small team to test out Fieldwire using the demo version, and after a short three months they realized the benefits and quickly signed on with a subscription in order to best leverage all the features that would make their team more efficient.
Initial hesitation to go digital quickly turned into a tool they couldn’t live without
JEH team members openly admit that they were resistant to adopting Fieldwire due to not being tech-savvy or being so set in their ways of using paper plans. But after spending time with Fieldwire’s Construction Success team for training, their hesitation quickly faded and Fieldwire became a critical tool for every day operations.
Mobility, access to information is a key factor in saving time and money
Since making the switch to Fieldwire, the JEH team is saving countless hours by not having to print and deliver paper plans across county and state lines multiple times a week. The fact that everything is digital, can be accessed on any device from anywhere, and is available to everyone on the project team are among some of the favorite features of JEH employees.
Access to information is another feature that JEH can’t live without.
“I love that I can take pictures, make notes, document who was here, how long they were here, what they accomplished and what we need to accomplish tomorrow,” said Dalton.
JEH has used Fieldwire on more than 100 projects, and with jobsites in both North and South Carolina the fact that they can easily communicate and track progress without having to be on-site has been invaluable.
Project management, customization features tie it all together
After making the switch from the free demo to a business plan subscription, JEH wanted to fully leverage all the features they had access to in the app. Fieldwire’s Construction Success team was readily available to jump on calls and provide guidance on how to use and get the most out of every feature.
Josh particularly found Fieldwire’s project management features to be a significant time savings in his day-to-day job. The support team worked with Josh to set up a new project template, and he reports that now he can set up a new project in as quick as 20 minutes - including all plans, specs, forms and submittals - all in one place and ready to be accessed by the project teams.
No going back
Now that the JEH team is completely trained and using Fieldwire for their every day workflows, they can’t imagine ever working without the software again.
Dalton sums it up best - “Fieldwire just makes everything easier.”
Looking to find that “easy” button for your company? Get started free today or sign up for a demo to learn how you can leverage Fieldwire to digitize your construction projects.
