The Challenge
Ironwood Builders was running $2-5M residential projects with field crews that had no real-time connection to the front office. Superintendents managed schedules on whiteboards, change orders were handwritten and faxed (yes, faxed) to the office, and material orders were called in by phone with no written record.
Cost tracking was a monthly surprise. The project manager would reconcile invoices against the budget at month-end, only to discover they'd blown past allowances on framing lumber three weeks earlier. By then, the money was spent and the conversation with the client was painful.
The breaking point was a $3.2M custom home where 23 change orders over 8 months created a $180,000 cost overrun that nobody caught until the final reconciliation. The client disputed $60,000 of it because the change orders lacked signatures and timestamps. Ironwood ate the loss.
The Solution
We built a connected field platform where superintendents manage daily logs, submit change orders, and track material deliveries from their phones. Every change order includes a digital client signature, timestamped photos, and automatic budget impact calculation before approval.
Real-time cost tracking replaced monthly surprises. Every invoice, material purchase, and labor hour flows into a live project budget dashboard. When spending in any category exceeds 80% of the allowance, the project manager and superintendent both get an automatic alert—weeks before a potential overrun.
Subcontractor scheduling was automated with dependency tracking. When the framing crew finishes early, the system automatically notifies the electrical sub that their start date moved up and adjusts the master schedule—eliminating the phone tag that used to delay transitions by 2-3 days.
The Results
What We Implemented
Mobile daily logs with photo documentation
Digital change order workflow with e-signatures and budget impact
Real-time project cost tracking with overrun alerts
Automated subcontractor scheduling with dependency tracking
Material order management with delivery verification
Client-facing project portal with milestone updates
"That $180K loss was the most expensive lesson I ever learned. Now every change order is signed, timestamped, and tied to the budget before a single nail gets driven. I sleep better."
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