Hill & Wilkinson Powers Up Construction Projects By Using Elecosoft’s Powerproject

Over the past 50 years, general contracting firm Hill & Wilkinson, with its main office in Richardson, Texas, has grown from a small business to a respected market leader in the construction industry. While the company has had an impressive record of developing successful projects while working closely with clients, it has continued to also progress with industry trends and market changes, such as the adoption of advances in construction management technologies.

To help manage its projects, the company had been using a well-known project management software product for more than 15 years. While Hill & Wilkinson had grown accustomed to using this product, it was looking for something that could provide more detailed features focused explicitly on construction management rather than general project management.  The experienced general contracting firm also wanted a construction management software program to provide strong tech support, excellent customer service, and training assistance when needed.

“Winging It as We Go”

Hill & Wilkinson certainly had reasons for using this general-based project management product, as well as another product designed for construction management. For one, a project manager who had been at the company for many years had learned the intricacies of the general project-management tool. As for the other product, some of Hill & Wilkinson’s clients had specifically requested that they use it – a known global brand that offers products across many industries.

Either way, changing the status quo can be complex, even when something superior is available for construction companies such as Elecosoft’s Powerproject.

“We just kept using one product in particular and were sort of winging it as we would go,” said Steve Camp, Executive Vice President of Hill & Wilkinson.”

However, times would change once Camp learned about Elecosoft’s Powerproject.

“Around 2017, our company’s CEO sent me to a planning and scheduling conference,” said Camp. “During the event, I was very intrigued by an independent business consultant speaking at the conference about her experience using Elecosoft’s Powerproject. The more the consultant talked about how comprehensive the product was for construction management – while being very easy to use throughout an organization – the more interested I became.

“At the same time, we also found out that one of our associates, Mary Williams, from Projects Analytics, was already working with a partner who was using Powerproject and having success with it. Shortly after the conference, we decided to give Powerproject a try.”

Immediately Recognized Powerproject’s Utility

To get started with Powerproject, Hill & Wilkinson bought a license and began using it. First, Camp became familiar with the import-export feature and was readily surprised by its superior functionality – yet, easy to use – geared towards the construction industry. He and his colleagues tried it out on a new job, then another one. Before they knew it, the company was using Powerproject on one-third of its projects and realized it was a far more efficient product than what they had been using.

Camp recognized several advantages by using Powerproject right from the outset, including:

• The capability to quickly and thoroughly track actuals. Camp showed internal colleagues some of the papers that were written on the previous product and how it failed to compete with what was now being managed by Powerproject.
• Camp also discovered how easily and efficiently it calculated project progress by adding the data into a template. From there, Powerproject calibrates project costs the same way every time.

• Improvements were made to scheduling as well. Camp and the team were now tracking everything about their quality program in Powerproject’s Schedule Validator feature, which presented a precise analysis of how projects performed.

“Elecosoft’s Powerproject provides us with great flexibility, which is a must as a diversified contractor,” added Camp. “We have a large number of jobs with typically 30-35 projects running simultaneously. And our jobs are across various vertical industries such as healthcare, churches, schools, manufacturing, industry, and just about every type of commercial.

“Put simply, Powerproject helps us manage all this work. We give everybody access who wants to use the software, including the superintendent, technician, or project manager.”

Hill & Wilkinson users upload information into the Schedule Validator, which gives users so much data so fast that they can promptly  tell if there have been  a lot of  changes  or too many reductions in durations too quickly that don’t make sense.  For example, users can see if a job has slipped and is in danger of not meeting its completion date.

Users integrate with the Schedule Validator and can seamlessly use the cost coding or the code library to assign trades to the activities. What’s more, they can build that out six to eight weeks ahead of the actual work. From there, users can time slice and utilize the software for weekly routine trade coordination.

Strengthens Company’s Core Tasks

“I think another great benefit for us is that it has become an excellent training tool for our people,” continued Camp. “Powerproject strengthens workflow, scheduling, and brainstorming regarding an event or issue. It allows us to drill down to determine the root cause of impact so that we can determine critical-path delays or own any issues early on that may arise so we can improve our reaction and collaboration with contract documents before it’s too late.

“This enables us to recover early, for example, by implementing compression of the schedule, before coming to a project end and realizing there’s a problem. This of course, improves communication with clients as well.”

A few years back, during the time Hill & Wilkinson was implementing best practices throughout its organization, it had one job where Powerproject highlighted a cost/time issue that was confirmed by some of their most seasoned management. This allowed the company to get a needed time extension. In other words, Powerproject discovered the problem and performed as needed during the heat of a large project engagement.

“I just feel overall it’s been such a wonderful tool to get our teams to think and plan more,” concluded Camp.  “It helps them understand vital aspects of our business such as trying to figure out who goes first, who goes second, etc. It’s truly outstanding in helping us manage bottom-line requirements such as the quality of ductwork we got, or how long it will take the electrician to run conduit.

“Using this product for new jobs and new schedules has translated into greater detail that is more connected to the actual commitments than would be done in a vacuum. It also supports us in preparing proposals or other documents. Overall, there’s a lot of knowledge that seems to be happening when we use Powerproject and its Schedule Validator.”

Camp added that Powerproject is also an excellent software platform for its executive management as they can get an easy-to-understand snapshot from the Schedule Validator and updates from the Executive Dashboard. He mentioned that Hill & Wilkinson plans to start using Powerproject’s Resource Management for projects that are 25 million or higher in sales.