case study

L. F. Jennings
CLIENT: L. F. JENNINGS
CHALLENGE: Without a standardized project and document
management system, the commercial general contractor found
it difficult to maintain consistent, high-quality branding across
all project reports presented to clients. This created a situation
where the company’s work product varied between projects and
between clients, and the company needed to find a solution to
streamline the management teams’ time spent on creating and
maintaining project documentation.
SOLUTION: Procore’s cloud-based project management software
has helped the company enhance its image by equipping project
managers with a standard process for packaging and delivering
project documents, management tools, and enforced standard
procedures among other tools. An added benefit: the software
also saves the company time and money by streamlining
document management, printing, and distribution.
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CASE STUDY
CASE STUDY L. F. JENNINGS
L. F. Jennings Inc. has worked as a general contractor for high-quality commercial
developments throughout the Mid-Atlantic region since 1952.
IN THE BUSINESS WORLD, BRANDING IS EVERYTHING
In L.F. Jennings’ case, the commercial construction company’s in-house document
management system was hindering its ability to communicate the L.F. Jennings
customer experience and brand of unparalleled quality, experience, and commitment.
L.F. Jennings believes that a company should have a consistent look, feel, and
language—and stick to them. “We tried to maintain consistency throughout all
projects, but before Procore, everyone had their own versions of documentation
for logging and reporting information on projects,” says Kevin Nearpass, VP of
Operations.
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CASE STUDY L. F. JENNINGS
The company relied on Microsoft Word and Excel documents to track projects. Team
members retrieved document templates and company logos from a common folder.
Since the templates were generic and contained basic entries, project managers
would tweak the formats to make documents and logs better-suited for individual
projects. They also had to insert company logos into the documents, which resulted
in inconsistent branding. It was time to move beyond Word and Excel to a software
solution specifically designed for construction project management.
“We needed to improve our image of professionalism,” explains Kevin. “We wanted
all of our client-facing reports to have the same consistency and branding. It is also
critically important that our teams see the benefit of this system to make their dayto-day tasks less paperwork heavy and allow them to concentrate on solving projectrelated problems and focus on construction planning and not document handling.”
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CASE STUDY L. F. JENNINGS
THE ROAD TO AN ENHANCED COMPANY IMAGE
L.F. Jennings began using Procore’s cloud-based project management software to
generate uniform documentation that would be suitable for any construction project
(no tweaking required). What’s more, the software incorporates the L.F. Jennings
logo as a header within custom templates and transmittals, so it appears the same
size, in the same position, and with the same color treatment on every document—for
more consistent branding.
The company is also seeing big improvements in day-to-day operations, because it
simply takes less time and money to manage projects using Procore:
Real-time access to project information: “Everyone is working from the latest
information,” says Kevin. Daily logs, RFIs, submittals, change orders, photos,
drawings, and more can be uploaded and immediately shared with all team members
through the software. The most up-to-date data can be viewed by any team member
with the right set of permissions and an Internet connection (via computer or mobile
device).
Automated deadline notifications: “There’s no more searching Excel logs to see what
has to be done,” says Kevin. “Plus, every time I log into a project through Procore, I
can see what’s due within the next seven days—as well as what’s past due—right on
the homepage.” Procore sends email notifications to both internal and external team
members, including architects and subcontractors, reminding them of deadlines,
approvals, RFI responses, etc.
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CASE STUDY L. F. JENNINGS
Faster document distribution. Sending drawings to subcontractors, for example, is
quick and easy. Once a project is awarded, the project manager uploads the drawings
to Procore and emails them to subcontractors through the software. It only takes a
few seconds per drawing to number and title the drawing, and assign a discipline
and date. Kevin notes, “That’s a huge time-saver.” Drawings and specs are available
to anyone on the team with computer or mobile access, and subcontractors can
download them straight from Procore.
Significantly reduced printing costs. “We no longer have to order paper-based
drawings for each of our subcontractors, so instead of printing 40 sets of plans and
specs, we now only have our office and field sets,” says Kevin.
Thorough as-built drawings. Procore enables project teams to mark up their working
sets of drawings via mobile device and attach sketches and RFI responses. (Markups
and changes are synced with the team automatically.)
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CASE STUDY L. F. JENNINGS
TRANSITIONING TO SOPHISTICATED SOFTWARE
Most L.F. Jennings staff members had never used construction management
software, so the company approached implementation with intensive up-front
planning and in-house training. “We went through a thorough process of determining
how we were going to use the system and what files would be managed through
Procore. That helped get everyone onto the same page,” says Brenda Jenkins,
construction coordinator with L.F. Jennings.
Once we started using Procore, it only took one month for us I to see a big increase
in time savings, says Brenda. Project managers soon began championing the
system and taking the initiative to train other team members. Now, all projects are
maintained through Procore.
By using Procore, L.F. Jennings staff members have been able to work and promote
themselves and the company in a manner that better reflects the company’s brand
and strengthens the company’s long standing reputation of providing the highest
quality product in the marketplace. “We are providing a better, more consistent
product for our clients and external team members, while at the same time allowing
our project teams more time to focus on the task of being builders and not document
developers” says Kevin.
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CASE STUDY L. F. JENNINGS
“
There’s no more
searching Excel
logs to see what
has to be done.
”
Kevin Nearpass
VP of Operations
7
Everything on One Powerful Platform.
Procore offers the most comprehensive construction platform, combining drawing, financial and quality
management into one application. We’ve put the power of complete construction management into your
hands with a mobile solution that keeps everyone in sync. Build collaboration from bidding to closeout with
unlimited users, implementation assistance, online training, and unmatched customer support.
Let your drawings take the lead, while efficiency, productivity, and faster building times follow.
Procore Technologies, Inc.
6309 Carpinteria Ave., Carpinteria, CA 93013
866-477-6267 // www.procore.com