WCS Construction was established in 2001 out of Washington, D.C. and initially focused its efforts on affordable housing. They’ve since become an award-winning general contractor offering a full suite of construction services across the Mid-Atlantic region. WCS remains steadfast in their mission to provide award-winning construction services to every project, regardless of size or complexity.
WCS has the ability and resources to take a project from pre-construction planning through to closeout. The company has project experience that includes office buildings, multi-purpose commercial, high-rise residential, retail, and historic renovations, to name a few. With leadership and management teams with well over 100 years of combined experience, WCS is one of the most knowledgeable and experienced general contractors in the region and is consistently one of the top five most active contractors in Washington D.C.
With a staff of over 100 team members, WCS implemented Bridgit Bench, a construction resource management solution, to gain better insight into their team’s utilization and future project demands. They were also looking to streamline the time-consuming planning process that stemmed from using Microsoft Excel for workforce management.
THE CHALLENGE
Historically, WCS had used Microsoft Excel for their resource management, making it a tedious and time-consuming process. “We would utilize Excel to keep up with where people were assigned and where they were going, but it requires manual updates to the system,” explains David Jones, VP of Operations at WCS. “Keeping up with it on a spreadsheet was a pretty daunting task.”
As the company has grown and added more team members, accurate resource management and workforce data have also become increasingly difficult to maintain without consistently committing massive amounts of time to updating their spreadsheets. Cris Shaw, VP of Operations at WCS, summed it up perfectly, “It’s difficult for me to remember where 110+ people were going. We had to figure something else out.”
THE SOLUTION
When considering different options for replacing their spreadsheets, WCS put a strong emphasis on improving operational efficiency. That means not only reducing the amount of time spent updating and maintaining their resource plans, but also improving their accessibility to their data. In short, they wanted a solution that would save time and allow them access from anywhere, at any time.
The emphasis of driving efficiency led to WCS implementing Bridgit Bench.“It’s enabling us to keep a tighter control of where we’re utilizing people and what the plan is going forward for them,” explains Jones. “Instead of trying to find an Excel sheet that might be six months old because it’s such a daunting task to update, we just log into Bridgit Bench and it’s right there and up-to-date. That has been very helpful and an absolute positive for us.”
“Using Bridgit Bench, we can easily move people around from one project to another, and get a picture of how well we’re utilizing the staff that we’ve assigned.”
David Jones, VP of Operations at WCS Construction
Shaw also expanded on improving operational efficiency. “Before Bridgit Bench, understanding staffing needs would take multiple hours. Last week, David and I went through Bridgit Bench, looked at staffing needs, and were able to pull up what we needed in less than an hour.” The time saved on resource planning has allowed Jones and Shaw to focus more of their time on profit-driven tasks for WCS.
“It’s just much more efficient. Easier to read, easier to understand. Resource planning has taken a fraction of the time that it used to take us.”
Chris Shaw, VP of Operations at WCS Construction
Jones also shared the benefits of being able to use the Bridgit Bench mobile app while on the go. “If somebody asks ‘Where are so-and-so?’ or ‘What is so-and-so’s next assignment?’ I can simply pull it up on my iPhone or iPad and see it right there – in real-time. From that perspective, it has been a phenomenal tool.”
“Bridgit Bench is enabling us to keep tighter control of where we’re utilizing people and what the plan is going forward for them. We just log in and it’s right there and up-to-date. That has been very helpful and an absolute positive for us.”
David Jones, VP of Operations at WCS Construction
Now that Jones and Shaw are up to speed and seeing the value of Bridgit Bench, their next step is to begin involving their larger team. “At this point, what I need to do is bring more of our people into the mix of utilizing Bridgit Bench,” explains Jones.
Involving more of their team will allow WCS to continue to drive operational efficiencies and keep everyone pulling in the same direction in regard to their resource strategy moving forward. By using custom permission groups, WCS will be able to not only control organizational transparency but will also help keep their team engaged by allowing them to contribute to overall company goals.
