Founded in 1976 and headquartered in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Ridgemont Commercial Construction is a construction management company. Ridgemont serves the Texas metroplexes – Austin, Houston, and San Antonio – as well as Oklahoma City and Tulsa. They work in six market segments: retail, automotive, industrial, office, medical, and senior living. 

Regularly recognized as a ‘top place to work’ by the Dallas Morning News and Dallas Business Journal, Ridgemont is also focused on developing client relationships. They strive to create complete client confidence by making them feel comfortable that they’ve made the right choice for a general contractor.

THE CHALLENGE

Ridgemont has approximately 90 employees and is engaged in about 25 projects at any given time, the average project length being around a year.

Between the size and number of projects and the fact that they span multiple market segments, construction resource planning has been challenging for Ridgemont. To complicate things, some market segments do not crossover, meaning some employees can only work in one market.

While Ridgemont had a system for construction resource planning, it was flawed, and Johnson said the company was ‘terrible’ at resource planning.

What was the system? Well, it included a mix of Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Project and simply writing the information down on paper. “It was inefficient and labor intensive,” said Johnson.

THE SOLUTION

Ridgemont recognized that construction manpower planning was a pinch point that they had not been able to solve. But it was not for a lack of trying. They tried many things but could not find a good solution to their challenges.

Seeking improvement is in Ridgemont’s DNA. “We’re constantly trying to make ourselves better. We never want to get stagnant in anything that we do,” said Johnson.

Ridgemont turned to Bridgit Bench, which has been a hit as the company is one of the top users of the construction resource management tool. And part of the reason is that Bridgit Bench is easy to grasp.

Since Ridgemont is always looking to improve, they’ve become proficient at implementing technology. They have a good sense of the speed at which technology can be implemented and why it may be quicker or slower to implement. “The speed of implementation for a technology software has a lot to do with how well it’s developed and how easy the interface is,” says Johnson.

So, how does Johnson view Bridgit Bench? It has a user-friendly interface that is easy to understand. He appreciates that it can be accessed on an iPhone, iPad, or computer allowing one to input data quickly and efficiently. 

Significant usage of the technology, however, is ultimately dependent upon its benefits.

At Ridgemont, said Johnson, they don’t like to do things twice. With Bridgit Bench, the company does not need to. “We were tracking multiple different pieces and parts of a project timeline in different pieces of software or a piece of paper written down on somebody’s desk,” said Johnson.

The construction workforce management information Ridgemont is tracking includes scheduling a job, creating detailed schedules, and detailed information that the project goes through. “What we needed was something that would combine that and put it in more of a streamlined fashion,” said Johnson. 

Ridgemont has modified Bridgit Bench to make it more useful for them. The project managers and superintendents go into Bridgit Bench and update relevant information as it changes. They use a color system that easily lets users know a project’s status. “In our owner’s meeting, we’re able to go through and pretty quickly see which projects need more focus and which are in good shape,” said Johnson.

Because the information is updated regularly and easily communicated, it can limit potential problems.

“The sooner we can find out that there’s an issue, the better chance we’re going to have to solve it, and the less resources it’s going to take to do so.”

Joey Johnson, Principal & VP of Business Development at Ridgemont

Using the construction manpower planning software has also enabled Ridgemont to increase transparency and involvement in the process. Because Johnson is getting the information directly from those on-site, it’s eliminated the guesswork of when a project is going to finish. “I don’t have to try to find it in the latest scheduling software and pull that information out,” said Johnson.

Having the input available in real time also makes Ridgemont nimbler in terms of construction resource planning. This is particularly important during these uncertain times. Bridgit Bench “makes it easy” to shift variables including project dates and provides a view of who’s available and when.

And the biggest benefit of the construction management tool?

“The Bridgit Bench software has made my job a lot easier.”

Joey Johnson, Principal & VP of Business Development at Ridgemont

It freed up time and made the process more seamless, allowing the company to provide a high level of service to its clients through effective resource planning.

Q&A with Ridgemont

Since implementing Bridgit Bench, Ridgemont has become a top 5 usage account, successfully integrating their field team – from APMs to PMs – into the resource planning process. Watch the Q&A with Joey from Ridgemont Commercial Construction as he shares the steps and technology behind Ridgemont’s resource planning, how to drive resource planning adoption across the organization, and why you should include field employees in workforce planning.