NPW Contracting, Inc. Streamlines Scheduling and Enhances Field and Office Communications Using Assignar’s Cloud-Based SaaS Platform

Colorado-based thermal/moisture protection, restoration and structural repair contractor, modernizes daily operations, maximizes productivity, and facilitates compliance

Customer

Based in Denver, NPW Contracting Inc., is a full-service thermal/moisture protection, restoration, and structural repair contractor that offers many services to commercial clients.

Challenge

NPW Contracting Inc., owners Helen Madden-Weiss and Joshua Weiss wanted to improve daily operations, increase production and take on additional projects. Along with their team, they began talking with Assignar about the potential benefits of using a cloud-based SaaS platform.

Solution

Assignar’s field operations software platform for sub- and self-perform contractors.

Key Results:

• Savings of 220-man hours and $7700 per year (per 10 people) – as NPW Contracting crews become more proficient with the app, these savings will likely increase
• Reduction of paper waste, and human error on tracking and forms
• Reduction in time spent scheduling (and often rescheduling) workers for specific jobs and projects

Collaborating on some of Colorado’s most visible projects

Helen Madden-Weiss and Joshua Weiss, owners of NPW Contracting, have been in the full-service thermal/moisture protection, restoration, and structural repair business for 30 years. Based in Denver, NPW Contracting Inc., employs 16 crew members full time – in total, the team boasts over 100 years of cumulative experience.

The family-owned, self-performing contractor specializes in accommodating large-scale projects and has worked on numerous high-profile projects in the Rocky Mountain region – including work on the Denver Union Station, Eagle P3, and FasTracks commuter rail projects, and the recently opened Gaylord Rockies Hotel and Convention Center.

For NPW Contracting’s traditional process for assigning workers to specific jobs, Courtney Lively would spend approximately 10 hours a week manually matching up various team members, jobs and equipment on a well-worn standard whiteboard. Once complete, she would then send individual emails and texts to employees to let them know their schedule. When jobs changed, or situations would arise, as happens in the world of construction, Courtney was required to “go back to the drawing board,” shifting workers and jobs around, reorganizing the schedule and, once again, updating every team member about the changes.

In addition, field workers were required to stop by the office first to make sure they had the latest schedule, and to gather relevant paperwork specific to certain jobs.

“Our previous scheduling process was insane,” said NPW administrative assistant Rachel Weiss. “We only had a whiteboard that showed the guys’ names on it, and the dates for the current week and the next week.”

According to Ms. Weiss NPW, took time to carefully research a variety of potential solutions to their challenges. The most compelling criteria for choosing Assignar was efficiency, ease-of-use and cost-savings. In addition, Ms. Weiss noted that it was essential for their team to find a complete, integrated platform versus using several single-point solutions they would have to piece together.

Gradual Implementation Leads to Easier Company-Wide Adoption

After speaking with the team at Assignar about a solution to streamline their daily operations processes, NPW, determined there were many advantages to trying out the cloud-based, collaborative software.

“Basically, our project manager insisted that we needed a solution to our scheduling challenges,” Ms. Weiss said. “At that point in time, communication between the field and our office was proving to be a consistent challenge to our overall business and operations.”

To get the process started with adopting Assignar’s solution, NPW Contracting Inc., gradually implemented the technology across the company.

“We began using some of the software’s capabilities with a test group of about five workers, which included a foreman and a few technicians,” Ms. Weiss said. “After working closely with this group for a short amount of time, rolling out the solution to the rest of the team was easy.”

Assignar’s software helps construction teams meet project deadlines by efficiently scheduling and allocating available and compliant resources to multiple projects simultaneously. When crews have been dispatched, the powerful platform is a real-time connection to the office providing instant access to digital forms and timesheets.

According to Ms. Weiss, the learning curve for training was relatively easy. The contractor hosted an initial in-house training led by Assignar representatives.

“Assignar made the whole training process easy and seamless,” she noted.

Eliminating paperwork, maximizing efficiencies

Since adopting Assignar, NPW’s 16-person crew has transformed into a more efficient, effective and productive team. The company has saved an estimated 220 man-hours and $7,700 per year (per 10 people). And, because employees now spend less time in the office checking schedules and filling out paperwork by hand, the company’s team members can work more proficiently and take on more jobs.

According to Ms. Madden-Weiss, “Another significant advantage of using Assignar is the responsiveness of the Assignar team. For instance, we were made aware that Assignar’s developers were working to solve the needs and fill the requests of their clients, one of which was a Spanish language setting.  It is evident that Assignar also values diversity and inclusion with an app for both English and Spanish language settings.”

NPW also has replaced its daily paper forms with Assignar’s digital forms, including its Daily Vehicle Inspection Reports and Daily Work Reports. In addition, NPW believes that Assignar’s technology has had a positive impact on enhancing the complete depth and scope of their projects.

“Team members can take pictures with their smartphones of specific project aspects in the field … and it’s much easier for them to store and share those images in one, easy-to-access place,” said Madden-Weiss. “It also helps prevent our office from getting flooded with images via email.”

While NPW Contracting Inc., has been enjoying the benefits of Assignar’s powerful, yet easy-to-use technology, the contractor is now starting to explore its operations management capabilities even further, with hopes to soon utilize even more features.

“There are a lot of capabilities that Assignar’s software brings to the table that we definitely plan to explore in the future,” Ms. Weiss said. “In the meantime, we are pleased that we have found something that works perfectly – and fits perfectly – into our daily routines.”