How Swinerton closed a $1M budget gap and got the project on track

Tracking and sharing changes was time-consuming

Swinerton Builders had been using Excel for years to support preconstruction estimates and cost opportunities, when they won a $15 million K-12 school work phase renovation job. After investing time into detailed estimates, the owner added additional work breakdown structures and frequently changed cost categories.

Tracking and sharing these complex changes and budgets in a meaningful way to both the Swinerton team and the owner became too cumbersome, even for the most advanced Excel experts.

Spreadsheets weren’t cutting it

When Swinerton discovered they were $1 million over budget because costs weren’t matching original estimates, they realized they needed a better solution – and fast – to keep the project, and their reputation, on track.

Todd Marks, Chief Estimator, and Harley Evans, Lead Estimator realized they couldn’t rely on their usual big, antiquated spreadsheets. They turned to Join to break down the $1M overage and identify how it happened.

“45 minutes into what was really a bad news meeting informing them the project was over budget, it became a healthy, collaborative discussion. With Join, we were able to show the owner a path back to their budget.”

Todd Marks

Chief Estimator

Now data is transparent, accurate, and real-time

Swinerton leveraged Join to present the GMP using trend logs and drawings and review real-time item statuses that reflected the most recent revisions. Join helped them transform complex data into simple visualizations that allowed the owner to understand why the project was off track, what critical decisions needed the most focus, and, most importantly, enable the team to get the project back on track.

Swinerton overcame the issues, budget gap, and successfully gained approval to push the project forward – with help from Join.