This year, in ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR, NECA Notes features articles telling the stories of its new Premier Partner companies. This month, we are proud to feature Procore.
Paradigm-changing inventions aren’t always born of necessity. Sometimes they’re born of frustration. Procore is a case in point. Ranked No. 8 (at this writing) on the coveted Forbes 2020 Cloud 100, the construction management software company began some 19 years ago—as a homeowner trying to follow the construction of his new house from 300 miles away. While the company’s success grew out of a single bold idea—that of remotely overseeing a build—the innovation spawned by that daydream empowers today’s specialty contractor with unprecedented efficiencies and control on the job site.
A digital job site
Before entering the technology industry, Procore’s founder, Tooey Courtemanche, had spent several years working construction, and had even apprenticed as a carpenter. When he connected his experience on the job site to digital technology, the result was not just a way to remotely track a construction project. Over time, Procore’s team of developers threw themselves at making the process of construction itself crystal clear and trackable, offering detailed workflows and real-time visibility to the specialty contractors on-site—in other words, the people doing the actual work.
Tooey understands too well where the beating heart of construction lies—within the people of the industry. That’s why he created Procore for one purpose– to improve the lives of everyone in construction. Unlike its diversified competitors, to whom construction is just another asset in the portfolio, Procore does one thing only: construction. Tooey continues to work hand in hand with the construction professionals he hires at Procore in pursuit of a singular goal – to connect everyone in construction on a global platform. Everyone.
It could be said that even the smoothest-run construction job is an instance of managed chaos. By using digital tech to organize and clarify the project, Procore tames project complexity, mitigates project risk, streamlines change management and increases labor productivity—all while providing teams across the project the same single-source view of real-time project progress. Procore’s platform optimizes the construction project in a transparent, shared task environment that puts everyone on the same page, looking at the same drawings and progress dashboards; thus actively reducing rework and improving profit margins. Construction’s thin margins need all the help they can get, and Procore’s tools are aimed at that bullseye. Time is money. Procore saves both.
Refusing to throw in the trowel
Procore’s digital solution for the hammer and nails sector was first taken up by the general contractor; mostly homebuilders at first. The newness of the product and its “tech” nature gave the industry pause. Soon, though, the construction grapevine began whispering about a “digital” construction management solution that could substantially simplify and streamline a build, ease profit margins and even get subs paid on time. The construction software company began gaining traction by word of mouth, delivering on a future not everyone was positioned to see. Then came the recession of 2008.
With the 2008 recession, homebuilding—Procore’s initial bread and butter—stopped cold. The company suddenly found itself tottering toward the abyss. Procore stripped down to a skeleton crew of five employees. Hanging on by the fingernails and waiting for the digital sunrise, Procore was convinced they could outlast the recession. And they did. The turning of the economy coincided with another sea change—the digital flood tide that finally rolled in and forever altered the landscape. Digital became the norm, connectivity the default. For Procore, the wait was over.
Today, Procore is the leading construction management platform, with over 1.5 million users in 92 countries. Procore is unique in the construction tech marketplace for one very good reason—it does not offer a mixed bag of cross-segment product offerings. Procore does one thing: construction. Like construction itself, Procore is ever-changing and growing; but it will always be a solution designed by construction people for construction people.
A specialty tool for the specialty contractor
Once seemingly aligned with the general contractor, Procore is in fact dedicated to developing tools particular to the specialty contractor’s unique needs, based on constant feedback from that foundational construction segment. Project Management, Quality and Safety, Field Productivity, Project Financials, Design Coordination, BIM—Procore is constantly growing their specialty contractor offerings so you can get paid faster while expertly completing the job and moving on to the next one.
“Over time, we will be able to use our historical data to help us bid better, know our strengths, and know what we need to improve,” said E.J. Electric’s Technology Director Mike Rascona. “It also gives us an edge over any company still using paper; being able to have live, up-to-the-minute data in the palm of your hand is essential.”
Procore’s work for and with general contractors and owners has further consolidated the cloud-based construction management platform’s share of the global construction market. Procore offers the benefits of transparent collaboration, seamless communication and deep project—and financial—visibility to the whole of the construction family, from specialty contractors trying to wean themselves from Excel or Word to manage their projects, to multinational enterprise giants. Procore’s App Marketplace allows construction innovators to offer hundreds of niche project solutions that integrate seamlessly with the Procore Platform, from Quickbooks to Zoom and beyond.
Procore’s founder has a personal history that straddles the trades and tech. Procore is an ever-evolving construction management tool for the community he loves—the community that is building the world. For all the technology that drives the Procore Platform, the focus has always been the individual on the jobsite, putting in the time to move us all forward. Procore ’s vision statement is simple: Improve the lives of everyone in construction.
Header image by Procore.
