Bluebeam is helping contractors estimate faster, increase accuracy and stay competitive. But that’s just the beginning
Musselman & Hall has been a mainstay in the Midwest contracting scene since 1914. But being a friendly face with a century of experience doesn’t mean everything is plain sailing. For Musselman & Hall, the problem was a common culprit: software.
Despite it being familiar, their quantity estimation software was outdated, slowing productivity, putting timelines at risk and denting morale as frustrations ran high with a clunky interface.
It also didn’t work natively with PDFs, the fast-becoming industry standard. Musselman & Hall needed a radical new solution – and fast.
After an exhaustive search, there was one clear winner: Bluebeam. The comprehensive AEC software trusted by over 3m people worldwide.
While Bluebeam allowed Musselman & Hall to deliver more accurate estimations faster than ever with Bluebeam, quantity estimation was only the beginning.
An effortless transition
Unlike many options Musselman & Hall looked at, Bluebeam didn’t demand the company overhaul their operation overnight.
While the team started their Bluebeam training – supported by on-demand resources and on-hand experts – they wrapped up any projects tied to their old software.
A few months later, everyone was proficient and confident enough to use Bluebeam for nearly all their new projects. By the end of the fiscal year, Musselman & Hall had switched its entire quantity estimation operation to Bluebeam.
For the company, the rollout and adoption were a huge success, proving that big changes in established businesses don’t have to be hard.
Saving time and saving money
One of the biggest savings for Musselman & Hall was time. Here’s how pre-construction manager Christopher Leheney summed up the radical change from Bluebeam: “If I were to really try to put hours to a month based on the output of bids we do, I would say you’re probably saving at least three to four hours a week per estimator, per bid.
“I mean, that could be 60 hours a month, three to four hours a week per individual, and you’re probably getting a net total of 60 hours a month from an estimator.”
For the company, the dramatic saving meant higher productivity, faster bid turnaround and, of course, significant cost reductions. All while boosting accuracy at the same time. In an increasingly competitive market, it was a game-changer.
Beyond quantity estimation
But it wasn’t just in quantity estimation that Musselman & Hall benefited from. The team quickly discovered Bluebeam’s extensive suite of features and tools, all housed on the same intuitive platform.
For project managers alone, the possibilities were staggering. As Leheny said: “Project managers discovered this thing called RFI Format, where there’s already pre-built RFIs within Bluebeam that we didn’t know we had, and we had no process in our company for that.
“So that was a template and a structure that helped project managers almost immediately.”
When it came to reviewing documents and drawings, Musselman & Hall turned to Bluebeam Studio. An online workspace that makes real-time collaboration possible, easy and fun — from anywhere on any device. Leheney says they’ve begun to use Studio Sessions for real-time document collaboration on many larger projects.
A last internal win for Musselman & Hall was somewhat unexpected. As an employee owned
business, the positive change from Bluebeam rippled across the whole company, boosting morale and engagement in every department.
“Everyone is invested,” Leheney said. “Everyone wants to see the company succeed and thrive. And with a program like Bluebeam, you get more collaboration, and I think that’s a cool thing to see when everyone has the same goal in mind.”
Making the best impression
As the saying goes, inner peace brings outer joy. For Musselman & Hall, switching to Bluebeam was just that. In fact, the faster workflows and more streamlined processes were felt far beyond their doors.
“We’ve been told that we’re kind of ‘next level’ compared to our competition as far as having a dialogue back and forth on cost changes or just overall project details,” Leheney said.
While it was still Musselman & Hall’s exceptional team communicating with clients, Bluebeam was the software they needed to do their best job.
So, while Musselman & Hall set out to find a replacement for their rickety estimation software, they found much, much more. A solution to their problem, a comprehensive set of new tools and a positive impact on company culture and clients far and wide.
Ready to discover what Bluebeam can do for you?
Discover Bluebeam:
https://www.bluebeam.co.uk
