Customer Stories
Swinerton’s healthcare division sees schedule gains and improved variance management with Hoylu
est. 1888
Concord, California
California’s largest commercial construction company
Hoylu Value
Gained 20 - 40% on multiple project schedules
Increased visibility into planning considerations for project owners
Fostered proactive communication from trade contractors to surface and mitigate problems in advance
Introduction
Swinerton is California’s largest contractor. Founded by a Swedish immigrant to the US in 1888, the 100% employee-owned company has grown into a $5 billion national contracting firm employing over 4,300 people out of 22 offices around the country. The company’s philosophy prioritizes collaboration and ownership and seeks to cultivate leadership at every level.
Challenge
Brian Brodsky, a senior project manager at Swinerton, manages several hospital MEP retrofit projects simultaneously. These projects are highly complex and must be completed within operational healthcare spaces without disrupting patient care.
Brodsky had encountered Hoylu during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the company began testing different digital solutions to enable remote planning and collaboration. The team had initial success in tracking percent plan complete (PPC) but struggled to get sufficient insight into variance reasons until they began testing Hoylu.
Solution
The team soon discovered that Hoylu’s metrics gave them better insight into their project health. Coming up to speed quickly, the team found the platform intuitive and easy to learn, with most team members able to use it after about a day of interaction with the tool.
Utilizing Hoylu primarily for weekly work planning, the team develops pull plans in Hoylu and uses it to track a more finite level of detail than the master schedule provides. Once the plan is completed, the team exports it to share relevant information with each trade involved.
“You make all those adjustments with the trade partners, and then there’s an export function. It’s excellent when you do this export and it prints out this schedule to be shared with the trades that breaks down every swimlane, clearly identifies which trade partner is to perform their work, and how many individual crew members would be on site for that specific date. It’s simple to understand. We can filter that printout by swimlane, and by trade partner,” says Brodsky.
Results: More finite detail in trade contractor planning
Results: Improved owner communication
Results: Actionable variance tracking
The metrics around variance reasons have emerged as some of the most valuable data Hoylu surfaces for the team. “Being able to track the trends of why things may not be occurring as you plan them, it really helps you identify how to clear those roadblocks in the future,” says Brodsky.
This enhanced visibility into project roadblocks has caused the team to work more proactively. “The trades are getting in front of these issues because they want to keep their PPC high, and it reduces our variance because they know that it’s going to result in driving PPC down,” Brodsky explains. “It really keeps them organized. It’s easy to decipher and understand. I’ve gotten some positive feedback from the trades.”
“It’s been successful for every project that I’ve used it on, and I have recommended it and would continue to recommend Hoylu,” he adds.
About Hoylu
Our platform offers you and your team the power of unified planning with an intuitive solution that combines feature-rich whiteboarding, planning, and task management. Plan, engage, and visualize your projects with best-in-class usability and integrations. Bring your best ideas together with your best data across disparate teams and solutions for unified, unlimited, unbeatable construction project planning.