In this five-part series, Brent Drew from Modern Vision Contractors has been generous enough to show us exactly how he estimates projects remotely.
And when we say 'remotely,' we’re talking about 1000 km from head office.
In a live screenshare, Brent showed us how he manages estimating, project documentation, client changes, material ordering and communication with his team—all from a home office in Queensland while supporting a business based in New South Wales.
He’s worked closely with our training team to refine a his own unique process into a well-organised system that keeps the site manager, the client, and the guys on site on track.
Agility and transparency
Until recently, Brent used AutoCAD to work with plans, which he's now replaced with Groundplan. He’s found Groundplan to be more agile and, being cloud-based, much more readily accessible to the team. It’s ideal for collaboration.
For Brent, Groundplan has become a central hub for managing project status through to the accurate ordering of materials.
Using Statuses as a checklist
Brent uses Project Statuses to track when projects are still in progress, when quotes and rough-ins are completed, and so on.
As work is completed, the status changes accordingly.
“It’s like a checklist. Once the rough-in is complete on site, we mark it as Rough In Completed.” says Brent.
For example, once takeoffs have been completed and pricing has been sent, the project is updated to reflect that progress. The on-site team can also update milestones as work is completed, allowing everyone to see where the project is.
Brent even uses statuses to track construction progress.
Example Statuses:
- Quoting in Progress
- Rough-in Completed
- Quote Completed
- And so on
Archive Reasons
Over time, completed jobs, lost tenders and postponed projects can make it difficult to focus on active work. Particularly after they’ve been through several changes.
Brent ensures that all completed projects have an Archive Reason.
Making sure everything is archived when it needs to be ensures the project is never cluttered
Archive Reason examples:
- Won
- Lost
- Didn’t Quote
- Finished Quote
Whether a project has been completed, lost, cancelled or delayed, it can be archived and marked with a clear reason.
Project Labels
Brent relies on Project Labels to group projects by key customers and builders.
As certain clients become a larger part of the business, filtering projects by label lets him quickly locate related work without having to search through hundreds of jobs.
“We’ve got labels set up for our key customers just so I can declutter my main screen faster.”
It’s a simple idea, but one that becomes increasingly important as workloads grow.
An emphasis on clarity
What stands out most from Brent’s workflow isn’t the technology itself. It’s the emphasis on clarity.
Every status, label and archive rule serves the same purpose: clarity for all.
For Brent, Groundplan isn’t just where he completes takeoffs. It’s where projects are organised, tracked and communicated throughout their lifecycle from the office to the field.
The bonus - he’s able to do so from interstate.
Thankyou to Modern Vision
We’d like to thank Brent from Modern Vision Contractors for his time and for sharing his expertise.
