“Without Field Materials, we’d be struggling. As we grow, Field Materials gives us the extra capacity we need to scale.”
NCN Electric is a Florida based contractor that specializes in new construction, large remodels, lighting, fiber optic systems, and circuitry. Over the past few years, NCN has more than doubled its annual revenue, which grew from $8M to $18M. Facing a backlog of projects worth $20M with new jobs being awarded almost daily, NCN knew they had to overhaul their procurement process to cope with the fast growing material purchasing volume.
“It’s amazing what Field Materials has done for us. It's taken something out of the 1920s and brought it up to the 2020s.”
For Thomas Swoboda, who manages procurement and accounting at NCN, the company’s existing system wasn’t cutting it. They relied on Foundation’s purchasing module, in which orders, invoices, and cost codes had to be manually entered.
Field staff had to track material orders in spreadsheets, leaving project managers, and accounting staff without a single source of truth. Most of Thomas’s procurement questions required tracking down the right person to get an answer.
Without a reliable system to track which POs corresponded to which jobs, or whether materials have been received, it all had to be managed manually. This means that Thomas would have needed to hire 2-3 extra staff just to manage the growing load.
“We basically had no automation in place. Unless it was done manually, we had no way to know what was ordered and what the PO number was.”
Field Materials construction purchasing software brought structure to an archaic process. Foremen now use the mobile app to place orders directly from the job site, while project managers request quotes from suppliers and cost code the orders correctly before approving them.
Today, with Field Materials, everyone on the team has complete visibility into where an order stands. Thomas no longer has to chase people for answers. Project managers are more accountable, and Thomas can close the books faster. Rather than hiring more staff to manage the company’s growth, Thomas chose to work “smarter, not harder.”
“Sometimes more people and more cooks in the kitchen makes things more difficult. Technology made it easy for us.”
By adopting Field Materials, NCN Electric can continue to scale without increasing headcount. Previously, Thomas would have needed to hire 3 additional staff just to keep up.
With Field Materials becoming the system of record for material purchasing, accounting staff no longer needs to chase foremen and Project Managers for answers. All orders with corresponding packing slips and invoices are instantly accessible.
Field Materials implementation was easy. The NCN Electric team was impressed how quickly Field Materials responded to feedback. As Thomas says, “when we’ve asked for something, Field Materials addressed it within days. You don’t find that in software.”
Field Materials construction purchasing software empowered NCN Electric to grow and scale faster without needing to hire more staff.
