JGR Construction

JGR Construction, a prominent commercial concrete construction company, faced significant material procurement and accounting challenges

Financial Controller Vivian Jimenez explains how adopting SubBase has streamlined operations, increased efficiency, and completely transformed its accounting function. 

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The challenges

Before SubBase, JGR Construction's procurement and accounting processes were manual, labor-intensive and lacked real-time visibility. They primarily relied on phone-based orders, text messages, smart sheets and paper delivery tickets for tracking purposes, leading to inefficiencies, delays on budget updates and many other errors.

“The initial process was manual and paper-driven - invoices would arrive via mail or email. Then they were printed out, and someone would physically come into the office to review them”, says Jiminez. “It was super labor-intensive”​. 

JGR Construction knew that implementing new technology and streamlining accounting processes would be challenging, but it was clear that their manual accounting practices were holding them back and something had to change.

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Implementing SubBase

To address these challenges, JGR Construction was introduced to SubBase, an extremely user-friendly platform designed to automate and streamline the construction procurement process. 

“SubBase has made everything more efficient,” says Jiminez. “It has basically digitized and automated that entire process for us. Now everything is centralized, much quicker, and much more seamless.”  

The shift to SubBase allowed JGR Construction to consolidate decentralized purchasing into one centralized system without changing their workflow, enabling all orders to be tracked and captured in real-time.

“We can track and make sure we have quotes in place and the information on recent purchases – this saves us hours collectively of time in making phone calls because we have pricing information at our disposal.” 

Furthermore, the software’s ability to preload materials and pricing has eliminated the common errors and time-consuming manual entries that had previously hampered the procurement process. 

“SubBase allows us to preload everything. Whoever wants to order something, it's already preset… it really cuts down on the mistakes that could be made,” says Jiminez. 

JGR Construction also realized significant cost savings by catching invoice errors and tracking materials more accurately. In turn, they have pulled their process from invoice reconciliation to budget updates weeks ahead. They are now looking at a more accurate budget without waiting weeks to get the information processed.  

“Everything is much more thorough, and the quality of our information is better. We've saved money by catching invoicing errors, and we have much greater checks and balances”. 

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The benefits of automation

Since adopting SubBase, JGR Construction has experienced significant time and cost savings across various aspects of their procurement and accounting processes.

“It has changed the way we can execute on orders, and for the office administratively, it has made it a collaborative effort,” says Jiminez. “I had somebody dedicated to just sorting emails and monitoring an inbox for invoices, and that just disappeared overnight with SubBase.” 

One year later, after automating its procurement and invoicing, JGR Construction has restructured its accounting department, shifting the focus from general administrative roles to more specialized project accounting roles.

“I restructured accounting,” says Jiminez. “Rather than having just accounts payable clerk-type team members, they are now project accountants.”

The accounting team now works more closely with project teams, and accounting team members actively participate in approvals and project tracking.

“They’re much more involved, and they’re doing approvals themselves. It streamlined the process, and the quality of the information is better.”

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Enhanced collaboration and transparency

SubBase has improved efficiency and fostered better collaboration between teams at JGR Construction. The platform’s real-time data sharing allowed different departments to work together more effectively, regardless of their location.

“SubBase helps teams collaborate with each other even if they're on different projects and in different locations,” says Jiminez. “They have access to shared information and a shared database of materials.”​

The transparency offered by SubBase has also helped JGR Construction make faster decisions, as everyone involved has access to up-to-date information without the need for back-and-forth communication.

“We can evaluate things in real-time. There's no more transferring of data between people in different places. Everyone has visibility into the same information,” says Jiminez.  

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The results

SubBase has led to measurable improvements in JGR Construction’s processes. By automating manual processes and improving real-time tracking, the company has significantly streamlined its operations. Jiminez explains,

“Before, we used to receive hundreds of invoices manually, and it would take hours to sort through them. Now we have the ability to track something from the quote to the delivery ticket, which means we can turn things around much quicker.”

For example, the JGR month-end books have been pulled ahead in some cases 3-6 weeks, allowing project teams to see real-time budget updates to stay on top of real-time costs against budgets. 

In terms of cost savings, JGR Construction reported that SubBase helped them catch numerous billing errors, resulting in substantial financial savings.

“We know we’ve saved tens of thousands of dollars by catching billing errors and price escalations that were incorrectly charged.” 

The restructuring has empowered the accounting team to engage more in cost management, allowing for better expense tracking and budget forecasting.

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The conclusion

Automation through SubBase has transformed JGR Construction's accounting capabilities. Time once spent on administrative tasks has been reallocated to more strategic tasks, enhancing collaboration between accounting and project teams and empowering the company to make faster, data-driven decisions and operate more efficiently. 

Its ability to track orders in real-time, catch invoicing errors, and manage costs with greater transparency has not only saved JGR Construction tens of thousands of dollars but also positioned it for continued growth and success.