KD Construction

Baseline: The procurement challenge

KD Construction is a leading contractor specializing in structural cast-in-place concrete and tunnel form construction. With over 60,000 apartments and residential units completed across the Southeast U.S., the company is known for delivering high-quality, large-scale projects.

However, as KD Construction continued to scale its operations, procurement inefficiencies became bottlenecks in day-to-day operations. In 2022, the company centralized purchasing across all divisions, aiming to streamline the procurement of consumables, safety materials, and assets. Additionally, KD Construction was upgrading its accounting software and needed a purchasing platform that could integrate seamlessly.

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The challenges

• Fragmented procurement processes: Orders were handled manually through phone calls, emails, and handwritten notes, leading to miscommunication, duplicated requests, and order delays.
• Limited Price visibility: Checking supplier pricing was inconsistent, making it difficult to compare costs across vendors and ensure competitive pricing.
• Delivery confirmation issues: Field teams lacked a streamlined process to verify material deliveries, leading to disputes and delays in order reconciliation.
• Manual invoice matching: Reconciling purchase orders with invoices was time-consuming and prone to errors, increasing administrative workload and delaying vendor payments.
• Lack of real-time data: Without a centralized system, procurement teams struggled to monitor spending, track deliveries, and analyze purchasing trends with a real time material database effectively.
  

These inefficiencies led to higher operational costs and created unnecessary delays in project timelines, affecting overall productivity.

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The solution

Implementing SubBase for smarter procurement

KD Construction recognized the need for a technology-driven procurement solution that could simplify purchasing, improve efficiency, and integrate seamlessly with its new accounting software. After evaluating multiple options, the company selected SubBase for its:

• User-friendly interface: A construction-focused platform designed for intuitive use, ensuring quick adoption by procurement teams and field workers.
• Supplier price visibility: A customized material database providing real-time pricing from multiple suppliers, reducing the need for manual price checks.
• Automated procurement workflow: Digital tracking of field requests, purchase orders, and invoice approvals in one unified system that spoke the language of trade contractors.
• Seamless accounting integration: Full compatibility with KD’s upgraded accounting software, eliminating manual data entry and reconciliation errors.
• Delivery & invoice reconciliation: AI-powered matching of purchase orders, deliveries, and invoices, ensuring greater accuracy and transparency.

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Implementation process

The SubBase rollout was completed in just 30 days, with strong executive buy-in from KD Construction’s leadership team. The implementation followed a phased approach, ensuring:

• Field teams received hands-on training to streamline adoption.
• A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) was developed to align procurement processes across all divisions with key stakeholders.
• The integration with KD’s accounting software was tested and optimized for seamless data flow prior to full roll-out.
  

By focusing on ease of use and seamless implementation, KD Construction successfully transitioned from a fragmented, manual system to a centralized, technology-driven procurement platform.

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Life on the other side

Measurable improvements and cost savings

Since implementing SubBase, KD Construction has experienced significant improvements in procurement efficiency, cost savings, and operational transparency.

Key results

• 22% reduction in material costs: SubBase’s centralized procurement approach reduced material expenses by 22%, thanks to better price visibility and vendor negotiation leverage.
• $1M+ in procurement savings: Over the course of a year, process optimizations and cost reductions translated into more than $1M in material savings (not inclusive of labor time).
• Eliminated paper-based processes: All procurement data, invoices, and approvals are now fully digitized, reducing administrative overhead and minimizing errors.
• Faster Invoice Reconciliation – AI-powered invoice matching significantly reduced reconciliation time, ensuring vendors are paid faster and with greater accuracy.
• Improved field operations: Field teams can now upload delivery confirmations via mobile, allowing real-time tracking and reducing disputes over missing or delayed materials.
• Greater spend visibility: Procurement teams have access to historical purchasing data, real-time spend tracking, and reporting insights, enabling more strategic decision-making.

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ROI and business impact ‍

KD Construction measures procurement ROI based on cost reductions, process efficiency, and vendor relationships. With over $1M in material cost savings within the first year, SubBase has delivered a significant return on investment.

Quantifiable business impact

• 22% savings on materials by centralizing purchasing and leveraging price transparency.
• Reduction in physical invoices and processing time, accelerating budget updates vendor payments and eliminating errors.
• Enhanced tracking of procurement data, reducing order disputes and improving accountability.
• Optimized procurement decision-making through real-time analytics and historical spending trends.

By digitizing procurement workflows and integrating procurement data with accounting systems, KD Construction has strengthened its financial controls and improved overall operational efficiency.  

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“SubBase has transformed the way we handle procurement at KD Construction. We now have complete visibility into orders, costs, and deliveries, which has significantly improved efficiency. Their team listens to our needs and continuously enhances the platform to support our evolving requirements. The time and cost savings we’ve realized have been game-changing.”