Learn how Touchplan helped Titan Electric efficiently communicate deadline and manage manpower curves on a laboratory build out.
During This Case, You Will Learn How Touchplan
- Kept Titan aligned with other trades and the GC despite procurement and schedule slippages.
- Has helped Titan on projects of all sizes to manage their manpower, and successfully complete projects.
- Allowed Titan to show GCs currently not using a construction planning software the value of Touchplan’s platform.
Titan Electric was part of the project team that built out a 12,000 SF office and laboratory space for a life science company that was moving out of a local university. The eight-month tenant fit-out was facing schedule delays, permitting issues, and procurement issues, making it a perfect opportunity to use Touchplan to track issues throughout the project.
Touchplan was extremely helpful as it allowed Titan to communicate deadlines to the project’s general contractor, in addition to helping mitigate their manpower curve.
“This project was supposed to ramp up to about eight people; we ended up with no more than two on-site the entire time just because of how it ended up stretching out,” said Kyle Rothlin, Senior PM for Titan Electric. “Since we were able to consistently update our manpower in Touchplan, we were able to forecast that we would never need more than two people on the project. We were then able to communicate that information with the person in charge of our manpower, and dedicate those people elsewhere without impacting the project.”
As Titan has continued to use Touchplan across its projects, it has proven to be instrumental in alleviating the pain of understanding deliverable dates, and efficiently documenting those deliverables without using spreadsheets. Touchplan also allowed the Titan team to track slides in the schedule.
“Touchplan makes it easier to communicate with the general contractor by exporting Gantt charts or taking a snapshot of the Touchplan,” added Rothlin. “It was also beneficial to see any delays related to permitting. We were able to track those changes via Touchplan and update our tickets, while also having access to a report of what changed at the end of the project.
Keeping the Project Moving Despite Some Curveballs
About a month into the project, a change needed to be made due to health issues. Despite the staffing challenge, Touchplan helped the Titan team keep the work moving since they “constantly had a plan in place” no matter who was on site.
“Everything that needed to be done was shown in Touchplan,” said Rothlin. “With personnel changes, there is always the risk of loose ends or quality issues, but Touchplan prevented any slippages from happening.”
Titan is connected to almost all other trades on the job. Using Touchplan keeps everything aligned no matter the project size. Titan uses Touchplan for 300,000-square-foot projects down to a service truck driver working on ten small projects. Touchplan is the right fit, no matter the project size.
Rothlin added, “As an electrical contractor, we literally touch every trade. Furniture, mechanical, framing, we interact with them all. Keeping our information in Touchplan makes it easier to stay aligned when you have that kind of reach across all the other subcontractors. We only spend about 30 minutes a week updating this schedule and coordinating with other trades. If we weren’t running in Touchplan, we’d probably be spending at least 30 minutes a day in person trying to coordinate with other trades. Honestly, I don’t know how I would run this project without Touchplan.”
“Trades will speak up during weekly Touchplan progress meetings if they are not able or willing to proceed with tasks due to safety concerns, such as standing water, lack of lighting, and working on top of each other,” added Bousleiman. Touchplan adds an additional resource to reduce injuries and improve quality.
Our relationship with Titan Electric has produced some mutually beneficial results, including:
- Fostering better communication with the General Contractor on the project, while efficiently managing their own manpower.
- Keep their work moving despite schedule slippages.
- Reduce time in coordination/planning meetings.
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