Customer Story: Billing Transparency Between a GC, Owner, and Subcontractor

Billing Solutions on a Residential Site Development Led by General Contractor Plant Construction

Challenges

Billing between grading contractors and general contractors is based on estimates and can often be inaccurate. It can take days to verify billing and correct any errors or discrepancies. Additionally, change orders for excavation design may not always reflect accurate quantities. Without TraceAir, determining these quantities requires help from engineers or technical knowledge of AutoCAD.

The TraceAir Solution

On a major housing development project, a Project Manager from the General Contractor, Plant Construction, received an invoice from his grading contractor for about 12,000 cubic yards following a design change order. His initial instinct told him this wasn't correct, and he wanted to double check the amount.

Without TraceAir, he would have had to contact his civil engineer to verify the amount using AutoCAD, which could take more than a day to receive a response. AutoCAD also lacks the weekly scan data that would show accurate real-time quantities. Because this was urgent, he decided to use TraceAir.

The Project Manager began by reviewing weekly aerial scans and comparing them to the original ground to calculate the total quantity of dirt cut. He also used TraceAir's planning tools to adjust the design grade in specific areas on the fly and calculated the dirt moved from the Original Ground to the adjusted design. He was able to calculate the exact quantities of the design change, which totaled approximately 9,000 cubic yards. Using TraceAir he generated a report showing the exact quantities to the project owner, creating true transparency between the owner, GC, and grading contractor. He saved time going back and forth between the civil engineer and grading contractor and was able to process the change order that same day.

TraceAir allowed Plant Construction's Project Manager to quickly correct a billing error without spending time going back and forth between his subcontractor and engineer. He saved hours of time and created transparency between the owner, GC, and subcontractor.

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