J. Marion Bryan & Sons

The Need for Integration

J. Marion Bryan & Sons is a family-owned company that’s served the Delmarva Peninsula region of Maryland since 1949. Bryan & Sons engages in all facets of residential, commercial and industrial site/utility and land improvements from small driveways to 2000-lot sub-divisions, airport runways, landscaping, and much more.

Keeping up with projects across multiple divisions—from estimate through project completion—was no easy task for this expanding company. Bryan & Sons’ accounting and estimating software wasn’t integrated, which became a burden for Lawson Sharp, CFO.

“I tried to link the two but there were lots of hurdles, very little support, problems with reports, and a lot of redundant, internal procedures,” says Lawson. “We were getting reactive information instead of proactive information.”

Bryan & Sons was committed to its estimating solution from Quest Solutions. When Maxwell Systems acquired Quest Solutions in 2007, Bryan & Sons looked to Maxwell Systems for a construction accounting software solution that was integrated with Maxwell Systems™ Quest Estimator™.

“When we saw a demonstration of American Contractor, it was a slam dunk,” Lawson recalls. “We made the decision right on the spot. It was the perfect
solution.

Improved Decision-Making with Timely Information

With the integration of estimating and accounting systems, Lawson no longer assimilates information from 10-15 information sources. Prior to using Maxwell Systems™ American Contractor™ and Quest Estimator, Lawson says that Bryan & Sons didn’t know how they were doing at the job level—not to mention the divisional or activity level—until the end of a job.

“We were experiencing estimating and accounting inefficiencies that are probably typical in this industry for a multi-generation, family-held business that’s grown over the years,” Lawson says.

Now Bryan & Sons takes into consideration the labor, productivity, equipment, and overhead that is linked to each project on the estimating side. In addition, the company can look at information at the activity level and divisional level on a daily basis through the accounting side.

“The real value is useful, timely information that allows you to be proactive in conducting business rather than being reactive,” says Lawson.

Maximizing Profits through Integration

Not only has Bryan & Sons benefited from timely information that helps improve decision-making, Lawson tells how the company has maximized profits by winning more projects and by controlling the impact of decreased market values.

Bryan & Sons has seen a 33% drop in the market price of services that they provide, according to Lawson. This means that Bryan & Sons receives $67 for each job that previously brought in $100. However, the decrease in profits associated with the decline in market values is only 7%.

“Because the estimating department and project managers use the system and think about crew structures, production rates, and schedules, they really think through what they’re doing,” says Lawson. “That is a major area where we have increased our operational efficiency.”

And when it comes to winning new business, Lawson explains the importance of integrated software solutions.

“Integration allows us to be competitive in this environment by knowing exactly what we’re doing,” says Lawson. “We know what things really cost in American Contractor, and we can apply the cost structure to our estimating. This allows us to go in with an accurate number and win the bids.”

Increasing Efficiency through Integration

Once it’s fully implemented, an integrated estimating and accounting system will result in a 300% reduction of redundant tasks for Bryan & Sons, Lawson says.

“When you build a bid with Quest Estimator, it gets pulled over to American Contractor into a proposal,” explains Lawson. “You can populate your purchase orders and your commitments from subcontractors automatically, which is a great feature.”

As another example of increased efficiency, Lawson explained how Bryan & Sons previously dealt with subcontractor billing. When the subcontractor bill arrived, the accounting staff manually retrieved the contract from a file cabinet and verified amounts in the non-integrated systems.

“Now this information comes over from Quest Estimator, and the payables person can verify everything immediately in the system,” Lawson said. “Integration not only saves time, it adds integrity to our information.”

Putting Integration to Work

For Bryan & Sons, processes are streamlined each day as the result of integrated estimating and accounting.

“Quest Takeoff information flows seamlessly into Estimator, where we can assign crews and various production rates,” Lawson says. “Quest Estimator also imports electronic CAD files, which saves us from tracing the plans. It’s just a click of a button. This cuts out the personnel and the time that it takes to trace the plans.”

Lawson continues by explaining how the workflow of takeoff and estimating automatically feeds into American Contractor.

“Once the bid is built in Quest Estimator, all the percentages, overhead, and profit are in American Contractor,” Lawson explains. “Vendor quotes are scanned and attached to jobs, and everything is pushed into a proposal with the click of a button using the information from Quest Estimator.”

The Bottom Line of Integrated Estimating and Accounting

Without tying together estimating and accounting, Lawson believes that today’s construction companies are at a disadvantage when it comes to capturing business, increasing efficiency, and maximizing profits.

“Integration gives us a competitive advantage to survive this contraction of the industry,” Lawson says, referring to the slowdown that has impacted construction overall. “We’re able see exactly what it costs to do business and where we need to be with our bids. I think that this is the way that you’ll have to do business in the future of this industry.”

And for Bryan & Sons, the experience of teaming up with Maxwell Systems for an integrated solution has been a positive one.

“The support team’s willingness to help us solve problems is noticeably different from other vendors that I’ve been involved with,” Lawson says. “The fact that there’s one team supporting both products is momentous. It’s a seamless solution.”