Dorvin D. Leis Co, Inc.
With more than 300 employees and reaching over $75 million in revenues, Dorvin D. Leis Co., Inc. (DDL) is the leading mechanical contractor in the State of Hawaii. Founded in 1961 in California, the company moved to Hawaii in 1967 and has remained committed to providing quality craftsmanship to its customers.
DDL works closely with its clients and design teams to provide a complete mechanical system that encompasses plumbing, HVAC, fire protection, and architectural sheet metal for a wide range of projects. DDL provides an entire spectrum of mechanical contracting services for commercial, light commercial, health care facilities, institutional, high-rise complexes, condominiums, and residential projects across the Hawaiian Islands; as well as state, county, and federal projects including military facilities.
While focused on providing high quality work on every job, DDL strives to continually increase productivity to keep costs low and to achieve optimal profitability. To reach its goals, DDL has turned to Maxwell Systems Estimation software to automate its estimating and procurement process.
Industry
Dorvin D. Leis is a mechanical contractor for commercial, light commercial, health care facilities, institutional, and other projects, providing services including plumbing, HVAC, fire protection, and architectural sheet metal.
Challenges
The mechanical contractor had been using manual takeoff and summary methods, which was a very time-consuming process for their estimators. Also, the company had no way to capture, track, or manage their procurement data because their manual process kept no historical details on purchases. Record-keeping was a real challenge and it took quite a bit of time to create purchase orders.
Solution
Dorvin D. Leis uses Maxwell Systems Estimation software to improve their takeoff, estimating, and procurement processes. The contractor can now also work more efficiently by using Estimation to share the information from the estimate among its team members by easily providing reports requested by operations and purchasing departments. Estimation also allows the company to easily identify potential cost savings that can be passed along to clients to work with an owner’s needs and budget.
Results
Estimation has helped Dorvin D. Leis to speed up their estimating process, and so they are able to save time and bid on more work. In addition, the contractor uses Estimation as a peripheral tool to see their procurement operations and save time and control costs throughout the process. They can easily find pricing data on materials, evaluate labor for optimal productivity, track materials purchased, and have instant access to purchasing history to simplify their follow-up activities. Overall, Estimation has helped Dorvin D. Leis achieve greater efficiency and cost savings and improve control by replacing their previous time-consuming manual methods.
Improving Speed and Accuracy
Curtis Goertz, one of the two HVAC and sheet metal estimators for the contractor, who has been using Estimation since 2005, likes Estimation and appreciates its functionality specifically designed for mechanical, plumbing, and HVAC contractors, and uses the estimating software on a daily basis for DDL’s ductwork and sheet metal work. There are also two estimators that use Estimation for plumbing and mechanical piping projects.
“With Estimation, we are able to bid on more work because of the speed that it can provide when doing takeoffs and summaries,” explained Goertz. “We are also able to section out duct systems within the takeoff which then allows an itemized review of those systems. In addition, the sectional takeoff also provides a quick and easy method to change duct types and construction for potential cost savings that can be passed along to our clients to work with the owner’s needs and budget.”
Estimation has definitely helped speed up the estimating process. “Before, with our manual takeoff and summary methods, the process could be very time-consuming. We would takeoff ductwork and fittings, then count equipment, dampers, air devices and other accessories,” explained Goertz. “Now, using Estimation, we can quickly run footages of ductwork, count fittings, dampers, air devices, and accessories and easily summarize it to calculate the totals.”
Estimation also allows DDL to share the information from the estimate among its team members by providing easily generated reports, as well as custom reports, so they can target and extract specific information requested by the operations and purchasing departments. “If we are buying large quantities of materials or need to evaluate labor for productivity in a specific area, for example, Estimation can summarize those items, saving us valuable time,” said Goertz.
Gaining Control over the Procurement Process
DDL’s purchasing executive, Lincoln Leong, has been using Estimation for 11 years for the procurement process to produce and track purchase orders, manage materials and back orders, to access purchasing history, and to manage vendor pricing.
Before having Estimation, DDL’s entire process was handled manually and they had no historical details on purchases. Record-keeping was a real challenge and it took quite a bit of time to create POs. Now, with the Estimation database populated with up-to-date materials and pricing data, it is easy to find needed information and purchase materials.
“Having instant access to our purchasing history really helps with the follow-up process,” explained Leong. “Using Estimation mechanical estimating software, we are able to more easily locate materials, determine when they came in, and keep all the necessary details in the system.” If someone has a question, they can simply pull up the PO by searching by vendor, by item, or by other criteria, and review the associated notes to determine the status of a purchase.
“Everything in Estimation is really a plus,” said Leong. “Before having this software, we had no way to capture, track, or manage our procurement data. Estimation provides us with a peripheral tool to see all of our procurement operations.”
Achieving Greater Productivity & Profitability
With Estimation, DDL is able to tie together estimates, labor needs, and cost analysis and so bid more quickly and accurately to win more jobs. And, once a job is won, DDL can leverage Estimation to take control of their entire procurement process – achieving greater efficiency and cost savings.
