Design Structures

Design Structures’ core business is commercial and industrial design-build construction services. They have a wide range of experience that includes pre-engineered metal buildings, conventional steel frame, tilt-up concrete and wood frame structures. Design Structures has three offices in Wisconsin and Oregon and a residential division, Design Structures Homes, LLC, currently focused in the Columbia River Gorge area of Oregon and Washington.

 Middleton, WI office                                Prairie du Sac, WI Office                      The Dalles, Oregon Office

Design Structures was honored at the 2006 Varco-Pruden National Builders Meeting for the 2005 Highest Builder Sales in the Northern Sales Region along with a $25 million Cumulative Sales Award.  Design Structures was also recognized as having the 2nd highest sales in the nation.

Challenges

• Interface Sage’s Contractor Anywhere accounting system with the project management system
• Centralize all project documents for easy accessibility from three offices in both Wisconsin and Oregon
• Consistent, customized project documents used across all projects by both offices
• Standardize daily field reporting and meeting minutes available online

Solutions with HeadsUp

• Using HeadsUpSync Cost Codes, Vendors, Clients, Subcontracts, Purchase Orders, and Change Orders are created in HeadsUp and copied to Sage’s Contractor Anywhere
• Web based HeadsUp organizes all project information for access anywhere, anytime
• HeadsUp document templates standardize Subcontracts, Purchase Orders, Change Order with the desired Design Structures format and design
• Online Daily Reports and Meeting Minutes created on demand with HeadsUp

Results with HeadsUp

• Duplicate data entry no longer necessary for Subcontracts, Purchase Orders and Change Orders
• 28 staff in three offices in different states and time zones able to access the most current project documents in all Design Structure’s projects.
• 586 Subcontracts, 124 Purchase Orders and 346 Change Orders in over 60 projects available online, all using the same standardized Design Structure project document formats.
• Field Supervisors from all offices are able to capture pertinent construction site activity daily and project managers track meeting information in consistently formatted documents.
• Additional Results:  The Business Development group has found it a very useful selling point to show current and completed projects in HeadsUp to potential clients.

"The owners of Design Structures use the program to keep up with the status and direction of all of our projects.  The owners are located in Wisconsin and Oregon and the software allows them to keep current on projects in both offices." Tricia Goodweiler, IT Manager / PM Facilitator, Design Structures

"Previous to the use of Contractor Anywhere and HeadsUp together, it was up to our Project Managers to keep paper copies of the Subcontracts for the projects they were running and then use them to approve invoices.  Now that the Subcontract cost copies [from HeadsUp] over into Contractor Anywhere [using HeadsUpSync], we (the Accounting Staff) are able to compare the Subcontract amount to the invoice right in Contractor Anywhere and bring it to the Project Managers attention if there is an issue." Tricia Goodweiler, IT Manager / PM Facilitator, Design Structures