Balmain & Co Swaps Aconex for Procore. They Had Their Reasons.

Balmain & Co develops and builds bespoke, contemporary projects with a commitment to controlling and ensuring quality. They have delivered various high-end residential and complex commercial developments, education, civil and infrastructure projects across Melbourne.

Location - Melbourne, Australia

Firm Type - Head Contractor

Primary Industry - Commercial, Residential, Education, Civil and Infrastructure

Balmain & Co’s reputation is based on quality outcomes—and it had previously assembled a project management system to support this. A mix of Aconex, Google Sheets and Smartsheets created a digital environment for construction data, albeit in separate systems. As Balmain & Co continue to evolve and diversify their service offering, the need for the company to consolidate onto a single platform to increase productivity, quality and performance efficiencies were evident.

Balmain & Co initially turned to Procore Project Management and Quality & Safety to complement their Balmain & Care program throughout the settlement and the post-construction phase of their projects. However, the team quickly realised Procore would benefit all stages of their construction projects.

“We implemented Procore to complement our processes. We believe it is a collaboration game changer and feel it will deliver better ROI by streamlining our project delivery and post-project management needs through a single platform,” Mick O’Connell said.

“Procore is the ideal platform for centralising project management information and cross-team collaboration. It’s always accessible and up to date throughout the lifecycle of our projects. Having access to measurable data at any stage of the project is very important and helps us track quality, minimise potential risk and build a database to support future growth.”

Mick O’Connell - CONSTRUCTION MANAGER

Looking for a progressive and connected solution to support their quality and outcomes, Balmain & Co engaged Procore to help bring their projects under one cloud-based roof. Ease of use and a more streamlined construction management experience facilitated the adoption. The entire team, site and the office alike, has been receptive to switching from Aconex and Google Smartsheets.

“We don’t need to take something offline, edit it and then upload manually, like we did with our previous solution” said O’Connell. “Now, it’s a more collaborative approach. Our teams can work directly with the subcontractors on drawings—mark up or make a change to them live while on-site.”

Balmain & Co also hopes to use Procore to develop a more insights-driven project management approach.

“Our goal through Procore is to build a database of information and statistics through the construction process and the defect liability period of our projects,” said O’Connell. “The data we can store and analyse within Procore throughout the construction phase gives us a greater insight into the progress and efficiency of our sites. This will lead to greater awareness, minimisation of risks and defect items by having clear and accurate insights through Procore. This will ultimately lead to even higher-quality outcomes for our clients in the future.”

Marketing Coordinator Leah Massari explains that the transition to Procore was more than just an administrative shift for Balmain & Co. It was a way to streamline the company’s settlement and post-construction management program Balmain & Care.

“Procore was a cultural shift, and it underpinned the roll-out of Balmain & Care earlier this year,” Massari said. “Our new customer service platform provides added peace of mind to the residents and managers of the apartment complexes we build.

“We currently have around 700 residences in Melbourne that now directly benefit from this program.

“Procore’s platform and ability to seamlessly integrate with great tools like GoFormz and BIMLauncher mean we can curate environments that are familiar to residents and managers of our projects, and the information they input is delivered to our construction professionals within Procore.”

The innovation that powers Procore was crucial in Balmain & Co’s decision to switch providers. The company saw Procore was at the forefront of innovation and complemented both Balmain & Co’s current operations and future plans.

“Whether we want to generate a report for safety or structure, we can access the insights of how we improve how we design and build, plus how we reduce our risks. This is the intelligent database we need to support the growth and success of Balmain & Co,” O’Connell said.

As it continues to grow and diversify, Balmain & Co intends to leverage Procore’s ability to accurately and transparently illustrate performance. The real-time data in Procore reports allows tracking performance, productivity and risk minimisation, all of which support stable growth.

“Procore will ensure we remain compliant for our ISO accreditations and further our expansion into more Government work in the future,” he concluded.