WINNING WITH QUICKER COST ESTIMATES
UrbanCore construction is a general contracting company, based in Richmond, VA and dedicated to creating thriving communities through comprehensive construction services. UrbanCore specializes in multifamily, adaptive reuse, and tenant uplift projects that bolster urban neighborhoods and enrich life in the communities they serve.
Challenge
UrbanCore Construction, a rapidly expanding company experiencing increasing demand for cost estimating services, recognized the urgent need to streamline their project cost estimation processes. In 2023, amidst their growth trajectory, they embraced Zebel preconstruction software to meet the rising demands of their developer clients and revolutionize their preconstruction procedures.
Zebel has significantly reduced the time and effort required for cost estimation, allowing UrbanCore to provide high- quality estimates swiftly. What previously took a week to compile from various sources now takes only a fraction of the time. With Zebel's intuitive interface and comprehensive database, UrbanCore can turnaround accurate estimates the same day, enhancing their responsiveness and accuracy to client requests.
Solution
Zebel has played a crucial role in standardizing UrbanCore's preconstruction process, ensuring consistent outputs and streamlined workflows. Historical data, previously scattered across various excel files, is now organized and readily available for analysis within Zebel's database. Zebel's customer success team facilitated this transition by collecting and formatting the data, allowing UrbanCore to make data-driven decisions with ease.
UrbanCore utilizes Zebel for both conceptual and detailed estimating, from napkin sketches to GMP pricing. With Zebel's seamless integration, they can track changes and analyze discrepancies between subcontractor pricing in the GMP budget and conceptual estimates derived from historical data. This transparency enables UrbanCore to effectively communicate pricing evolution to clients, fostering trust and transparency throughout the project lifecycle.
"What used to take us a week or more to produce a conceptual estimate has been streamlined into a matter of hours. Our repeat customers know of our new capability and it is helping them focus on viable deals, using our reliable cost data, and giving us more work Opportunities."
Jon Reid
Director of Preconstruction
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