Submittal Exchange™ enhances project
collaboration for Clay Hall Addition & Renovation

"Submittal Exchange has organized the entire submittal process. The time spent managing submittals has been significantly reduced with improved project communication."
- Steve Gaasch, Project Manager, Lacy Construction Company

Hastings, NE - Students at Central Community College in Hastings, Nebraska have a newly remodeled and renovated Clay Hall on campus. The $4 million renovation and new addition to the campus began construction in February 2008 and used Submittal Exchange for submitting, reviewing, and tracking shop drawings and construction submittals electronically.

The project team benefited with Submittal Exchange by managing 200+ submittals electronically through one central online log. "Submittal Exchange has organized the entire submittal process. The time spent managing submittals has been significantly reduced with improved project communication," says Steve Gaasch, Project Manager for Lacy Construction Company, a commercial and industrial construction company with over 60 years of experience located in Grand Island, Nebraska. "I really like the convenience of a centralized online log to organize and store project submittals."

"Even with project team members in different geographic locations, Submittal Exchange still allows everyone to stay up to date and access the same centralized log."
- Kali Eklund, Construction Administrator, Wilkins Hinrichs Stober Architects

Wilkins Hinrichs Stober Architects, an architecture firm based in Kearney, Nebraska, is the architect for the project. "Even with project team members in different geographic locations, Submittal Exchange still allows everyone to stay up to date and access the same centralized log," comments Kali Eklund, Construction Administrator with Wilkins Hinrichs Stober Architects. "Once a document is uploaded to the Submittal Exchange website, it is very easy for everyone to locate the file to view and reference. The organization and accessibility has really helped out this project," adds Eklund.

The team found Submittal Exchange to be very user-friendly when managing submittals. "Submittal Exchange makes it easy to navigate through your project. You don't have to deal with unnecessary content and other graphics to find information. Once you login the entire project is right there," comments Eklund. "It's nice not having to worry about mailing copies of shop drawings and other administrative tasks," adds Gaasch. "The convenience to open up a submittal at any step in the process is great."

Farris Engineering, a Midwest based firm with experience in 14,000+ projects throughout the United States, is the engineering consultant for the project. "Submittal Exchange has definitely helped to organize submittals. I'm no longer spending time searching my inbox or in-house archives to locate a submittal," says Jeff Hemje, Lead Electrical Engineer with Farris Engineering. "It's easy to use and immediately allows you to open any project document on your computer."

"The increase in speed and handling of submittals has been great. Submittal Exchange has changed the way we look at managing the submittal process."
- Jeff Hemje, Lead Electrical Engineer, Farris Engineering

Project team members have also noticed decreased review and processing time with the submittals on the project. "Submittal Exchange facilitates the submittal process and results in quicker turnaround times. I can submit a shop drawing, have it reviewed, and send it to all the subcontractors on the project in the same day," states Gaasch. "The time and cost savings alone from eliminating postage and courier services has been substantial."

When measuring their experience with Submittal Exchange versus other methods of managing the submittal process, the team noticed distinct advantages. "I have worked with projects via email in the past and it was very time consuming. Submittal Exchange eliminates the pain of searching though your inbox to locate project documents and also tracking version histories," exclaims Gaasch. "Submittal Exchange has saved this project time. The increase in speed and handling of submittals has been great," comments Hemje. "Submittal Exchange has changed the way we look at managing the submittal process."