Western Dubuque County Community School District
saves time with Submittal Exchange™

"Submittal Exchange has cut my time in half."
- Heather Robinson, Construction Coordinator, Larson Construction Company, Inc.

Farley, IA - The Western Dubuque County Community School District began construction November 2009 on a new 21,000 sq. ft. bus maintenance facility. The $2.2 million facility is scheduled to be completed this summer and will consist of two large bus housing and maintenance areas conjoined by offices in the middle. The 40+ member team is utilizing Submittal Exchange to manage more than 420 submittals, RFIs and other construction communications associated with the project.

Neumann Monson Architects, the architecture firm on the project, is based in Iowa City, IA, and specializes in commercial, educational, housing, public, recreational, and religious projects. The firm employs 26 LEED® Accredited Professionals and is notable for numerous LEED Certified Projects as well as multiple achievements in sustainability. "Submittal Exchange is a standard for everyone on the project, the construction side, the design side, and the consultant side, so we have the same organization and presentation of submittals. The system allows project team members to communicate and track the progress of submittals efficiently," stated Nathan Griffith, Assoc. AIA and LEED AP with Neumann Monson Architects. "For instance, when using paper or email, we're unable to locate exactly which party is working on a submittal. Submittal Exchange allows you to do that at a glance."

"Submittal Exchange is a standard for everyone on the project, the construction side, the design side, and the consultant side, so we have the same organization and presentation of submittals."
- Nathan Griffith, Assoc. AIA and LEED® AP, Neumann Monson Architects

Located in Independence, IA, Larson Construction Company Incorporated is serving as the General Contractor on the project. Established in 1968, Larson Construction Co., Inc. employs 100+ construction professionals and offers General Contractor, Project Management / Construction Manager, and Design Build services throughout the state of Iowa. Today Larson Construction is responsible for over $60 million of construction annually, working on projects ranging up to $17 million. Heather Robinson, Construction Coordinator with Larson Construction stated, "Submittal Exchange has cut my time in half. Prior to using Submittal Exchange I would have to compile all the shop drawings team members would send by hard copy or email. Now, it's already compiled. I just have to click, send and that's it!"

When asked about previous submittal practices in comparison with Submittal Exchange, Griffith stated, "With paper, we would send 3 or 4 submittals at a time, marking up each copy, and send them back out. This was definitely a slow paper intensive process and it also required storage space and filing cabinets." Griffith continued, "By email it's difficult to tell what's required to be sent and what has already been completed. With Submittal Exchange, if I need to know what requires my attention, I not only receive a notification but also these items appear in red on my submittal log, making the submittal process much faster."

"We've had subcontractors of all different age groups use Submittal Exchange."
- Heather Robinson, Construction Coordinator, Larson Construction Company, Inc.

Both the design team and construction team have found the Submittal Exchange system very easy to use and implement on the project. According to Heather Robinson, "Once you just sit down and take the time to go through training with a project coordinator at Submittal Exchange, it's very easy. We've had situations with hesitant team members at first, because it's a new process, but once you get logged in and see it, it's so easy. We've had subcontractors of all different age groups use Submittal Exchange." Griffith agreed and stated, "Submittal Exchange is very simple, intuitive, and easy to use. I found it very user friendly. After the training, I logged in right away, and had no issues."

Beyond time savings and ease of use, the project team has also enjoyed additional features within Submittal Exchange. Griffith stated, "I like the easy access and one central location of items for the entire project team. Sometimes in the office when you have physical paper, you not only have a filing cabinet but papers on your desk. With Submittal Exchange you have everything in one spot. Often times I have a tendency to leave the submittal log open, when working on submittals, because I'm constantly uploading and downloading." Robinson has seen improved turnaround times and added, "I will submit a shop drawing and many times have it back within two hours, which has really helped us with the project."