Insurance office building saves time and eliminates
delays with Submittal Exchange™

"Submittal Exchange saves a lot of time due to not having to transfer redlines to multiple copies of shop drawings."
- Kyle Raph, Project Manager, Koch Hazard Architects

Sioux Falls, SD - In Sioux Falls, a large construction project for Sammons Financial Insurance began in spring 2007. Valued at $17 million, the new office building is projected to be completed in December 2008 and will house the company's Midland National division with its almost 500 employees. The project is using the Submittal Exchange system for submitting, reviewing, and tracking shop drawings and construction submittals electronically.

With submittals now over 90% complete, the project team members, all first time Submittal Exchange users with 10+ years of experience in the industry, are very pleased with the decision they made to use the Submittal Exchange system instead of the traditional paper process. Koch Hazard Architects is a professional service firm of architects, planners and interior designers that operates primarily out of the upper Midwest. Kyle Raph, Project Manager for Koch Hazard says, "Submittal Exchange is saving me time from the project manager's standpoint due to not having near the amount of paper work time that I used to."

"Now you can mark up the electronic copy right at your computer and immediately upload it."
- Brian Welch, Structural Engineer, Structural Engineering Associates

Structural Engineering Associates (SEA), an engineering firm based in Sioux Falls, is the structural consultant for the project. "What saves a lot of time is not having to send and markup 6-8 copies of a document"..."The time usually spent transferring marks to other hard copies is eluded because now you can mark up the electronic copy right at your computer and immediately upload it," says Brian Welch, Structural Engineer for SEA who has nearly 15 years of experience in the industry."

Project team members have also noticed decreased review and processing time with the submittals on this project. "One of my favorite things is the speed of turn around, knowing that the submittals are not sitting in transit and they're at the person's desk. When everything is uploaded using Submittal Exchange, everybody has a copy," exclaims Raph. "I just had a project that I wish was on Submittal Exchange because it took two and a half hours to transfer the redlines about six times to all of the hard copies. Submittal Exchange saves a lot of time due to not having to transfer those redlines to multiple copies."

"Submittal Exchange is a great tool for getting shop drawings from the subs to the general, to the architects, and back."
- Jarrett Hallvin, Project Manager, Fiegen Construction

The architects, engineers, and consultants have also enjoyed the adaptability of the Submittal Exchange system. "I like the fact that we can have the owner in on it as well, and they can see everything when it is first submitted," states Raph. "A lot of companies have their own internal tracking system, like we did before we used Submittal Exchange. But with Submittal Exchange you can set it up to work just like your current system. The only difference is that now you have it digitally and online."

The contractor on the project, Fiegen Construction, is a full-service general contractor based out of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Jarrett Hallvin, Project Manager for Fiegen states, "It is a great tool for getting shop drawings from the subs to the general, to the architects, and back." "I host weekly meetings and one of the items I report on is shop drawing submittals. Using Submittal Exchange, you can easily sort the submittals by items that are pending review," comments Hallvin.

"I definitely recommend Submittal Exchange, and in fact have to other firms we work with," says Welch.