Why Clayco Project Teams Are Turning To Clearstory as an All-in-One, Streamlined Solution for Communicating and Resolving Change Orders and T&M Tickets

In 2008, Ryan Carson started at Clayco as a project engineer. At the time, Clayco was a $825M company. Today, Clayco handles projects individually worth that amount and is an ENR Top 20 General Contractor.

Throughout the journey, Carson has seen firsthand how disorganized Change Order and T&M Ticket processes can plunge project stability into chaos. "Like the rest of the industry, we managed everything on spreadsheets and paper," Carson recalls.

The adoption of Clearstory as a Change Order communication tool over a year ago has been a game-changer for Clayco, eliminating those traditional, paper- and spreadsheet-driven processes and the back-and-forth exchange of COR logs to align with Specialty Contractors on outstanding Change Order Requests.

“What we were trying to do is provide visibility for our upper management and be as confident as possible that what we’re forecasting in PMWeb matches the reality of what’s happening on the project,” Carson says.

“And Clearstory allows all stakeholders to see at any time how many Change Orders are out there and how quickly they are being solved for, which allows our teams to have real conversations to move projects forward.”

That’s because Clearstory was purpose-built by former General Contractors who saw their Specialty Contractors and projects suffering from the same manual Change Order workarounds and paper-driven processes that often failed to provide alignment or prevent surprise costs.

Clearstory’s core product is a shareable, cloud-based Change Order Log that creates instant transparency between stakeholders and features simple but powerful workstreams to capture field-directed extra work, conduct pricing exercises, and streamline Change Order review.

“The momentum is starting to take hold because a lot of our project teams are starting to realize that Clearstory is a useful tool for both Clayco and for our trade partners, which ultimately makes it a big benefit to their projects.” 

Ryan Carson

Senior Director of Cost Management, Clayco

“Successful technology always comes down to ease of use,” Carson says. “And the momentum is starting to take hold because our project teams are realizing Clearstory is a useful tool for both Clayco and for our trade partners, which ultimately makes it a big benefit to their projects.” 

To that end, here’s a look at how three Clayco project professionals are realizing the benefits of Clearstory and why they think the solution might be even better for their subcontractor trade partners: 

“Three years ago I was working on a project and had a stack of carbon copy T&M tickets on my desk that was 16 inches tall. Clearstory finally provides real-time visibility and confidence in our forecasting so we can correlate our risk into real dollars without having to plow through all of that paper.” 

Cordt Hicke

Project Manager, Champaign IL

With a background in virtual design and construction, Cordt Hicke loves how Clearstory provides real-time visibility into Change Order risk and improves workflows for trade partners. In particular, he points to digital T&M Tickets versus paper tracking as providing real-time confidence in forecasting without having to plow through stacks of paper tickets.

But even in markets where carbon copy is deeply ingrained, Clearstory is actually seeing brisk adoption from subcontractors similarly frustrated with the inefficiency and risk of the status quo. 

“Clearstory helps our subs stay cash positive so they can access labor and support the job without dipping into their credit lines,” Hicke says. “We see our subcontractors taking Clearstory to other jobs and using it with other GCs because it improves their ability to grow.”

Most importantly, Clearstory provides Change Order consistency and transparency that delivers efficiencies and alignment on joint ventures and provides Clayco with the ability to flex personnel as projects evolve. “It gives us a foundation and confidence to be able to transition teams and pick up and run so we can navigate projects much more efficiently and fluidly.” 

“Clearstory has created a really positive atmosphere around change notifications and change events because it brings benefits to everyone's day in the field. It streamlines the process so we can all be advancing the project as opposed to digging through emails, searching for lost or incomplete documentation, or just trying to figure out who to send something to.” 

Britt Smith

Senior Project Engineer, Clayco

A self-described people person, Britt Smith knew early on that she wanted to apply her civil engineering background to the jobsite versus the drafting table. Since joining Clayco full time three years ago (she was also a Clayco intern while at the University of Missouri), Smith has worked on several large-scale distribution facilities for national retailers and says the difference between projects with Clearstory vs. projects without it is night and day. 

“On my last project before Clearstory, we were using email and Excel and just constantly trying to figure it all out,” Smith says. “And the second you sent CORs and change notifications to someone who isn’t on the project anymore or who isn’t checking their email, it would just blow up into a big problem” 

By contrast, Clearstory creates a real-time, one-stop shop for all stakeholders to communicate out-of-contract work concisely and comprehensively, eliminating time-consuming, frustrating deep dives into email threads and spreadsheets. “Clearstory has made change management far less overwhelming,” Smith says. “It’s a direct, streamlined mode of communication with visibility into the entire history of a change event.”

Describing Clearstory as a communication tool that’s practically become a member of her project teams, Smith says the time savings provided by eliminating error-prone, manual workflows is contributing to more productive jobsites that are future-forward in their use of technology. 

“Clearstory has created a really positive atmosphere around change notifications and change events because it brings benefits to everyone's day in the field,” she says. “It streamlines the process so we can all be advancing the project as opposed to digging through emails, searching for lost or incomplete documentation, or just trying to figure out who to send something to.” 

“Now we all know for certain what’s in our court. Whether or not it was sent to the right person is no longer a question, because you’ve sent it to the whole team. So no matter what, there are people making sure our trade partner changes are being recorded and taken across the finish line.”

Since graduating from Illinois State University with a degree in construction management, Ben Hummel has spent seven-plus years as a Clayco project manager across the greater Chicago area. His current project includes active construction on three buildings with up to 20 subcontractors working at any given time. Hummel says Clearstory is a game changer that eliminates errors, confusion, and inefficiency related to Change Orders on complex projects.

“We have 34 team members on site, so if you think you’ve sent your Change Order Request to the right person, you’re wrong. Send it to Clearstory, and you’ll be right,” Hummel explains. “With Clearstory, everything is all in one spot for all stakeholders and you’re not constantly searching through emails trying to recover conversations. It’s life changing.” 

Since Clearstory was purpose-built as a Change Order communication tool that reduces risk for both GCs and Specialty Contractors, Hummel says field adoption has been brisk, and like Hicke, sees Clearstory delivering tangible business value to his trade partners. 

“Now we all know for certain what’s in our court,” he says. “Whether or not it was sent to the right person is no longer a question, because you’ve sent it to the whole team. So no matter what, there are people making sure our trade partner changes are being recorded and taken across the finish line. When everyone can see in real-time when a change was submitted and how many days it is aging, the pushback stops immediately.”

That transparency has Hummel committed to Clearstory and optimistic that carbon copy will soon become extinct on Clayco jobsites, especially his. “If I see any tickets anymore, that’s a problem,” he says. “If there’s just one ticket, it should be on Clearstory. Let’s make sure we get it on there.” 

About Clayco

Clayco is a full-service, turnkey real estate development, master planning, architecture, engineering, and construction firm. With $5.8 billion in revenue for 2023, Clayco specializes in providing fast track, efficient solutions for industrial, commercial, institutional, and residential building projects.