How Diverzify Itasca PMs are Saving 30+ Hours Per Month Using Clearstory for Easy, No-Questions-Asked Change Order Requests

After spending several years adopting Salesforce and IFS Cloud and incorporating other new software and systems, the Diverzify Itasca team had some technology fatigue and didn’t think they could take on a new program. Here’s how Clearstory changed their minds.

First off, despite all the new systems, field teams and project managers for the commercial flooring contractor were still using paper T&M Tickets and relying on time-consuming, error-prone workflows to align with GCs on Change Orders.

“It was a very manual process,” says Diverzify Project Manager Desire Arnold. “Tickets need to be documented on the jobsite, then get signed by a site superintendent, then there's a manual pricing process of trying to put it all together and track it and follow-up and get everything in the system, probably five to eight hours of work each week across multiple projects.”

Purpose-built to help Specialty Contractors reduce risk and get paid faster on out-of-contract work, Clearstory’s core product is a shareable, cloud-based Change Order Log that creates instant alignment with GCs and features a tidy mobile app for digital T&M Tags, easy built-in Change Order templates, and instant pricing. But would it be simple enough to deploy on Diverzify projects?

“I always look at Apple products as extremely intuitive. They don't come with an instruction manual for a reason because they are so intuitive,” says Diverzify Itasca Vice President of Operations Charlie Hrebic. “Well, Clearstory is pretty darn intuitive. It takes less than five minutes to teach our field teams how to get the ball rolling.”

Arnold agrees, and says T&M Ticket and Change Order approvals on projects where her team deployed Clearstory went from days down to minutes. “There were no questions asked,” she explains. “The ISM loved the program because it was easy to use and aligned perfectly with the reporting in the GC’s platform.”

Lidia Bukowski is Diverzify Itasca’s Executive Director of Project Management. In addition to ease-of-use, she says Clearstory’s real-time Change Order Log provides the visibility and processing efficiency that lead to faster approvals and reduced risk.

“The excitement around this program from our office, staff, project managers, and field teams just speaks volumes,” she says. “Tickets basically live in our system as soon as the installer completes them in the field, we can start pricing them even prior to a signature collection, and then the Change Order Log basically builds itself.”

While Bukowski estimates that Clearstory has saved PMs 30% of their time from not having to assemble and chase Change Order Requests, she says the real efficiencies are in the approval process. “Once we deploy to the customer, we can see exactly when they opened it, if they opened it, if they didn’t,” she explains. “The visibility expedites the process so from there, we've got quicker invoicing and obviously quicker payment.”

Hrebic credits those fast approvals with protecting Diverzify revenue-at-risk in a focused, collaborative environment that benefits all stakeholders. “A lot of times you get to the end of a project and have a stack of Change Orders and it’s a battle to get 50 or 75 cents on the dollar,” he says. “Clearstory eliminates that because the GC can see in real time what potential costs need owner attention and everyone is on the same page at the same time.”

“The excitement around this program from our office, staff, project managers, and field teams just speaks volumes.”

Lidia Bukowski

Executive Director of Project Management, Diverzify

Indeed, Arnold says her customers have been engaged with Clearstory since the beginning. “No challenges, no concerns,” she says. “They were signing tickets right away, reviewing documentation right away, and they like that the Change Order Log is always available via the link we send with all of our communication. And to date, I haven't lost any money on extra tickets, so I say use it, use it!”

Even better, Bukowski says the spirit of teamwork and collaboration is embodied by Diverzify’s Clearstory customer support professionals, too. “We have had some unique challenges with joint ventures and allowances, and working with the Clearstory team on solutions has been a breath of fresh air. It’s been collaborative and we feel like they’re a part of our team. It’s been amazing.”

Hrebic is also happy that Clearstory provides a more ergonomically friendly way for field teams to track field-directed work compared to getting writer’s cramp from scribbling out carbon-copy T&M Tickets. “Our installers are on their hands and knees all day. It’s hard labor and not an easy job, so it’s great that they’re using Clearstory instead of stopping and writing out time-consuming tickets.”

Ultimately, Clearstory proved out with the Diverzify Itasca team as a simple, intuitive, and powerful way to streamline T&M Ticket and Change Order processes. Easy to adopt, quick to show results, and a practical time-saver for all involved, Clearstory was a unique solution that provided instant productivity and efficiency without burdening software-fatigued teams.

“It's paperless, it's instant, it's on our desktops as soon as the field creates the ticket,” Hrebic says. “It's been a great platform, the Cleartory team has been absolutely amazing to partner with, and I think that this is going to take off like wildfire nationwide with Diverzify.”